Francis blows the Jewish shofar

[Stone]

Francis blows the Jewish shofar

TIA | December 4, 2022

On December 2, 2022, Pope Bergoglio received a delegation of the Latin American Rabbinical Seminary of Buenos Aires, below first and second rows. The group delivered a "Proposal for Social Change" to Francis.

This project aims to renew the religious formation in Latin America. The goal is to transform religious leaders into agents of social change and to renew the training of clergy from a common spiritual perspective.

On the occasion rabbi Ariel Stofenmacher, rector of the Rabbinical Seminary, gave the pope a shofar and Francis could not find anything better to do than to blow that religious horn, above.

Now then, the shofar constitutes a part of the Jewish liturgy that is habitually blown by rabbis to call the Jews to prayer, see last row below. This action of Francis can, therefore, be considered a call for Jews to prepare themselves for Hanukkah, which starts on December 18.

We do not know for sure whether we should interpret this act as another clownish gesture of the Buffoon Pope or consider that he is assuming the role of a high priest of Judaism – like Paul VI (here and here) and John Paul II (here).