Times: During Bizarre Rome Synagogue Visit Pope Benedict XVI Delivers Strange Remarks

The notion that Jews need or want a Catholic Pope to visit a synagogue is bizarre to us at its core.

The idea that during such a visit the Pontiff would defend the record of the Catholic-Jewish relations during World War II is strange to us in its essence.

The Times' report of such a visit today appears to be factual and unbiased. Yet, we cannot fathom why this event took place and why anyone would deem it newsworthy.

Unless of course it signals what we think. Namely, the Catholic Church is in the midst of collapse.

Surely, the recent child abuse scandals around the world have brought the church to its moral knees. Without question, the blossoming of the State of Israel in its seventh decade has demolished the church's theological claims. Add to that the success of Islam across the world that has been as we see it, a gigantic setback to the Vatican.

But still, how does going to visit the Rome synagogue once in 23 years address or ameliorate any of these failures? And how does defending the failed Pope of WW II raise the stature or credibility of the Vatican in any way?

It is as if there is one sort logic and diplomacy for the rest of the world and another for the Vatican.

Bizarre and strange indeed.