Was Pope John Paul II Jewish?
Tuesday November 15, 2005
Pope John Paul II did more than any other pope to reach out to Jews and try to reach some sort of reconciliation between Catholicism and Judaism. Could part of the motivation for this have been knowledge that he had Jewish ancestry? One historian thinks so and he may have a good case.
Manchester Metro News reports:
Although [Yaakov Wise, a researcher in orthodox Jewish history and philosophy] believes the Pope’s father was an ethnic Pole, he thinks that John Paul’s mother Emilia Kaczorowski - Emily Katz in English - was Jewish and that she was the daughter of Feliks Kaczowski, a businessman from Biala-Bielsko in Poland. Katz is a common surname amongst East European Jewish families. Emilia’s mother, the Pope’s grandmother, was Maria Anna Scholz. Scholz, or Schulze, is also a common surname among Jews, as is Rybicka, or Ryback, which is the surname of the Pope’s great-grandmother Zuzanna.
“I’m not making any firm conclusions, but what I’m saying is that there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to say that he was Jewish. The Pope’s mother married out of the Jewish community to wed a Catholic. Her children were born and raised as Catholics and the Pope was baptised. It would shed light on why the Pope had to go into hiding from the Nazis in November 1940.”
He certainly wasn't Jewish from a Catholic perspective — he was baptized, confirmed, and did all the things a Catholic is supposed to do. From an orthodox Jewish perspective, though, he would probably be considered as Jewish as anyone raised a Jew. There is probably no way to know for sure (DNA tests might shed strong light on the matter one way or another, but there's chance of this occurring) but it is intriguing. I wonder if he would qualify as the only Jewish pope in the history of Christianity?
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I had to smile at your question about whether Jewish ancestry would make John Paul II the first ever Jewish pope. Peter was a Jew and he was the first pope. That’s how it all began.
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, 13 and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. 14 Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matt 16:18-19
Helllooooo! where did you did up this Jewish guy?
Pope JP II’s mom had Eastern Orthodox roots. Check it out for yourself before you get too excited over this story.
Peter was a Jew. Next thing you know, people will be talking about the first black pope as if there haven’t been any of them, either. How quickly the very origins of Christianity are forgotten!
Hello im know its old stuff, but im polish and im shocked by ignorance of english language users! Kaczorowski is very common name in Poland. Its has roots from polish word ‘kaczor’ which means a ‘duck’. Letters ‘cz’ in polish are read like english ‘ch’ and are charakterytic for polish language (like others compilations with ‘z’: sz, rz, dz, dź, dż…). It has nothing in common with word katz. Even if it would, still german names in poland are popular and it doesnt mean jewish origins at all