Rome’s Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff – who fought the Nazis and strengthened relations between the Italian Jewish community and Catholic Church after centuries of mistrust – died on Sunday.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi described Rabbi Toaff, who died 11 days before his 100th birthday, as “a great Italian and symbol of the Jewish community”. Pope Francis said he was a “man of peace”.
Rabbi Toaff was widely-acknowledged for his interfaith work.
In 1986, he helped mark the first papal visit to a shul after inviting Pope John Paul II to pray with him at Rome’s Great Synagogue.
