Roman rabbi dedicated psalm to Pius IX

Grateful to Pontiff for Restoring Dignity of Jewish People

VATICAN CITY, JULY 28 (ZENIT.org).- Contrary to insinuations in a recent press campaign (Cf. ZE00072006), Pius IX was much loved by the Jewish, to the point that in 1847, Mosè Israel Kazzan, who at the time was Chief Rabbi of the Israeli University in Rome, dedicated a psalm and prayer to the "glorious and immortal" Pius IX.

The psalm reads thus: "When an entire people is proud to conduct itself justly, You, Oh great God of the armies, grant it a king who is gentle, a prince who represents you worthily." The "king" Kazzan was referring to was Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti, Pius IX (1792-1878), who at the time was also the highest authority of the independent Pontifical States.

Referring to Pius IX's work in favor of Jews, Kazzan wrote: "He showed mercy to a degraded, exiled, dispersed, and persecuted people... Before the world, he removed it from the disdain of peoples, because you wanted its restoration, Oh Eternal One!"

Kazzan's psalm ends with these words: "Let it be known in the remotest islands with how much glory Pius IX governs, how he administers justice with exactitude, how the whole world shines with splendor because of him."

Pius IX was responsible for the end of the Jewish ghetto in Rome, a neighborhood in the Eternal City especially reserved for Jews. The Pontiff himself sent men to defend the Jews from the fury of people angry over the Pope's decision. It was Pius IX who said that Jews should not be considered "foreigners."

John Paul II will beatify both Pius IX and John XXIII on September 3.

Zenit - The World Seen From Rome