Der jüdische Kardinal

Aron (Jean-Marie) Lustiger disappointed his father at 14, by choosing baptism over bar mitzvah. His mother was gassed at Auschwitz. He became archbishop of Paris and a Cardinal. I remember hearing about him as archbishop, but didn't know till fairly recently that he was Jewish. The scene is set for personal, family and social conflicts, which are presented with thoughtfulness, and the acting is excellent. The part of JPII is particularly well portrayed; he was Pope so long that even those of us who lived through his papacy have tended to forget he was once a young, vigorous, dynamic pontiff, from a background atypical for XXth century popes. We tend to remember him as old and ill and increasingly rigid. The actor captures his aging convincingly. Lustiger was insistent that he was both Jewish and Catholic, to the consternation of some from both faiths, but his dual understanding enabled him to for towards reconciliation. The original title « Le Métis de Dieu » (God's half-breed) is, to my mind, more evocative than its English translation. After all, what's peculiar in terms of eternity about a Jewish Cardinal? Jesus, his disciples and earliest followers were all Jewish, including St Peter, who is the man from whom all popes claim apostolic succession.