Rabbi A. James Rudin, who headed American Jewish Committee’s pioneering work with the Roman Catholic Church and other faiths for many years, was honored today by Pope Francis with one of the Vatican’s highest awards, the Knight of St. Gregory the Great.

Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, presented the papal knighthood to Rabbi Rudin on behalf of Pope Francis at a ceremony held at Saint Leo University’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies (CCJS). O’Malley expressed the Pope’s heartfelt appreciation and boundless gratitude for Rabbi Rudin’s remarkable contributions to interfaith relations, especially in the Catholic-Jewish domain.

“I am deeply honored that Pope Francis has affirmed the extraordinary importance of Catholic-Jewish dialogue through this award,” said Rabbi Rudin. “That he has continued the Church’s historic commitment to care for the poor and disenfranchised, as my Jewish tradition calls it – tikkun olam – the repair of the world, makes this moment extremely special. I am proud to accept this papal honor while remembering the many colleagues and friends who have been so important on my incredible interreligious journey.”
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Rabbi Rudin joined the AJC interreligious staff in 1968, became Director of National Interreligious Affairs in 1983, and retired in 2000.

Rabbi A. James Rudin, a longtime interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee, will be named a Papal Knight of Saint Gregory for his work on Catholic-Jewish relations, one of the few non-Catholics to receive the honor.

Only eight other Jews have been knighted by the order, established in 1831, which recognizes personal service or unusual labor in support of the Catholic Church. Among them are three other rabbis, David Rosen and the late Mordecai Waxman and Leon Klenicki.

Rudin, a Reform rabbi and a writer who has contributed hundreds of columns over the years to Religion News Service, traveled widely, meeting with popes, presidents, Protestant denominational leaders and world-famous evangelists in his efforts to improve Jewish-Christian relations in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.