Monday, March 3, was marked in Bruno Limentani’s calendar as a very important day. The 63-year-old Roman Jewish businessman was supposed to meet with Pope Francis to choose a porcelain dining set from Limentani’s company’s collection for the pontiff’s personal apartment. Today, the pope is hospitalized following a respiratory crisis; the appointment was canceled.

Named after its founder Leone Limentani, the company started providing glasses and china to the Vatican over 150 years ago. As the seventh generation of his family in the business, Limentani has personally gifted a 24-piece porcelain set to both John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

“When Jorge Bergoglio was elected in 2013, we reached out to the pope’s staff, but his secretary declined our offer, suggesting that he was not interested,” Limentani told the Times of Israel in a phone interview. “We were a little disappointed.”

However, just a few weeks ago, a mutual acquaintance mentioned the story to Francis. The pope responded that he would be delighted to receive the dining set.

“Apparently, nobody had asked him before,” said Limentani. “I am sad to see that he is sick.”

The story of the Limentani family and its special connection with the Vatican are not unique in the Jewish community of Rome.

The Jews of Rome have lived in the eternal city for over two millennia, most of which was under the rule of the Catholic Church.

Contrary to what happened in other areas of the papal state and all over Italy and Europe, Jews were constantly persecuted but never expelled from Rome. They served a specific theological purpose, offering a perennial testimony to what happened to those who did not accept Jesus.

“The pope was the king of the Jews of Rome for a very long time, in a relationship that was marked by deep ambiguity, with discrimination on the one hand and forms of protection on the other,” said Serena Di Nepi, an associate professor of Early Modern History at La Sapienza – University of Rome, whose expertise includes the social dynamics of the Roman Ghetto.

“The Church presented Rome as the new Jerusalem,” she told The Times of Israel. “The Jews of Rome were persecuted with the specific aim of bringing them to a path of conversion to Christianity. In the meantime, their life was supposed to be difficult but not impossible.”

Notably, Jews were compelled to pay tribute to newly elected popes under the Arch of Titus, the monumental structure celebrating Rome’s victory against Judeans and the destruction of Jerusalem. Until 1870, they........

© The Times of Israel