World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder mourned the passing of Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday night.

“It is with great sadness that I learned today that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has passed away,” he said. “He was a towering figure of the Roman Catholic Church, both as pope and before that as the cardinal who gave the Catholic-Jewish relationship solid theological underpinning and enhanced understanding. No pope before him visited as many synagogues, and he made a point of meeting with local Jewish community representatives whenever he visited foreign nations.”

Lauder recalled having met the former pope at the Vatican three times and said that each time, he was “deeply moved by his affection and friendship for the Jewish people, his commitment to remembrance of the Shoah, and his unambiguous condemnation of Holocaust denial in any form.”

“On behalf of more than 100 Jewish communities across the globe, I extend our most heartfelt sympathies to Pope Francis and to all Catholics around the world mourning this loss,” he said. “May the memory of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI be for a blessing.”

Benedict passed away on Saturday at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican after having fallen ill last week. The former pope’s body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, and his funeral was set for January 5.

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