Church’s dialogue with Jews

by Editor · June 22, 2005

Pope Benedict may not engage in the expansive theatrical interplay of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, but he evidently has a keen appreciation for the symbolic gesture, so it was appropriate that the German pope would prioritise meeting a high-powered delegation of Jewish representatives, the first such non-Christian group he has welcomed.

Like his predecessor, Pope Benedict comes from a country with a distressing history of injustice against Jews. Like John Paul II, Pope Benedict is acutely aware of the Church’s role in fertilising the soil of anti-Semitism, culminating in the evils of the Holocaust.

In his meeting with the Jewish leaders, Pope Benedict pledged the Church’s conscience to the memory of its own role in the persecution of Jews, calling the “remembrance of the past” a “moral imperative” for Catholics and Jews.

He said Catholics must not forget the scandal of institutionalised anti-Judaism committed over two millennia in the name of Christ.

Successive popes used to exercise a form of apartheid in Italy, introducing segregated neighbourhoods and restricted movements for Jews, a legacy of which is the word “ghetto”. Passion plays used to be accompanied by pogroms against Jews, on whom a supra-generational collective guilt was attached for the crucifixion of Christ. It was only four decades ago a blink of the eye in the Church’s long history that liturgical references to Jews as “perfidious” were dropped.

Pope Benedict is sensitive to this history, and will doubtless build on the momentous progress made by John Paul II in healing Catholic-Jewish relations, as demanded by the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate. The pope has made it clear that he sees relations with Judaism as the interreligious priority of his pontificate.

Some have suggested that Pope Benedict might even visit a synagogue when he travels to Cologne in August. The symbolic power of such a gesture would be immense. A German pope visiting a German synagogue would send a message that the Church’s commitment to its relationship with Judaism is authentic, permanent and unequivocal.

Much has been accomplished to complete the mission decreed by Nostra Aetate. John Paul II’s 2000 pilgrimage to the Holy Land in particular was meaningful. In concrete terms, the late pope offered a genuine mea culpa for the injustices committed against Jews throughout history in the name of the Catholic Church; symbolically he provided a lasting image of reconciliation when he prayed at Judaism’s most sacred site, the Western Wall.

The path towards reconciliation with Judaism will not be untroubled, however. Pope Benedict will have to weigh the needs of interreligious progress against the imperative of working towards a just solution in the Middle East, where the Church’s hierarchy has often spoken out against injustices being perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians.

Internally, the on-going process for the beatification of Pope Pius XII continues to cloud dialogue with Judaism, as some feel that the war-time pope did too little to object against the Holocaust (a highly-charged debate that still requires a resolution).

Pope Benedict will be aware of such hazards. Despite potential setbacks, early signs are that this papacy will see greater dialogue and fruitful cooperation with Judaism.