NEWS STORY: Pope seeks answers on roots of anti-Judaism

c. 1997 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Determined to advance soul-searching among Catholics, Pope John Paul II has convened a group of Christian scholars to examine the origins of anti-Judaism in the Roman Catholic Church. But the emotionally charged topic will unfold Oct. 30-Nov. 1 behind closed doors. Vatican officials say the secrecy is […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Determined to advance soul-searching among Catholics, Pope John Paul II has convened a group of Christian scholars to examine the origins of anti-Judaism in the Roman Catholic Church.

But the emotionally charged topic will unfold Oct. 30-Nov. 1 behind closed doors. Vatican officials say the secrecy is intended to promote a honest exchange among the 60 Christian theologians and historians.


The conference, entitled”Roots of Anti-Judaism in Christianity,”is meant to be a contribution to the Catholic Church’s long-awaited final document on anti-Semitism that has been in the works for 10 years.

Nonetheless, the gathering of scholars, most of them Catholic but none of them Jewish, is itself a watershed event that could further repair Catholic-Jewish relations.

The Rev. Georges Cottier, a committee member, said Jewish scholars were not invited because”this is an internal matter which we as Christians are called upon to reflect.” In a statement, the Vatican said the conference, sponsored by the Theology-History Commission of the Jubilee 2000 Committee, would”aim to get beyond the misunderstandings and the divisions of the past”and”look to the future with serenity and hope.”Reexamining the past, it added, would offer a”correct orientation to the life of the faithful”and promote”reconciliation, esteem and respect”between Jews and Catholics.

While the Vatican gathering will mine nearly 2,000 years of religious history, many Jews have focused intently on the Catholic Church’s behavior during World War II, when, they contend, Catholic teachings accelerated anti-Semitism in Europe and Pope Pius XII refused to publicly condemn Nazism.

But in the past 50 years Catholic denial has receded, yielding to contrition. Earlier this month, Catholic bishops in France admitted to failing to speak out against the Nazi atrocities.”We beg for the pardon of God, and we ask the Jewish people to hear this word of repentance,”said the letter written by the French Bishops’ Conference.

In other European countries, notably Germany and Poland, Catholic leaders have issued strong condemnations of their churches’ refusal to condemn anti-Semitism and teachings that fostered hatred toward the Jews.

The German bishops issued the strongest condemnation. They wrote:”Christians in the years of the Third Reich (failed to) put up the necessary resistance to racist anti-Semitism. Catholics have denial and guilt.” The Vatican conference comes 32 years after the seminal Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate, (“In Our Age”) which reversed centuries of Catholic doctrine that reviled all Jews for the death of Christ. It also takes place three years after the pope called on Catholics to repent for their sins and reflect on the past in preparation for the upcoming millennium.


The author of the German bishops’ statement, theologian Hans Herman Henrix, lauded the pope’s initiative. Much of the focus at the conference, which he will attend,”will undoubtedly be on the Holocaust,”he said in an interview.”The idea that this discussion is linked to questions about the past thousand years is important because there is such a burden of history. The final document must be prepared in such a way as to make clear that this history must never be repeated.” In remarks Thursday to visiting clergy from England and Wales, the pope alluded to the exercise, saying,”Our journey to the year 2000 should take the form of a genuine pursuit of conversion and reconciliation by purifying ourselves of past errors and instances of infidelity, inconsistency and slowness to act.”Certainly, it is not enough to make public statements of sorrow for past wrongs,”he added.”We must remind ourselves and the faithful of the radically personal nature of the repentance and conversion required.” One of the most burning questions among scholars who have studied the period is whether the church as an institution was responsible for sowing the seeds of anti-Semitism and turning its back on Jews during the Holocaust, as Henrix has asserted, or whether the blame belongs solely to individual Catholics.

Critics point to the failure of Pius XII to speak out forcefully during the war years against the Nazi persecution of the Jews. Others cite the behavior of church hierarchy in Germany, Austria and Poland for failing to speak out against _ and in some cases actively supporting _ the actions of Hitler’s Third Reich.

Defenders, however, contend the church worked quietly behind the scenes to shelter Jews. They say public denouncements of the Nazis could have worsened the persecution.

DEA END HEILB

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