c. 1998 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Three months ago, Gerhart Riegner, a French Jew living in Geneva, was given a copy of the long-awaited Vatican study on Christian anti-Semitism and its impact on the Holocaust.

That paper’s content, 11 years in the making, was noticeably different from the final version the Vatican released March 16, said Riegner, who was among the first Europeans to inform the World War II Allies of Hitler’s”final solution”to exterminate the Jews.

The document, entitled”We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,”expressed the church’s”deep sorrow”for the Holocaust but denied Catholic teachings fostered the anti-Semitism that fueled hatred against the Jews during World War II. Shoah is Hebrew for Holocaust.

Among the changes that Riegner, a lawyer, noticed in the final paper were a defense of German bishops’ efforts to save Jews and an elimination of the emphasis on Catholic”teaching of contempt”toward the Jews.

What’s more, he said, the earlier draft omitted any discussion of Pope Pius XII, whom the final document credits with having saved”hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives,”a claim that brought rebukes from Jewish leaders.”I was shown the document three months ago and there was nothing on Pius XII, nothing on the German bishops `condemning racism,’ as the document says,”Riegner recalled in an interview with RNS.”There was more on Catholic repentance and the section on the teaching of contempt in Germany was also better.” The Vatican would not comment on the changes or omissions in the final document, which was prepared by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

But other theologians involved in the vetting process say changes were made to soften the tone of the paper.

Hans Herman Henrix, a German theologian who crafted the German Bishops’ Conference confession on its war-time”sins”against Jews, said an earlier Vatican draft”was stronger because of the proposed formulation that `we’ confess and that `we’ should be the authority of the church itself.” If changes were made so late in the process, why were they?

One theologian, who was consulted on the document but asked not to be identified, said,”I don’t think the commission favored the changes but I do believe they were imposed by a higher authority. I have the impression that the whole text was taken out of their hands.” In fact, Vatican officials are deeply divided over how far the church should go in apologizing to Jews. Many priests and bishops say the church, too, was a victim of Nazism, a point the document makes. Some contend Pope John Paul II has gone far enough in repairing relations with the Jews.

On Thursday (March 26), Jewish leaders met with the pope at the end of a three-day Vatican meeting that was scheduled prior to the document’s release.

The pope did not mention the document but thanked the group for improving Catholic-Jewish dialogue.”The progress which you have already made shows the immense promise held out by continuing dialogue between Jews and Catholics,”said John Paul.

But one participant, Geoffrey Wigoder of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, publicly complained to the pope that the document fell short.”It was felt that the self-criticism, for all its importance, did not go far enough,”he said.

However, Wigoder did praise the church’s intent to”turn awareness of past sins into a firm resolve to build a new future based on a shared mutual respect,”he said.

Said another participant, Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York Board of Rabbis,”The document was a step and we in the Jewish community were expecting a leap. But that doesn’t mean other things won’t follow.” Schneier said the meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee was not intended to focus on the document but that its release prompted its discussion.”Nothing was held back on either side,”Schneier said.”It was a very blunt, open dialogue and that is a tribute to the state of Jewish-Catholic relations.” Schneier said Cardinal Edward Cassidy, who heads the commission that did the study, defended the document’s scope during the three-day meeting. Schneier noted the paper did not ask forgiveness _ as the French, German, Hungarian and other bishops’ conferences have done _ because the church believes it is”unfailingly holy”and”cannot sin as an institution.” The contention is not new in Catholic theology but neither is it uniformly accepted.

(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)”The conception of the holiness of church is very strong in this paper,”Henrix said.”One can have the impression that they want to protect the holiness of the church.” But he said the distinction the Vatican draws between the church and its sons and daughters”is connected in a way that it cannot be separated. Are they not the church?”he asked. If not,”what is the status of their membership to the church?” Riegner called”ludicrous”the document’s claim that Pius XII”saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives.””Crediting him with saving hundreds of thousands of Jews is simply not correct,”said Riegner, who met with papal nuncios in Geneva during the war and knew of the Vatican’s activities, which did include helping to hide Jews and giving some of them fake visas to escape the Nazis.

But, Riegner said,”nobody has saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives.” (END OPTIONAL TRIM)

In an effort to clarify some of the contentious claims in the document, Cassidy agreed with Riegner’s request for a bilateral working group of Jews and Catholics to discuss some of the historical aspects.

Cassidy reiterated the Vatican’s refusal to open to scholars its archives of the wartime era but did agree to form a commission to study an 11-volume set on Catholicism during the war years produced for the Vatican by four Jesuit priests.

“In discussion on the Vatican’s record during the Shoah and the Jewish demand for impartial access to the relevant archival material, Cardinal Cassidy suggested that a joint team of Jewish and Catholic scholars review the relevant material in the volumes produced by Catholic scholars covering the historical period concerned,” the Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee said in a statement at the end of the meeting.

Cassidy also said, in a remark some Jewish leaders said was a hint the archives could be opened some time in the future, that if questions remain after the joint committee examined the 11-volumes they should”seek further clarification,”presumably from the archives.

Only one of the four priests who compiled the 11 volumes, the Rev. Pierre Blet, a French priest, is alive, and he has called on the Vatican to open its archives.

DEA END HEILBRONNER