Committed. Pope Benedict (Archive photo)
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Pope: Commited to relations with Jews
Pope Benedict assures Jews that Vatican committed to good Catholic-Jewish relations, eternal memory of Holocaust
Pope Benedict assured the world's Jews on Thursday that he and the Vatican were irrevocably committed to good Catholic-Jewish relations and to never forgetting the Holocaust.
The Pope spoke for the 40th anniversary celebrations of a Second Vatican Council document called "Nostra Aetate" (In Our Time) that revolutionized relations by repudiating the concept of continuing collective Jewish guilt for the death of Christ.
"This anniversary gives us abundant reason to express gratitude to almighty God ..." he said in a message to Catholic and Jewish leaders commemorating the anniversary in Rome.
The Pope, who visited a synagogue in his native Germany last August, praised those who had worked courageously to foster reconciliation and better understanding between Christians and Jews "despite a complex and often painful history."
He cited the "tragic experience of the Shoah," using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust in which the Nazis killed some six million Jews.
In the past some Jewish leaders have accused wartime Pope Pius XII of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust - something the Vatican denies - but Thursday's commemorations highlighted the progress rather than the conflicts.
"In laying the foundations for a renewed relationship between the Jewish People and the Church, Nostra Aetate stressed the need to overcome past prejudices, misunderstandings, indifference, and the language of contempt and hostility," he said in his message read to the conference.
"I have expressed my own firm determination to walk in the footsteps traced by my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II. The Jewish-Christian dialogue must continue to enrich and deepen the bonds of friendship which have developed," he said.
Tribute to John Paul
John Paul did more than any pontiff in history to improve relations with Jews. He was the first pope to visit a synagogue in some 2,000 years, he led the Vatican to diplomatic relations with Israel and prayed at Jerusalem's Western Wall in 2000.
One participant recalled that before the Council, which ended in 1965, Catholics prayed for "the perfidious Jews" during Good Friday services marking Christ's death.
"A new generation has been brought up without having been exposed to the hatred which before had poisoned relations," Brazil's chief rabbi, Henry Sobel, told Reuters.
"In four decades we have overcome obstacles that appeared insurmountable and we are determined to go forward," he said.
Several Catholic and Jewish leaders said people had to keep up their guard because dangers always lurked.
"The message of Nostra Aetate is as clear today as it was then: a firm 'no' to any form of anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism and the condemnation of every offence, discrimination and persecution that derives from them," said Cardinal Walter Kasper.
"Our path, in truth, is still a long way from the Promised Land," said Kasper, head of the Vatican department for religious relations with Jews. "It is a path along which there are still many obstacles, misunderstandings and suspicions to overcome, wounds of the past to heal."
Sir Sigmund Sternberg, British businessman, philanthropist and inter-faith leader, recalled at one anniversary event this week how as a young boy in his native Hungary he had to deal with being called a "Christ killer."
"That is something that you don't forget," he said.
