Pope reaffirms dialogue with Jews as he marks 60th anniversary of a key document

Audio By Carbonatix

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday marked the 60th anniversary of the Vatican document that revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with Jews, reaffirming the commitment to dialogue at a time of rising antisemitism over Israel’s war in Gaza.

Leo presided over a two-part interfaith commemoration of the anniversary: He first joined religious leaders from over a dozen faith traditions in an appeal for peace at the Colosseum, then presided over an evening event focused on the landmark document at the Vatican.

In the text, “Nostra Aetate,” Latin for “In Our Time,” the Catholic Church deplored antisemitism in every form and repudiated the “deicide” charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ’s death.

The idea of Jewish collective guilt for the crucifixion had fueled antisemitism for centuries. The Vatican crafted the document repudiating it as the church reckoned with the role traditional Christian teaching had played in the Holocaust.

The document itself was issued in 1965, during the Second Vatican Council, the meetings that modernized the Catholic Church and revolutionized the way it related to other religions and the modern world. It has been credited with helping improve relations between Christians and Jews ever since.

In his comments Tuesday night, Leo said the document was historic, the first time the Vatican had provided the theological basis for the Jewish roots of Christianity. He said it “takes a firm stand against all forms of antisemitism” and remained “highly relevant today.”

“This historic document, therefore, opened our eyes to a simple yet profound principle: dialogue is not a tactic or a tool, but a way of life — a journey of the heart that transforms everyone involved, the one who listens and the one who speaks,” he said.

This year’s anniversary comes amid a surge in antisemitism linked to Israel’s military actions in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. In the United States alone, the Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents reached a record high last year, with 58% of the 9,354 incidents related to Israel, notably chants, speeches and signs at rallies protesting Israeli policies.

The war has similarly strained the Vatican’s relations with the Jewish community. Pope Francis repeatedly angered Jewish and Israeli leaders with comments they perceived as drawing a moral equivalence between the Hamas attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Francis did meet with relatives of hostages taken by Hamas and called repeatedly for them to be returned. But he called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide and said Israel’s military response was disproportionate.

Leo didn’t minimize the strain when he met with Jewish leaders and faith leaders who attended his installation as pope in May. In greeting the Jewish leaders present, he recalled Christians’ special relationship with Jews.

“Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours,” Leo said in May.

Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said Leo’s acknowledgment of the problems was in itself a big step forward. In Rome to mark the anniversary, Marans said he hoped for continued, firm position from the Vatican repudiating antisemitism.

“Never in the relationship of Catholics and Jews since ‘Nostra Aetate’ has the Jewish people been more in need of friends who commit themselves to combating antisemitism with every fiber of their being,” he said in an interview.

“The Catholic Church has one of the largest megaphones available. It has moral suasion that is unparalleled. We hope that they will use all of the tools in their arsenal to double down in that effort,” he added.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.