Vincent Browne: The Pope's Impressive Act of Reparation
The new pope, Benedict XVI, visited the oldest synagogue in northern Europe during his trip to Germany last Friday.
The synagogue had been destroyed in the anti-Jewish Kristallnacht riots of November 1938 and was rebuilt in 1959.
The visit was loaded with significance. A German pope identifying so vividly with the victims of the pogroms and Holocaust. It was impressive. A silent act, perhaps, of reparation for the crime against the Jewish people perpetrated by Germans, Catholics, the Catholic church and two predecessors of Pope Benedict, Pius XI and Pius XII?
Welcoming him to the synagogue Abraham Lehrer, a German Jewish leader, said: "You grew up in Germany during a terrible time. We not only see in you the head of the Catholic church, but also a German who is aware of his historical responsibility."
The Catholic church has been attempting to repair its relations with the world's Jewish community since 1959, when Pope John XXIII abolished from the Catholic liturgy reference to the "perfidious Jews".
In 1965 Pope Paul VI published a declaration on "The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate". This acknowledged the unique relationship between Judaism and Christianity, deriving from their common heritage, but went on to repeat the charge that was at the root of anti-Semitism: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ, still what happened in his passion can not be charged against all the Jews without distinction then alive, nor against the Jews of today."
Pope John Paul II visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem and prayed for forgiveness for all the sins Christians had committed against Jews.
In 1998 the Catholic Church published We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, which spoke of "certain interpretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people as a whole" that had incited "Christian mobs to attack the religious centres of others, including synagogues".
The problem with the gospels is not the misinterpretations; it is the gospels. Take the following passage from the gospel of St Matthew, chapter 27. Pilate asked the crowd of Jews, whether they wanted him to release Jesus or Barabbas, a notorious prisoner. The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. So, in answer to Pilate's question, the crowd said Barabbas. Then the crowd shouted in relation to Jesus "crucify him". And, according to Matthew, they followed this up with the infamous remark: "Let his blood be on us and on our children."
All this dialogue was of course a complete invention but there it is, right in the heart of the gospel, at the moment of climax. How do you interpret away this other than by way of saying: by the way, folks, this is all made up? And since so much reliance is and has been paid to the literal word of the gospel, the problem is what is stated there, not how it is interpreted....
Pius XI was openly anti-Semitic, approving, for example, of the abduction of a Jewish child to rear her as a Catholic. Pius XII's record remains problematic, not just for him but for the Catholic church....
A terrible crime was perpetrated against the Jewish people. The Catholic church bears a responsibility for its part in generating anti-Semitism. There should be an open acknowledgment of that and how, in essence, Christianity came to be anti-Semitic (not just because of "misinterpretations") - also an openness of what the Vatican did and did not do in the course of the Holocaust.
The synagogue had been destroyed in the anti-Jewish Kristallnacht riots of November 1938 and was rebuilt in 1959.
The visit was loaded with significance. A German pope identifying so vividly with the victims of the pogroms and Holocaust. It was impressive. A silent act, perhaps, of reparation for the crime against the Jewish people perpetrated by Germans, Catholics, the Catholic church and two predecessors of Pope Benedict, Pius XI and Pius XII?
Welcoming him to the synagogue Abraham Lehrer, a German Jewish leader, said: "You grew up in Germany during a terrible time. We not only see in you the head of the Catholic church, but also a German who is aware of his historical responsibility."
The Catholic church has been attempting to repair its relations with the world's Jewish community since 1959, when Pope John XXIII abolished from the Catholic liturgy reference to the "perfidious Jews".
In 1965 Pope Paul VI published a declaration on "The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate". This acknowledged the unique relationship between Judaism and Christianity, deriving from their common heritage, but went on to repeat the charge that was at the root of anti-Semitism: "True, the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ, still what happened in his passion can not be charged against all the Jews without distinction then alive, nor against the Jews of today."
Pope John Paul II visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem and prayed for forgiveness for all the sins Christians had committed against Jews.
In 1998 the Catholic Church published We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, which spoke of "certain interpretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people as a whole" that had incited "Christian mobs to attack the religious centres of others, including synagogues".
The problem with the gospels is not the misinterpretations; it is the gospels. Take the following passage from the gospel of St Matthew, chapter 27. Pilate asked the crowd of Jews, whether they wanted him to release Jesus or Barabbas, a notorious prisoner. The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for the release of Barabbas. So, in answer to Pilate's question, the crowd said Barabbas. Then the crowd shouted in relation to Jesus "crucify him". And, according to Matthew, they followed this up with the infamous remark: "Let his blood be on us and on our children."
All this dialogue was of course a complete invention but there it is, right in the heart of the gospel, at the moment of climax. How do you interpret away this other than by way of saying: by the way, folks, this is all made up? And since so much reliance is and has been paid to the literal word of the gospel, the problem is what is stated there, not how it is interpreted....
Pius XI was openly anti-Semitic, approving, for example, of the abduction of a Jewish child to rear her as a Catholic. Pius XII's record remains problematic, not just for him but for the Catholic church....
A terrible crime was perpetrated against the Jewish people. The Catholic church bears a responsibility for its part in generating anti-Semitism. There should be an open acknowledgment of that and how, in essence, Christianity came to be anti-Semitic (not just because of "misinterpretations") - also an openness of what the Vatican did and did not do in the course of the Holocaust.