Theodor Herzl, in his efforts to enlist international support for the
Zionist project, managed to obtain an audience with Pope Pius X and to
set forth his vision before the pontiff.
In his diary, Herzl recalled
the pope’s response: “We will not be able to recognize you because you
did not recognize Our Lord. We will not be able to prevent Jews from
returning to Palestine but our clergy will be ready with holy water in
order to baptize them all.”
Thus
Pius X summed up the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards the
Jews, whereby the Jews have been punished because they refused to
acknowledge the Christian Gospel and they are condemned to wander among
the nations until the end of days as proof of their wrongdoing.
Today
the situation is entirely different. The Vatican maintains full
relations with the State of Israel and the last two popes have visited
the country, offering great respect to its elected officials and its
representative, political and religious institutions. The Jews are
described by the leaders of the Catholic Church as “the beloved elder
brother from the Old Testament − You are the beloved elder brother of
the Church of the original Covenant never broken and never to be broken”
(in the words of Pope John Paul II).
The
last two popes also emphasized the fact that the Christians have a
unique spiritual connection to the Jewish people, unparalleled in the
relations between other world religions.
This
amazing turnaround is credited to one person: Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli.
Roncalli was the papal nuncio in Turkey during the Holocaust and acted
in various ways to save thousands of Jews. After the war he did
everything he could to influence Catholic countries to support the
establishment of the State of Israel. Upon his ascent to the papacy in
1958, when he chose the name John XXIII, he took it with the words: “I
am Joseph your brother” (in the words of the biblical Joseph to his
brothers in Egypt; Giuseppe is Joseph in Italian).
John
XXIII saw to amending the liturgy of the Catholic Church and eliminated
from it any disparaging word about the Jews. In 1962 he convened the
bishops of the church serving in various countries around the world in
order to discuss the church’s path in the modern era.
Among the subjects
that came up was the church’s attitude towards Judaism and the Jews.
This meeting, the work of which spread over three years, is known by the
name Vatican II, and the document that dealt with other religions and
especially Judaism is known by the Latin title Nostra Aetate (In Our
Age).
This
document brought about a revolution in Christianity’s attitude towards
the Jews: For the first time there was a declaration negating any claim
that the Jewish people was responsible for the death of Jesus. Moreover,
the Nostra Aetate declaration rejected the doctrine that the Jews had
been cast out by God and the church came to take their place.
The
document ratified the eternity of the covenant between God and the
Jewish people, alongside a firm condemnation of anti-Semitism. (Pope
John Paul II defined anti-Semitism as “a sin against God and mankind.”)
Sadly,
Pope John Paul XXIII died before the Nostra Aetate declaration was
published and before he managed to establish diplomatic relations with
the State of Israel. In his stead a more “cautious” pope was chosen, who
apparently was concerned about negative reactions in the Arab world,
including harm to the Christian communities in those countries.
Only 28
years later was the Fundamental Agreement signed between the Vatican and
the State of Israel, which led to the strengthening of the ties between
them. President Shimon Pers defined this correctly: “There have never
been such good and close ties between us.”
These full relations made
possible the papal visits to Israel by the last two popes. They have
also led to the establishment of a bilateral commission for interfaith
dialogue between the Vatican and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which is
currently marking a decade of its activity.
All
these positive achievements and developments are the fruit of the
courage and vision of one man with a huge heart and a sincere love for
the Jewish people − Pope John XXIII − who, as noted, saved many Jews
during he Holocaust, supported the establishment of the State of Israel
and paved the way for his successors who followed in his footsteps.
Despite
all this, today there is no official or government recognition of what
he did. With the aim of rectifying that, a public committee has been
established, which has as a key part of its activity a conference in
honor of the memory of Pope John XXIII. From the practical standpoint,
however, this is not enough and we should do more.
In our textbooks
there is hardly any mention of the revolution John XXIII fomented in the
Catholic Church’s attitude towards the Jewish people, and even his
heroic actions in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust are not known to
most Israelis.
Especially
now, when we do not lack for enemies, it is essential that we recognize
this hero who did so much for us and led some of those who hated us to
love us or at least to befriend us.
This is a challenge for the
Education Ministry and the state’s teaching establishment, and it is a
debt of gratitude towards a figure of such great historic importance for
the State of Israel, the Jewish people and their relations with the
Christian world.
This “world” for the most part is not a part of the
problem of anti-Semitism today but rather a part of the solution, and
this to a large extent is thanks to John XXIII.