I

Catholic Prelates Ignore Arab Protests on Deicide"

(Continued from Page 1)
voices now."
Scores of prelates attending the
Council crowded the pisles, the
better to hear Cardinal Cushing, as
he made his plea, according to
official spokesmen for the session
—which is closed to the press.
Cardinal Cushing's request for a
stronger version of a declaration
on the Jews, more in line with
Cardinal Bea's original draft, was
supported by Albert Gregory Car-
dinal Meyer, of Chicago, and Jo-
seph Elmer Cardinal Ritter, of St.
Louis. (In New York, it was re-
ported authoritatively that Francis
Cardinal Spellman, who is recover-
ing ,from surgery, still hopes to
join* the , Council debate in Rome
and express his own position in
favor of a strong declaration ab-
solving the Jews of deicide.)
"We must return to the text of
last year's," said Cardinal Meyer,
"the declaration should also men-
tion that the Church is against
any discrimination for reasons
of race, creed or color. This
should be set forth in such a way
as to leave no mistake and no
doUbt in the mind of any one."
Cardinal Meyer made it clear
that he wants the proposed declara-
tion to include • a specific condem-
nation of anti ,Semitisra. He was
followed by Cardinal Ritter,' who
said the text to be adopted must
"express rejection of the descrip-
tion of the Jews as an accursed
people, a reproached people, a
people of deicide." ,
Paul Emile Cardinal of Montreal
followed the. U.S. bishops, declaring
that the declaration must say spe-
cifically that the Jews must not be
regarded as a "rejected" people
due to the crucifixion of Jesus. The
same position was taken by Cardi-
nal Lienart, of Lille, France; Jo-
seph Cardinal Frings, of Cologne,
West Germany; and Giacoma Car-
dinal Lercaro, of Bologna, Italy.
However, a group of cardinals,
headed by Ignace Gabriel Cardi-
nal Tappouni, patriarch of An-
tioch of the Syrians, argued
against a declaration that would
improve relations between the
Catholic Church and the Jewish
people. Declaring that he was
speaking not only for himself
but also on behalf of four other
Catholic prelates in the Middle
East, Cardinal Tappouni said
that, if a declaration is presented
for improvement of relations
with the Jews, he would oppose
it.
"if it is approved.", he warned.
"the're will be very serious conse-
quences in our countries. We af-
firm our solemn opposition. We
must confirm in this solemn as-
, sembly our former objections
against a declaration of this kind
coming from the Council."
"We have nothing against the
Jewish religion," Cardinai Tappou-
ni continued, "neither are we anti-
Semites. On' the contrary, we are
almost all Semites. Btit with full
awareness of our pastoral duties,
we remind the Council that the
declaration is inopportune. We ask
that it either be dropped or in-
cluded only among the acts s of the
Council."
The Vatican's press spokesman
reported that only one or two
among the 2,500 fathers in the
Council applauded Cardinal Tap-
puni. But he was answered imme-
diately by Cardinal Lienart. "Al-

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though the opportunity for the dec-
laration is being contested because
of political tensions," said Cardinal
Lienart, "it has no political impli-
cations. It should be kept as it is
because it has ecumenical and pas-
toral purposes.
"If we want to appeal to all
Christians we cannot forget that
Judaism is the origin of all Chris-
tion churches, that it has formed
them. We are all sons of Abraham.
We have in common the Old Tes-
tament and the history of-alvation
up to Jesus, Who chose to be a
Jew—and so were His mother and
the apostles. Therefore, we- must
treat the Jews with reverer.ce.
"It is pastoral duty to state the
truth about this matter. Saint Peter
and Saint Paul did not consider
the Jews as lost people, since they
had received God's promise — and
God maintains them. Applying this
in practice, let us avoid everything
that could be interpreted that we
consider Jews as `blamed' people.
Let us not say that they are `dei-
cides.' "
He concluded by referring to
the Council of 'Trent, which had
"stated clearly that Jesus died '
for the sins of mankind and that
it was all the sinners in the world
who killed Him." He said he
would bring in proposals for
amendments of the draft declara-
tion in writing.
A contrary view was expressed
by Cardinal Ruffini, archbishop of
Palermo, Italy, one of the leaders
of the conservative bishops op-
posing absolution of the Jews from
the deicide charge. He said he also
opposed calling the Jews "dei-
cides," since "God cannot be put to
death." "However," he continued,
"the Jews also should love Christ.
Jews also should -be reminded to
love Christians, and this has not
always been so in the past." He
then charged that Talmudic texts
"inculcate contempt for all non-
Jews."
At a press conference Monday
afternoon, Msgr. John Osterreicher,
an American theologian acting as
an advisor to the Council, pointed
out that "there are many and very
controversial opinions discussed in
the Talmud," rejecting Cardinal
Ruffini's talmudic interpretation by
implication. In general, it was re-
ported, Cardinal Ruffini's com-
ments — especially his interpreta-
tion of the Talmud—caused consid-
erable surprise among the Council
Fathers.
The bishop from Palermo was
followed by another Italian, Car-
dinal Lercaro, who took an oppo-
site point of view. The basic rea-
son for the need of a declaration
on relations with Jews, he stated,
"has nothing to do with the last
war, nor with any humanitarian
nor with any political motivation.
Its cause is purely religious and
spiritual, and comes from within
the Church that is looking deeper
into herself now and into her
essential mystery."
Voicing his request for the com-
plete absolution of Jews of the
blame for the crucifixion of Jesus,
Cardinal Cugling told the Council:
"Christ died freely for all men be-
cause of the sins of all men—Jews
and Gentiles alike—whom all had
crucified and are still crucifying.
We must condemn every attempt to
justify hatred, to justify inequities
and persecutions as Christian ac-
tions.
"We have all seen in our times
the evil fruit of such attempts. No
Christian theological or historical
reason implies hatred, inequities
or persecution of Jews. We should
really think whether it would not
be just to confess humbly before
the world that Christians have
often failed to live up to Christ
in their relations with Jews.
"In this age of ours, how many
Jews have suffered and died be-
cause of indifference, because of
silence. There is no need to enu-
merate the crimes committed in

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
8—Friday, October 2, 1964

our times against them. If not many
Christian voices were lifted in re-
cent years against this great in-
justice, let our voices humbly cry
out now," the Boston cardinal
urged.
Cardinal Ritter told the Council
he greets the declaration on rela-
tions with Jews "with joy." "It is
an opportunity," he said, "to repair
the injustices of the past centuries.
Last year's text is better than the
one before us now because the
newer version has several weak-
nesses. Its style recognizes appar-
ently only half-heartedly our close
relations (with Jews) and our com-
mon patrimony. It has certain omis-
sions and ambiguities; in some
places, what is not said is more
eloquent than what it does say."
Cardinal Leger, of Montreal, told
the Council that the importance of
the declaration on Jews "should be
obvious to all," The Council, he
said, must make it clear it is not
speaking only of Jews today but of
Jews as such everywhere, in space
and in time."
Monday's strong endorsement of
a fresh stand on the declaration,
bringing it closer to the Bea ver-
sion of last winter, was presaged
by Bea himself last Friday, when
he introduced the subject before
the Council. He made it clear -he
wanted revisions of the latest draft.
Brooks Hays, former president
of the Southern Baptist Conven-
tion and now an official of the
National Conference of Christ-
ians and Jews, Wednesday
lauded the efforts of American
Bishops at the Ecumenical
Council to strengthen the pro-
posed declaration on Catholic-
Jewish relations.
Hays, who had a private au-
dience Tuesday with Pope Paul,
said he had been invited by the

Pope to attend the Ecumenical
Council session Thursday as an ob-
server. A former U.S. Represen-
tative from Little Rock, Ark., he is
chairman of the Brotherhood Com-
mittee of the National Conference.

He spoke with enthusiasm about
the declaration on Jews and added
that "my Catholic friends will un-
derstand my pride as an American
over the eloquent declarations by
American Cardinals and Bishops"
on both the declaration on Jews
and that on religious freedom.
Hays, who is also President
Johnson's consultant on racial
questions, said he could not com-
ment ,on the audience with the
Pope. He added that the "liberali-
zation" toward which the Catholic
church was now moving with a
"universalistic spirit" was also the
fruit of Catholic thought in other

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continents and particularly in the
United States.
Discussing his work as brother-
hood chairman, he said he had
made a tour of the U.S. at the re-
quest of the late President Ken-
nedy and that he could report that
a "concrete sprit of brotherhood"
existed between all three religious
Catholic, Jewish
denominations
and Protestant—united in defense
of freedom and of civil rights. He
expressed the opinion that the
council declarations on religious
freedom and on the Jews would
(Continued on Page 9)

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