14 Friday, heist 11, 1918
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Jewish Leaders Tell Sympathy
to Catholics on Death of Pontiff
(Continued from Page 1)
tion's Secretary-General,
Gerhart M. Riegner,
noted that Pope Paul
"will always be remem-
bered by Jewish corn-
mmunities throughout
the world as one of the
architects of the im-
provement of Christian-
Jewish relations so hope-
fully inaugurated by his
predecessor and the Sec-
ond Vatican Council. We
are confident that the
spirit he infused into this
effort will continue into
the future.
Richard Maass, president
of the American Jewish
Committee, echoed these
sentiments.
The message sent by offi-
cials of the Synagogue
Council of America stated,
in part: "We are particu-
larly mindful of the impetus
he (Pope Paul) gave to a con-
tinuation of the Catholic
Church's rapprochement
with Judaism initiated by
the late Pope John, and his
personal encouragement
and support of the
Guidelines for the im-
plementation of Nostra
Aetate No. 4, a document
that holds promise of'a new
era in Catholic-Jewish rela-
tions." The message was
signed by Rabbi Saul Tep-
litz, president of the
Synagogue Council and
Rabbi Henry Siegman,
executive vice president.
David M. Blumberg, pres-
ident of Bnai Brith said
"The Pontiff will be remem-
bered as one who broadened
the involvement of the Holy
See to matters never before
confronted by the Vatican.
His sense of obligation to
humanity was perhaps best
embodied in his extensive
travels to diverse parts of
the world, including Israel,
and his impassioned pleas
for world peace before the
United Nations."
Burton M. Joseph, na-
tional chairman of the
Anti-Defamation League
of Bnai Brith, said that
Pope Paul carried out
programs "for improving
Jewish-Christian rela-
tions begun by Pope
John XXIII. He will be
remembered by the
Jewish community for
the establishment in 1974
by the Vatican of the
Commission for Religi-
ous Relations with Jews,
and the Commission's
1975 publication, the
Guidelines on Catholic-
Jewish Relations."
The Latin Patriarch in
Jerusalem opened a register
for visitors to sign to mark
their sorrow at the Pope's
death, and Jews and Mos-
lems, as well as Christians,
joined the lines.
A "sincere expression of
regret" upon the death of
Pope Paul VI was conveyed
to John Cardinal Dearden of
the Detroit Archdiocese
from John H. Shepherd,
president of the Jewish
Community Council of Met-
ropolitan Detroit.
In 1964, Pope Paul be-
came the first Pontiff to
journey to Israel, at which
time he visited the Church
of the Nativity in Nazareth
and the Church of the Last
Supper on Jerusalem's
Mount of Olives. Although
the visit did not represent
any change in the Roman
Catholic Church's tradi-
tional position regarding
the state of Israel, Pope
Paul did meet unofficially
with former President of Is-
rael Zalman Shazar at the
Mandlebaum Gate in
Jerusalem.
During his reign, the
Pope also established con-
tact with Jewish political
and intellectual leaders
from Israel and other na-
tions. In addition to receiv-
ing Abba Eban, Moshe
Dayan and other leading Is-
raelis, the Pontiff held an
unprecedented meeting the
Premier Golda Meir in
January 1973, the first au-
dience granted to an Israeli
head of state.
In the wake of Vatican
Council II, convened in the
fall of 1962, and Pope John's
overtures to Jewish leaders
through his appointed rep-
resentative, Cardinal Bea,
Pope Paul held a dramatic
meeting with Rabbi Ab-
raham Joshua Heschel.
Heschel, who had attended
the Vatican Council, ap-
pealed for a modification of
Catholic doctrine regarding
the issues of deicide and
conversion of Jews.
Following his audience
with Heschel, the Pope on
Oct. 20, 1965, promulgated
the well-known Vatican
Declaration on Non-
Christian Religions, which
represented a major shift in
Catholic doctrine regarding
the Jews.
The declaration re-
pudiated the "false charge
of collective Jewish guilt for
the death of Christ" and cal-
led for "fraternal dialogue
and mutual respect between
Catholics and Jews
throughout the world." In
the wake of this document, a
Vatican Secretariat on
Catholic-Jewish Relations
was established in an un-
precedented attempt to en-
courage cooperation bet-
ween Catholics and Jews in
the United States, Israel
and other parts of the world.
The Catholic-Jewish
dialogue was continued in
the form of annual confer-
ences beginning in 1970 be-
tween the International
Jewish Committee for In-
terreligious Consultations
(IJCIC), and the Vatican.
The IJCIC is an um-
brella organization com-
posed of representatives
of the Synagogue Coun&I
of America, World
Jewish Congress, Israel
Interfaith Committee,
American Jewish Com-
mittee, American Jewish
Congress and the Anti-
Defamation League of
Bnai Brith. Pope Paul
met with the leaders of
this group in 1975.
Pope Paul met with lead-
ers of the IJCIC and sub-
sequently issued a set of
Vatican Guidelines for the-
implemmenta don of the
principles outlined in hi.
1965 Declaration. These
guidelines included plans
for the revision of anti-
Jewish teachings contained
in Catholic textbooks,
liturgy and Sermons.
Recently, in 1977, the
Pope renounced all Catholic
efforts to proselytize among
Jews in a statement made
before the annual IJCIC-
Vatican Conference in Ven-
ice.
However, in spite of much
that was positive in Pope
Paul's policy toward the
Jews, a number of Jewish
leaders expressed disap-
pointment in the fact that
the bright promise of a new
era in Christian-Jewish re-
lations held out by Pope
John XXIII was only par-
tially fulfilled by his succes-
sor.
It was also recalled that
during his 1964 visit to Is-
rael, the Pope defended
the behavior of Pope Pius
XII who has been con-
demned for his silence in
the face of Hitler's exter-
mination of European
Jewry.
Some Jewish leaders
were also extremely dis-
turbed by the fact that the
Vatican delegation to a UN
confab in Vancouver in
1976 supported a resolution
condemning Zionism. The
Vatican delegation to an
Islamic-Catholic conference
held in Tripoli, Libya, in
1976 also signed a joint re-
solution containing attacks
on Israel and Zionism. The
Vatican was subsequently
compelled to disavow those
attacks in response to a
storm of criticism from
Catholic and Jewish or-
ganizations.
Goren recalled that, over
the years, he had made four
appeals to Pope Paul to help
secure the release of Jewish
prisoners in the Soviet
Union and Syria. In each in-
stance, the Pope had prom-
ised, through his delegate in
Jerusalem, that the Vatican
would offer its assistance by
means of quiet diplomacy.
Yet, the Pope actively
interceded on the part of
Archbishop Hilarion
Capucci, sentenced in
December 1974 by an Is-
raeli court to 12 years im-
prisonment for smuggl-
ing terrorist arms into Is-
rael. The Vatican,
through negotiations
with an Israeli official,
was successful in obtain-
ing Capucci's release
which was as a "good will
-feshire toward the Chris-
tian world."
Nevertheless, despite re-
servations on the part of
some Jewish leaders, Goren
praised Pope Paul and ex-
pressed the hope that his
successor "will continue to
promote the spirit of
brotherhood between the
different faiths and will ex-
tend formal recognition to
the biblical phenomenon
being enacted in the Holy
Land with the renaissance
of the state of Israel, which
implements the vision of the
Prophets."•