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30
Catholic-Jewish Relations Got
Boost During Paul VI's Reign
By MARC H. TANENBAUM
(Copyright 1978, JTA, Inc.)
(Editor's Note: Rabbi
Marc Tanenbaum, na-
tional interreligious af-
fairs director of the
American Jewish Com-
mittee and a pioneering
leader on Jewish-
Christian relations, was
the only rabbi at Vatican
II over which Pope John
XXIII and Pope Paul VI
presided.)
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meeting Pope Paul VI on
three separate occasions in
Vatican City and in New
York. The overriding im-
pression that I carry with
me of the late Pope is that of
a , complex, dedicated,
highly intellectual person
who, at the same time, was a
deeply spiritual man. He
was warmer than first ap-
pearances indicated, and he
genuinely cared for human
beings. -
Pope Paul entered the
diplomatic service of the
Vatican Secretariat of State
in 1923; three years after
his ordination. He spent
most of his adult life in Vat-
ican City. He had;therefore,
little opportunity to get to
know Jewish people, their
religion or culture (or for
that matter, any of the other
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POPE PAUL VI
major religious com-
munities).
Vatican Council II, which
flung open the windows of
the Catholic Church to the
world outside Italy, became
in effect an extraordinary
"on the job" training for
Pope Paul to experience
first-hand that outside
world, including the world
of the Jewish people and Is-
rael.
During World War II,
as Msgr. Giovanni Bat-
tista Montini, the first
group of Jews he met
were refugees from
Nazi-dominated Central
Europe. So he knew Jews
mainly as victims in exile.
That would tend to con-
firm some of the ancient
images in certain tradi-
tions of Christian 'teach-
ing of "the wandering
Jews" who suffered exile
as punishment for not
becoming Christians.
gion is inadequate or unful-
filled.
It is a genuine tribute to
Pope Paul, however, that
his native intellectual in-
tegrity and his genuine, if
cautious, openness to new
ideas and experiences led
him increasingly to modify
his traditionalist views as
he gained fresh insights.
Some of his new insights
began to emerge from his
growing number of audi-
ences with various Jewish
leaders from 1963 through
1978.
His changing attitudes
were perhaps most - clearly
expressed during -one of his
first audiences, and in his
last. Referring, to the
trauma of the Holocaust,
Pope Paul on June 1, 1964,
told an American Jewish
Committee delegation that
he "strongly deplores the
horrible ordeals, the many
trials and sufferings, of
which the Jews have been
the victims in recent years."
Anticipating the Vatican
Declaration adopted on Oct.
28, 1965, which condemned
anti-Semitism and re-
pudiated the false charge of
collective` Jewishguilt for
the death of Christ, Pope
Paul then declared that he
"does not believe Jews
should, be held responsible
for the death of Jesus" and
the Jewish people should
"never undergo any di-
minution in your human
rights" -
up
Finally, he spoke of his
appreciation of Judaism
But Pope Paul's exposure
in these words: "Our par-
to the pitiful plight of ticular consideration for
thousands of Jewish refu-
the Jewish religious tra-
gees from Nazism and fas-
dition with which Chris-
cism also undoubtedly
tianity is so intimately
heightened his awareness of linked; and from which it
the catastrophic_ effects- of derives hope for trusting
the war, as well- as the de-
relations and for a happy
monic consequences of future." The Pope con-
anti-Semitism.
cluded the audience with
From the time of his elec- a blessing to the AJC
tion as the 261st Supreme leaders, saying, "We wish
Pontiff on June 21, 1963, you every favor from God
until his death on Aug. 6, whom we invoke with all
1978, Pope Paul clearly our heart on your behalf
went through an evolution and that of all those who
in his attitudes toward are near and dear to
Jews, Judaism and the state you."
To underscore the signifi-
cance of his declaration,
Papal authorities had the
Pope's full text reprinted on
the front page of the official
Vatican newspaper, L'Os-
servatore Romano.
- In his last address on
Jewish-Christian relations,
Pope Paul spoke even mor
forthrightly of "the connec-
tions between Jewish
thought and Christian
thought," noting in the past
"there has been real and
profound mutual esteem
• But, in the same breath, (between Christian and
he declared, "loyalty re- Jewish scholars) and a con-
quests us to declare viction that we had some-
openly onr .conviction thing to learn from one an-
that there is only vile true other."
Significantly, he re-
religion — that of Chris-
tianity. It is our hope that minded the Christian and
all who seek God and Jewish leaders present at a
adore Him may come to Jan. 10, 1975, reception for
the International Jewish
acknowledge its truth."
Needless to say, Muslims Committee for Interreli-
and Eastern religions were gious Consultations (IJ-
no happier with that atti- CIC), that he had called on
tude than were Jews who do "all the faithful of the
(Continued on Page 31)
not believe that their reli-
of Israel. Some of his pro-
nouncements- inevitably re-
flected his limited contact
with Jews and Judaism.
Thus, in his first
encyclical issued during
August 1964, Pope Paul in-
vited Jews, Muslims, and
followers of "the Afro-
Asiatic religions" to join
with the Catholic Church in
"defending common -ideals
of religious liberty, human
brotherhood, good culture,
social welfare and civil or-
der."