COMMISSION FOR RELIGIOUS
RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS
"THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING
OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE"
(Rom 11:29)
OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE"
(Rom 11:29)
A REFLECTION ON THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS
PERTAINING
TO CATHOLIC–JEWISH RELATIONS ON THE OCCASION OF THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF "NOSTRA AETATE" (NO.4)
TO CATHOLIC–JEWISH RELATIONS ON THE OCCASION OF THE
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF "NOSTRA AETATE" (NO.4)
INDEX
- A brief history of the impact of "Nostra aetate" (No.4) over the last 50 years
- The special theological status of Jewish-Catholic dialogue
- Revelation in history as ‘Word of God’ in Judaism and Christianity
- The relationship between the Old and New Testament and the Old and New Covenant
- The universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and God’s unrevoked covenant with Israel
- The Church’s mandate to evangelize in relation to Judaism
- The goals of dialogue with Judaism
PREFACE
Fifty years ago, the declaration
"Nostra aetate" of the Second Vatican
Council was promulgated. Its fourth article presents the relationship between
the Catholic Church and the Jewish people in a new theological framework. The
following reflections aim at looking back with gratitude on all that has been
achieved over the last decades in the Jewish–Catholic relationship, providing at
the same time a new stimulus for the future. Stressing once again the unique
status of this relationship within the wider ambit of interreligious dialogue,
theological questions are further discussed, such as the relevance of revelation,
the relationship between the Old and the New Covenant, the relationship between
the universality of salvation in Jesus Christ and the affirmation that the
covenant of God with Israel has never been revoked, and the Church’s mandate to
evangelize in relation to Judaism. This document presents Catholic reflections
on these questions, placing them in a theological context, in order that their
significance may be deepened for members of both faith traditions. The text is
not a magisterial document or doctrinal teaching of the Catholic Church, but is
a reflection prepared by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on
current theological questions that have developed since the Second Vatican
Council. It is intended to be a starting point for further theological thought
with a view to enriching and intensifying the theological dimension of Jewish–Catholic
dialogue.
1.
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) is rightly counted among those documents of the Second Vatican Council
which have been able to effect, in a particularly striking manner, a new
direction of the Catholic Church since then. This shift in the relations of the
Church with the Jewish people and Judaism becomes apparent only when we recall
that there were previously great reservations on both sides, in part because the
history of Christianity has been seen to be discriminatory against Jews, even
including attempts at forced conversion (cf.
"Evangelii gaudium",
248). The background of this complex connection consists inter alia in
an asymmetrical relationship: as a minority the Jews were often
confronted by
and dependent upon a Christian majority. The dark and terrible shadow of
the Shoah over Europe during the Nazi period led the Church to reflect
anew on her
bond with the Jewish people.
2. The fundamental esteem for Judaism expressed in
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) however has enabled communities that once faced one another with
scepticism to become – step by step over the years – reliable partners and even
good friends, capable of weathering crises together and negotiating conflicts
positively. Therefore, the fourth article of
"Nostra aetate"
is recognised as the solid
foundation for improving the relationship between Catholics and Jews.
3. For the practical implementation of
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4), Blessed Pope
Paul VI on 22 October 1974 established the Commission for Religious Relations
with the Jews which, although organisationally attached to the Pontifical
Council for Promoting Christian Unity, is operationally independent and
entrusted with the task of accompanying and fostering religious dialogue with
Judaism. From a theological perspective it also makes good sense to link this
Commission with the Council for Promoting Christian Unity, since the separation
between Synagogue and Church may be viewed as the first and most far-reaching
breach among the chosen people.
4. Within a year of its foundation, the Holy See’s Commission published its
first official document on 1 December 1974, with the title "Guidelines and
Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration
Nostra aetate (No.4)".
The crucial and new concern of this document consists in becoming acquainted
with Judaism as it defines itself, giving expression to the high esteem in which
Christianity holds Judaism and stressing the great significance for the Catholic
Church of dialogue with the Jews, as stated in the words of the document: "On
the practical level in particular, Christians must therefore strive to acquire a
better knowledge of the basic components of the religious tradition of Judaism:
they must strive to learn by what essential traits the Jews define themselves in
the light of their own religious experience" (Preamble). On the basis of the
Church’s witness of faith in Jesus Christ, the document reflects upon the
specific nature of the Church’s dialogue with Judaism. Reference is made in the
text to the roots of Christian liturgy in its Jewish matrix, new possibilities
are outlined for rapprochement in the spheres of teaching, education and
training, and finally suggestions are made for joint social action.
5. Eleven years later on 24 June 1985, the Holy See’s Commission issued a
second document entitled "Notes on the correct way to present the Jews and
Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church". This document
has a stronger theological-exegetical orientation insofar as it reflects on the
relationship of the Old and New Testaments, delineates the Jewish roots of the
Christian faith, explicates the manner in which ‘the Jews’ are represented in
the New Testament, points out commonalities in liturgy, above all in the great
festivals of the church year, and briefly focuses on the relationship of Judaism
and Christianity in history. With regard to the "land of the forefathers" the
document emphasizes: "Christians are invited to understand this religious
attachment which finds its roots in Biblical tradition, without however making
their own any particular religious interpretation of this relationship. … The
existence of the State of Israel and its political options should be envisaged
not in a perspective which is in itself religious, but in their reference to the
common principles of international law." The permanence of Israel is however to
be perceived as an "historic fact and a sign to be interpreted within God’s
design" (VI, 1).
6. A third document of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews
was presented to the public on 16 March 1998. It deals with the Shoah under the
title "We remember. A reflection on the Shoah". This text delivers the harsh but
accurate judgement that the balance of the 2000–year relationship between Jews
and Christians is regrettably negative. It recalls the attitude of Christians
towards the anti-Semitism of the National Socialists and focuses on the duty of
Christians to remember the human catastrophe of the Shoah. In a letter at the
beginning of this declaration Saint Pope John Paul II expresses his hope that
this document will truly "help to heal the wounds of past misunderstandings and
injustices. May it enable memory to play its necessary part in the process of
shaping a future in which the unspeakable iniquity of the
Shoah will never again be possible."
7. In the series of documents issued by the Holy See, reference must be made
to the text published by the Pontifical Biblical Commission on 24 May 2001,
which deals explicitly with Jewish-Catholic dialogue: "The Jewish People and
their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible". This represents the most
significant exegetical and theological document of the Jewish-Catholic dialogue
and is a treasure-trove of common issues which have their basis in the
Scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. The Sacred Scriptures of the Jewish
people are considered a "fundamental component of the Christian Bible", the
fundamental themes of the Holy Scripture of the Jewish people and their adoption
into the faith in Christ are discussed, and the manner in which Jews are
represented in the New Testament is illustrated in detail.
8. Texts and documents, as important as they are, cannot replace personal
encounters and face–to–face dialogues. While under Blessed Pope Paul VI the
first steps in Jewish–Catholic dialogue were undertaken, Saint Pope John Paul II
succeeded in fostering and deepening this dialogue through compelling gestures
towards the Jewish people. He was the first pope to visit the former
concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau to pray for the victims of the Shoah,
and he visited the Roman Synagogue to express his solidarity with the Jewish
community. In the context of an historical pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he was
also a guest of the state of Israel where he participated in interreligious
encounters, paid a visit to both Chief Rabbis and prayed at the Western Wall.
Again and again he met with Jewish groups, whether in the Vatican or during his
numerous apostolic journeys. So too Benedict XVI, even before his election to
the papacy, engaged in Jewish-Catholic dialogue by offering in a series of
lectures important theological reflections on the relationship between the Old
and the New Covenant, and the Synagogue and the Church. Following his election
and in the footsteps of Saint Pope John Paul II he fostered this dialogue in his
own way by reinforcing the same gestures and giving expression to his esteem for
Judaism through the power of his words. As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was greatly committed to fostering Jewish-Catholic
dialogue and had many friends among the Jews of Argentina. Now as Pope he
continues, at the international level, to intensify dialogue with Judaism
through many friendly encounters. One of his first such encounters was in May
2014 in Israel, where he met with the two Chief Rabbis, visited the Western Wall,
and prayed for the victims of the Shoah in Yad Vashem.
9. Even before the establishment of the Holy See’s Commission, there were
contacts and links with various Jewish organisations through the then
Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. Since Judaism is multi-facetted and
not constituted as an organisational unity, the Catholic Church was faced with
the challenge of determining with whom to engage, because it was not possible to
conduct individual and independent bilateral dialogues with all Jewish groupings
and organisations which had declared their readiness to dialogue. To resolve
this problem the Jewish organisations took up the suggestion of the Catholic
Church to establish a single organisation for this dialogue. The International
Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) is the official Jewish
representative to the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the
Jews.
10. The IJCIC began its work in 1970, and a year later the first joint
conference was organized in Paris. The conferences which have been conducted
regularly since are the responsibility of the entity known as the International
Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC), and they shape the collaboration
between the IJCIC and the Holy See’s Commission. In February 2011, once more in
Paris, the ILC was able to look back with gratitude on 40 years of institutional
dialogue. Much has developed over the past 40 years; the former confrontation
has turned into successful cooperation, the previous potential for conflict has
become positive conflict management, and the past co–existence marked by tension
has been replaced by resilient and fruitful mutuality. The bonds of friendship
forged in the meantime have proved to be stable, so that it has become possible
to address even controversial subjects together without the danger of permanent
damage being done to the dialogue. This was all the more necessary because over
the past decades the dialogue had not always been free of tensions. In general,
however, one can observe with appreciation that in Jewish-Catholic dialogue
since the new millennium above all, intensive efforts have been made to deal
openly and positively with any arising differences of opinion and conflicts, in
such a way that mutual relations have become stronger.
11. Beside the dialogue with the IJCIC we should also mention the
institutional conversation with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, which is clearly
to be seen as a fruit of the encounter of Saint Pope John Paul II with both
Chief Rabbis in Jerusalem during his visit to Israel in March 2000. The first
meeting was organised in June 2002 in Jerusalem, and since then such meetings
have been conducted annually, taking place in Rome and Jerusalem alternately.
The two delegations are relatively small so that a very personal and intensive
discussion on various subjects is possible, such as on the sanctity of life, the
status of the family, the significance of the Sacred Scriptures for life in
society, religious freedom, the ethical foundations of human behaviour, the
ecological challenge, the relationship of secular and religious authority and
the essential qualities of religious leadership in secular society. The fact
that the Catholic representatives taking part in the meetings are bishops and
priests and the Jewish representatives almost exclusively rabbis permits
individual topics to be examined from a religious perspective as well. The
dialogue with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel has to that extent enabled more open
relations between Orthodox Judaism and the Catholic Church at a global level.
After each meeting a joint declaration is published which in each instance has
testified to the richness of the common spiritual heritage of Judaism and
Christianity and to what valuable treasures are still to be unearthed. In
reviewing over more than ten years of dialogue we can gratefully affirm that a
strong friendship has resulted which represents a firm foundation for the
future.
12. The efforts of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the
Jews cannot of course be restricted to these two institutional dialogues. The
Commission aims in fact at being open to all streams within Judaism and at
maintaining contact with all Jewish groupings and organisations that wish to
establish links with the Holy See. The Jewish side shows a particular interest
in audiences with the Pope, which are in every instance prepared by the
Commission. Besides direct contacts with Judaism the Holy See’s Commission also
strives to provide opportunities within the Catholic Church for dialogue with
Judaism and to work together with individual Bishops’ Conferences to support
them locally in promoting Jewish-Catholic dialogue. The introduction of the ‘Day
of Judaism’ in some European countries is a good example of this.
13. Over the past decades both the ‘dialogue ad extra’ and the ‘dialogue ad
intra’ have led with increasing clarity to the awareness that Christians and
Jews are irrevocably inter-dependent, and that the dialogue between the two is
not a matter of choice but of duty as far as theology is concerned. Jews and
Christians can enrich one another in mutual friendship. Without her Jewish roots
the Church would be in danger of losing its soteriological anchoring in
salvation history and would slide into an ultimately unhistorical Gnosis. Pope
Francis states that "while it is true that certain Christian beliefs are
unacceptable to Judaism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming
Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists as well a rich complementarity which
allows us to read the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one
another to mine the riches of God’s word. We can also share many ethical
convictions and a common concern for justice and the development of peoples" ("Evangelii gaudium", 249).
14. The dialogue with Judaism is for Christians something quite special,
since Christianity possesses Jewish roots which determine relations between the
two in a unique way (cf.
"Evangelii gaudium", 247). In spite of the historical
breach and the painful conflicts arising from it, the Church remains conscious
of its enduring continuity with Israel. Judaism is not to be considered simply
as another religion; the Jews are instead our "elder brothers" (Saint Pope John
Paul II), our "fathers in faith" (Benedict XVI). Jesus was a Jew, was at home in
the Jewish tradition of his time, and was decisively shaped by this religious
milieu (cf.
"Ecclesia in Medio Oriente", 20). His first disciples gathered
around him had the same heritage and were defined by the same Jewish tradition
in their everyday life. In his unique relationship with his heavenly Father,
Jesus was intent above all on proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. "The
time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the
gospel" (Mk 1:15). Within Judaism there were many very different kinds of ideas
regarding how the kingdom of God would be realised, and yet Jesus’ central
message on the Kingdom of God is in accordance with some Jewish thinking of his
day. One cannot understand Jesus’ teaching or that of his disciples without
situating it within the Jewish horizon in the context of the living tradition of
Israel; one would understand his teachings even less so if they were seen in
opposition to this tradition. In Jesus not a few Jews of his time saw the coming
of a ‘new Moses’, the promised Christ (Messiah). But his coming nevertheless
provoked a drama with consequences still felt today. Fully and completely human,
a Jew of his time, descendant of Abraham, son of David, shaped by the whole
tradition of Israel, heir of the prophets, Jesus stands in continuity with his
people and its history. On the other hand he is, in the light of the Christian
faith, himself God – the Son – and he transcends time, history, and every
earthly reality. The community of those who believe in him confesses his
divinity (cf. Phil 2:6-11). In this sense he is perceived to be in discontinuity
with the history that prepared his coming. From the perspective of the Christian
faith, he fulfils the mission and expectation of Israel in a perfect way. At the
same time, however, he overcomes and transcends them in an eschatological manner.
Herein consists the fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity,
that is, how the figure of Jesus is to be evaluated. Jews are able to see Jesus
as belonging to their people, a Jewish teacher who felt himself called in a
particular way to preach the Kingdom of God. That this Kingdom of God has come
with himself as God’s representative is beyond the horizon of Jewish expectation.
The conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities of his time is ultimately
not a matter of an individual transgression of the law, but of Jesus’ claim to
be acting with divine authority. The figure of Jesus thus is and remains for
Jews the ‘stumbling block’, the central and neuralgic point in Jewish-Catholic
dialogue. From a theological perspective, Christians need to refer to the
Judaism of Jesus’ time and to a degree also the Judaism that developed from it
over the ages for their own self-understanding. Given Jesus’ Jewish origins,
coming to terms with Judaism in one way or another is indispensable for
Christians. Yet, the history of the relationship between Judaism and
Christianity has also been mutually influenced over time.
15. Dialogue between Jews and Christians then can only be termed
‘interreligious dialogue’ by analogy, that is, dialogue between two
intrinsically separate and different religions. It is not the case that two
fundamentally diverse religions confront one another after having developed
independently of one another or without mutual influence. The soil that nurtured
both Jews and Christians is the Judaism of Jesus’ time, which not only brought
forth Christianity but also, after the destruction of the temple in the year 70,
post-biblical rabbinical Judaism which then had to do without the sacrificial
cult and, in its further development, had to depend exclusively on prayer and
the interpretation of both written and oral divine revelation. Thus Jews and
Christians have the same mother and can be seen, as it were, as two siblings who
– as is the normal course of events for siblings – have developed in different
directions. The Scriptures of ancient Israel constitute an integral part of the
Scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, understood by both as the word of
God, revelation, and salvation history. The first Christians were Jews; as a
matter of course they gathered as part of the community in the Synagogue, they
observed the dietary laws, the Sabbath and the requirement of circumcision,
while at the same time confessing Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah sent by God
for the salvation of Israel and the entire human race. With Paul the ‘Jewish
Jesus movement’ definitively opens up other horizons and transcends its purely
Jewish origins. Gradually his concept came to prevail, that is, that a non-Jew
did not have to become first a Jew in order to confess Christ. In the early
years of the Church, therefore, there were the so-called Jewish Christians and
the Gentile Christians, the
ecclesia ex
circumcisione and the ecclesia ex gentibus,
one Church originating from Judaism, the other from the Gentiles, who however
together constituted the one and only Church of Jesus Christ.
16. The separation of the Church from the Synagogue does not take place
abruptly however and, according to some recent insights, may not have been
complete until well into the third or fourth centuries. This means that many
Jewish Christians of the first period did not perceive any contradiction between
living in accordance with some aspects of the Jewish tradition and yet
confessing Jesus as the Christ. Only when the number of Gentile Christians
represented the majority, and within the Jewish community the polemics regarding
the figure of Jesus took on sharper contours, did a definitive separation appear
to be no longer avoidable. Over time the siblings Christianity and Judaism
increasingly grew apart, becoming hostile and even defaming one another. For
Christians, Jews were often represented as damned by God and blind since they
were unable to recognise in Jesus the Messiah and bearer of salvation. For Jews,
Christians were often seen as heretics who no longer followed the path
originally laid down by God but who went their own way. It is not without reason
that in the Acts of the Apostles Christianity is called ‘the way’ (cf. Acts 9:2;
19:9,23; 24:14,22) in contrast to the Jewish
Halacha which determined the interpretation of the law for practical
conduct. Over time Judaism and Christianity became increasingly alienated from
one another, even becoming involved in ruthless conflicts and accusing one
another of abandoning the path prescribed by God.
17. On the part of many of the Church Fathers the so-called replacement
theory or supersessionism steadily gained favour until in the Middle Ages it
represented the standard theological foundation of the relationship with
Judaism: the promises and commitments of God would no longer apply to Israel
because it had not recognised Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God, but had
been transferred to the Church of Jesus Christ which was now the true ‘new
Israel’, the new chosen people of God. Arising from the same soil, Judaism and
Christianity in the centuries after their separation became involved in a
theological antagonism which was only to be defused at the Second Vatican
Council. With its Declaration
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) the Church unequivocally
professes, within a new theological framework, the Jewish roots of Christianity.
While affirming salvation through an explicit or even implicit faith in Christ,
the Church does not question the continued love of God for the chosen people of
Israel. A replacement or supersession theology which sets against one another
two separate entities, a Church of the Gentiles and the rejected Synagogue whose
place it takes, is deprived of its foundations. From an originally close
relationship between Judaism and Christianity a long-term state of tension had
developed, which has been gradually transformed after the Second Vatican Council
into a constructive dialogue relationship.
18. There have often been attempts to identify this replacement
theory in the Epistle to the Hebrews. This Epistle, however, is not directed to
the Jews but rather to the Christians of Jewish background who have become weary
and uncertain. Its purpose is to strengthen their faith and to encourage them to
persevere, by pointing to Christ Jesus as the true and ultimate high priest, the
mediator of the new covenant. This context is necessary to understand the
Epistle’s contrast between the first purely earthly covenant and a second better
(cf. Heb 8:7) and new covenant (cf. 9:15, 12:24). The first covenant is defined
as outdated, in decline and doomed to obsolescence (cf. 8:13), while the second
covenant is defined as everlasting (cf. 13:20). To establish the foundations of
this contrast the Epistle refers to the promise of a new covenant in the Book of
the Prophet Jeremiah 31:31-34 (cf. Heb 8:8-12). This demonstrates that the
Epistle to the Hebrews has no intention of proving the promises of the Old
Covenant to be false, but on the contrary treats them as valid. The reference to
the Old Testament promises is intended to help Christians to be sure of their
salvation in Christ. At issue in the Epistle to the Hebrews is not the contrast
of the Old and New Covenants as we understand them today, nor a contrast between
the church and Judaism. Rather, the contrast is between the eternal heavenly
priesthood of Christ and the transitory earthly priesthood. The fundamental
issue in the Epistle to the Hebrews in the new situation is a Christological
interpretation of the New Covenant. For exactly this reason,
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) did not refer to the Epistle to the Hebrews, but rather to Saint Paul’s
reflections in his letter to the Romans 9–11.
19. For an outside observer, the Conciliar Declaration
"Nostra aetate"
could
give the impression that the text deals with the relations of the Catholic
Church with all world religions in a relationship based on parity, but the
history of its development and the text itself point in a different direction.
Originally Saint Pope John XXIII proposed that the Council should promulgate a
Tractatus de
Iudaeis, but in the end the decision was made to give consideration to all
world religions in
"Nostra aetate". However, the fourth
article of this Conciliar Declaration, which deals with a new theological
relationship with Judaism, represents almost the heart of the document, in which
a place is also made for the Catholic Church’s relationship with other religions.
The relationship with Judaism can in that sense be seen as the catalyst for the
determination of the relationship with the other world religions.
20. Nevertheless, from the theological perspective the dialogue with Judaism
has a completely different character and is on a different level in comparison
with the other world religions. The faith of the Jews testified to in the Bible,
found in the Old Testament, is not for Christians another religion but the
foundation of their own faith, although clearly the figure of Jesus is the sole
key for the Christian interpretation of the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The
cornerstone of the Christian faith is Jesus (cf. Acts 4:11; 1 Pt 2:4–8). However,
the dialogue with Judaism occupies a unique position for Christians;
Christianity is by its roots connected with Judaism as with no other religion.
Therefore the Jewish-Christian dialogue can only with reservations be termed
‘interreligious dialogue’ in the true sense of the expression; one could however
speak of a kind of ‘intra-religious’ or ‘intra–familial’ dialogue
sui generis.
In his address in the Roman Synagogue on 13 April 1986 Saint Pope John Paul II
expressed this situation in these words: "The Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’
to us but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic’ to our own religion. With Judaism
therefore we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion.
You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that
you are our elder brothers."
21. We find in the Old Testament God’s plan of salvation presented for his
people (cf. "Dei verbum", 14). This plan of salvation is expressed in an
enlightening way at the beginning of biblical history in the call to Abraham (Gen
12ff). In order to reveal himself and speak to humankind, redeeming it from sin
and gathering it together as one people, God began by choosing the people of
Israel through Abraham and setting them apart. To them God revealed himself
gradually through his emissaries, his prophets, as the true God, the only God,
the living God, the redeeming God. This divine election was constitutive of the
people of Israel. Only after the first great intervention of the redeeming God,
the liberation from slavery in Egypt (cf. Ex 13:17ff) and the establishment of
the covenant at Sinai (Ex 19ff), did the twelve tribes truly become a nation and
become conscious of being the people of God, the bearers of his message and his
promises, witnesses of his merciful favour in the midst of the nations and also
for the nations (cf. Is 26:1-9; 54; 60; 62). In order to instruct his people on
how to fulfil their mission and how to pass on the revelation entrusted to them,
God gave Israel the law which defines how they are to live (cf. Ex 20; Deut 5),
and which distinguishes them from other peoples.
22. Like the Church itself even in our own day, Israel bears the treasure of
its election in fragile vessels. The relationship of Israel with its Lord is the
story of its faithfulness and its unfaithfulness. In order to fulfil his work of
salvation despite the smallness and weakness of the instruments he chose, God
manifested his mercy and the graciousness of his gifts, as well as his
faithfulness to his promises which no human infidelity can nullify (cf. Rom 3:3;
2 Tim 2:13). At every step of his people along the way God set apart at least a
‘small number’ (cf. Deut 4:27), a ‘remnant’ (cf. Is 1:9; Zeph 3:12; cf. also Is
6:13; 17:5-6), a handful of the faithful who ‘have not bowed the knee to Baal’ (cf.
1 Kings 19:18). Through this remnant, God realized his plan of salvation.
Constantly the object of his election and love remained the chosen people as
through them – as the ultimate goal – the whole of humanity is gathered together
and led to him.
23. The Church is called the new people of God (cf.
"Nostra aetate",
No.4) but not in the sense that the people of God of Israel has ceased to exist.
The Church "was prepared in a remarkable way throughout the history of the
people of Israel and by means of the Old Covenant" ("Lumen gentium",
2). The Church does not replace the people of God of Israel, since as the
community founded on Christ it represents in him the fulfilment of the promises
made to Israel. This does not mean that Israel, not having achieved such a
fulfilment, can no longer be considered to be the people of God. "Although the
Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or
accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures" ("Nostra aetate", No.4).
24. God revealed himself in his Word, so that it may be understood by
humanity in actual historical situations. This Word invites all people to
respond. If their responses are in accord with the Word of God they stand in
right relationship with him. For Jews this Word can be learned through the Torah
and the traditions based on it. The Torah is the instruction for a successful
life in right relationship with God. Whoever observes the Torah has life in its
fullness (cf. Pirqe Avot II, 7). By observing the Torah the Jew receives a share
in communion with God. In this regard, Pope Francis has stated: "The Christian
confessions find their unity in Christ; Judaism finds its unity in the Torah.
Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh in the world;
for Jews the Word of God is present above all in the Torah. Both faith
traditions find their foundation in the One God, the God of the Covenant, who
reveals himself through his Word. In seeking a right attitude towards God,
Christians turn to Christ as the fount of new life, and Jews to the teaching of
the Torah." (Address to members of the International Council of Christians and
Jews, 30 June 2015).
25. Judaism and the Christian faith as seen in the New Testament are two ways
by which God’s people can make the Sacred Scriptures of Israel their own. The
Scriptures which Christians call the Old Testament is open therefore to both
ways. A response to God’s word of salvation that accords with one or the other
tradition can thus open up access to God, even if it is left up to his counsel
of salvation to determine in what way he may intend to save mankind in each
instance. That his will for salvation is universally directed is testified by
the Scriptures (cf. eg. Gen 12:1-3; Is 2:2-5; 1 Tim 2:4). Therefore there are
not two paths to salvation according to the expression "Jews hold to the Torah,
Christians hold to Christ". Christian faith proclaims that Christ’s work of
salvation is universal and involves all mankind. God’s word is one single and
undivided reality which takes concrete form in each respective historical
context.
26. In this sense, Christians affirm that Jesus Christ can be considered as
‘the living Torah of God’. Torah and Christ are the Word of God, his revelation
for us human beings as testimony of his boundless love. For Christians, the
pre-existence of Christ as the Word and Son of the Father is a fundamental
doctrine, and according to rabbinical tradition the Torah and the name of the
Messiah exist already before creation (cf. Genesis Rabbah 1,1). Further,
according to Jewish understanding God himself interprets the Torah in the
Eschaton, while in Christian understanding everything is recapitulated in Christ
in the end (cf. Eph 1:10; Col 1:20). In the gospel of Matthew Christ is seen as
it were as the ‘new Moses’. Matthew 5:17–19 presents Jesus as the authoritative
and authentic interpreter of the Torah (cf. Lk 24:27, 45–47). In the rabbinical
literature, however, we find the identification of the Torah with Moses. Against
this background, Christ as the ‘new Moses’ can be connected with the Torah.
Torah and Christ are the locus of the presence of God in the world as this
presence is experienced in the respective worship communities. The Hebrew
dabar means word and event at the same time – and thus one may reach
the conclusion that the word of the Torah may be open for the Christ event.
27. The covenant that God has offered Israel is irrevocable. "God is not man,
that he should lie" (Num 23:19; cf. 2 Tim 2:13). The permanent elective fidelity
of God expressed in earlier covenants is never repudiated (cf. Rom 9:4; 11:1–2).
The New Covenant does not revoke the earlier covenants, but it brings them to
fulfilment. Through the Christ event Christians have understood that all that
had gone before was to be interpreted anew. For Christians the New Covenant has
acquired a quality of its own, even though the orientation for both consists in
a unique relationship with God (cf. for example, the covenant formula in Lev
26:12, "I will be your God and you will be my people"). For Christians, the New
Covenant in Christ is the culminating point of the promises of salvation of the
Old Covenant, and is to that extent never independent of it. The New Covenant is
grounded in and based on the Old, because it is ultimately the God of Israel who
concludes the Old Covenant with his people Israel and enables the New Covenant
in Jesus Christ. Jesus lives during the period of the Old Covenant, but in his
work of salvation in the New Covenant confirms and perfects the dimensions of
the Old. The term covenant, therefore, means a relationship with God that takes
effect in different ways for Jews and Christians. The New Covenant can never
replace the Old but presupposes it and gives it a new dimension of meaning, by
reinforcing the personal nature of God as revealed in the Old Covenant and
establishing it as openness for all who respond faithfully from all the nations
(cf. Zech 8:20-23; Psalm 87).
28. Unity and difference between Judaism and Christianity come to the fore in
the first instance with the testimonies of divine revelation. With the existence
of the Old Testament as an integral part of the one Christian Bible, there is a
deeply rooted sense of intrinsic kinship between Judaism and Christianity. The
roots of Christianity lie in the Old Testament, and Christianity constantly
draws nourishment from these roots. However, Christianity is grounded in the
person of Jesus of Nazareth, who is recognised as the Messiah promised to the
Jewish people, and as the only begotten Son of God who has communicated himself
through the Holy Spirit following his death on the cross and his resurrection.
With the existence of the New Testament, the question naturally arose quite soon
of how the two testaments are related to one another, whether for example the
New Testament writings have not superseded the older writings and nullified them.
This position was represented by Marcion, who in the second century held that
the New Testament had made the Old Testament book of promises obsolete, destined
to fade away in the glow of the new, just as one no longer needs the light of
the moon as soon as the sun has risen. This stark antithesis between the Hebrew
and the Christian Bible never became an official doctrine of the Christian
Church. By excluding Marcion from the Christian community in 144, the Church
rejected his concept of a purely "Christian" Bible purged of all Old Testament
elements, bore witness to its faith in the one and only God who is the author of
both testaments, and thus held fast to the unity of both testaments, the
"concordia testamentorum".
29. This is of course only one side of the relationship between the two
testaments. The common patrimony of the Old Testament not only formed the
fundamental basis of a spiritual kinship between Jews and Christians but also
brought with it a basic tension in the relationship of the two faith communities.
This is demonstrated by the fact that Christians read the Old Testament in the
light of the New, in the conviction expressed by Augustine in the indelible
formula: "In the Old Testament the New is concealed and in the New the Old is
revealed" (Quaestiones in Heptateuchum 2, 73). Pope Gregory the Great also spoke
in the same sense when he defined the Old Testament as "the prophecy of the New"
and the latter as the "best exposition of the Old" (Homiliae in Ezechielem I, VI,
15; cf. "Dei verbum", 16).
30. This Christological exegesis can easily give rise to the impression that
Christians consider the New Testament not only as the fulfilment of the Old but
at the same time as a replacement for it. That this impression cannot be correct
is evident already from the fact that Judaism too found itself compelled to
adopt a new reading of Scripture after the catastrophe of the destruction of the
Second Temple in the year 70. Since the Sadducees who were bound to the temple
did not survive this catastrophe, the rabbis, following in the footsteps of the
Pharisees, who had already developed their particular mode of reading and
interpreting Scripture, now did so without the temple as the centre of Jewish
religious devotion.
31. As a consequence there were two responses to this situation, or more
precisely, two new ways of reading Scripture, namely the Christological exegesis
of the Christians and the rabbinical exegesis of that form of Judaism that
developed historically. Since each mode involved a new interpretation of
Scripture, the crucial new question must be precisely how these two modes are
related to each other. But since the Christian Church and post-biblical
rabbinical Judaism developed in parallel, but also in opposition and mutual
ignorance, this question cannot be answered from the New Testament alone. After
centuries of opposing positions it has been the duty of Jewish-Catholic dialogue
to bring these two new ways of reading the Biblical writings into dialogue with
one another in order to perceive the "rich complementarity" where it exists
and "to help one another to mine the riches of God’s word" ("Evangelii gaudium",
249). The document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission "The Jewish People and
Their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible" in 2001 therefore stated that
Christians can and must admit "that the Jewish reading of the Bible is a
possible one, in continuity with the Jewish Scriptures from the Second Temple
period, a reading analogous to the Christian reading which developed in parallel
fashion". It then draws the conclusion: "Both readings are bound up with the
vision of their respective faiths, of which the readings are the result and
expression. Consequently, both are irreducible" (No. 22).
32. Since each of the two readings serves the purpose of rightly
understanding God’s will and word, it becomes evident how important is the
awareness that the Christian faith is rooted in the faith of Abraham. That
raises the further question of how the Old and the New Covenant stand in
relation to one another. For the Christian faith it is axiomatic that there can
only be one single covenant history of God with humanity. The covenant with
Abraham, with circumcision as its sign (cf. Gen 17), and the covenant with Moses
restricted to Israel regarding obedience to the law (cf. Ex 19:5; 24:7-8) and in
particular the observance of the Sabbath (cf. Ex 31:16-17) had been extended in
the covenant with Noah, with the rainbow as its sign (cf. "Verbum Domini", 117),
to the whole of creation (cf. Gen 9:9 ff). Through the prophets God in turn
promises a new and eternal covenant (cf. Is 55:3; 61:8; Jer 31:31-34; Ez
36:22-28). Each of these covenants incorporates the previous covenant and
interprets it in a new way. That is also true for the New Covenant which for
Christians is the final eternal covenant and therefore the definitive
interpretation of what was promised by the prophets of the Old Covenant, or as
Paul expresses it, the "Yes" and "Amen" to "all that God has promised" (2 Cor
1:20). The Church as the renewed people of God has been elected by God without
conditions. The Church is the definitive and unsurpassable locus of the salvific
action of God. This however does not mean that Israel as the people of God has
been repudiated or has lost its mission (cf.
"Nostra aetate", No.4). The New
Covenant for Christians is therefore neither the annulment nor the replacement,
but the fulfilment of the promises of the Old Covenant.
33. For Jewish-Christian dialogue in the first instance God’s covenant with
Abraham proves to be constitutive, as he is not only the father of Israel but
also the father of the faith of Christians. In this covenant community it should
be evident for Christians that the covenant that God concluded with Israel has
never been revoked but remains valid on the basis of God’s unfailing
faithfulness to his people, and consequently the New Covenant which Christians
believe in can only be understood as the affirmation and fulfilment of the Old.
Christians are therefore also convinced that through the New Covenant the
Abrahamic covenant has obtained that universality for all peoples which was
originally intended in the call of Abram (cf. Gen 12:1-3). This recourse to the
Abrahamic covenant is so essentially constitutive of the Christian faith that
the Church without Israel would be in danger of losing its locus in the history
of salvation. By the same token, Jews could with regard to the Abrahamic
covenant arrive at the insight that Israel without the Church would be in danger
of remaining too particularist and of failing to grasp the universality of its
experience of God. In this fundamental sense Israel and the Church remain bound
to each other according to the covenant and are interdependent.
34. That there can only be one history of God’s covenant with mankind, and
that consequently Israel is God’s chosen and beloved people of the covenant
which has never been repealed or revoked (cf. Rom 9:4; 11:29), is the conviction
behind the Apostle Paul’s passionate struggle with the dual fact that while the
Old Covenant from God continues to be in force, Israel has not adopted the New
Covenant. In order to do justice to both facts Paul coined the expressive image
of the root of Israel into which the wild branches of the Gentiles have been
grafted (cf. Rom 11:16-21). One could say that Jesus Christ bears in himself the
living root of the "green olive tree", and yet in a deeper meaning that the
whole promise has its root in him (cf. Jn 8:58). This image represents for Paul
the decisive key to thinking of the relationship between Israel and the Church
in the light of faith. With this image Paul gives expression to the duality of
the unity and divergence of Israel and the Church. On the one hand the image is
to be taken seriously in the sense that the grafted wild branches have not their
origin as branches in the plant onto which they are grafted and their new
situation represents a new reality and a new dimension of God’s work of
salvation, so that the Christian Church cannot merely be understood as a branch
or a fruit of Israel (cf. Mt 8:10-13). On the other hand, the image is also to
be taken seriously in the sense that the Church draws nourishment and strength
from the root of Israel, and that the grafted branches would wither or even die
if they were cut off from the root of Israel (cf.
"Ecclesia in Medio Oriente",
21).
35. Since God has never revoked his covenant with his people Israel, there
cannot be different paths or approaches to God’s salvation. The theory that
there may be two different paths to salvation, the Jewish path without Christ
and the path with the Christ, whom Christians believe is Jesus of Nazareth,
would in fact endanger the foundations of Christian faith. Confessing the
universal and therefore also exclusive mediation of salvation through Jesus
Christ belongs to the core of Christian faith. So too does the confession of the
one God, the God of Israel, who through his revelation in Jesus Christ has
become totally manifest as the God of all peoples, insofar as in him the promise
has been fulfilled that all peoples will pray to the God of Israel as the one
God (cf. Is 56:1-8). The document "Notes on the correct way to present the Jews
and Judaism in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church" published
by the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews in 1985
therefore maintained that the Church and Judaism cannot be represented as "two
parallel ways to salvation", but that the Church must "witness to Christ as the
Redeemer for all" (No.I, 7). The Christian faith confesses that God wants to
lead all people to salvation, that Jesus Christ is the universal mediator of
salvation, and that there is no "other name under heaven given to the human race
by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4:12).
36. From the Christian confession that there can be only one path to
salvation, however, it does not in any way follow that the Jews are excluded
from God’s salvation because they do not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah
of Israel and the Son of God. Such a claim would find no support in the
soteriological understanding of Saint Paul, who in the Letter to the Romans not
only gives expression to his conviction that there can be no breach in the
history of salvation, but that salvation comes from the Jews (cf. also Jn 4:22).
God entrusted Israel with a unique mission, and He does not bring his mysterious
plan of salvation for all peoples (cf. 1 Tim 2:4) to fulfilment without drawing
into it his "first-born son" (Ex 4:22). From this it is self-evident that Paul
in the Letter to the Romans definitively negates the question he himself has
posed, whether God has repudiated his own people. Just as decisively he asserts:
"For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29). That the Jews
are participants in God’s salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how
that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly, is and remains an
unfathomable divine mystery. It is therefore no accident that Paul’s
soteriological reflections in Romans 9-11 on the irrevocable redemption of
Israel against the background of the Christ-mystery culminate in a magnificent
doxology: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How
inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways" (Rom 11:33).
Bernard of Clairvaux (De cons. III/I,3) says that for the Jews "a determined
point in time has been fixed which cannot be anticipated".
37. Another focus for Catholics must continue to be the highly complex
theological question of how Christian belief in the universal salvific
significance of Jesus Christ can be combined in a coherent way with the equally
clear statement of faith in the never-revoked covenant of God with Israel. It is
the belief of the Church that Christ is the Saviour for all. There cannot be two
ways of salvation, therefore, since Christ is also the Redeemer of the Jews in
addition to the Gentiles. Here we confront the mystery of God’s work, which is
not a matter of missionary efforts to convert Jews, but rather the expectation
that the Lord will bring about the hour when we will all be united, "when all
peoples will call on God with one voice and ‘serve him shoulder to shoulder’ " ("Nostra aetate", No.4).
38. The Declaration of the Second Vatican Council on Judaism,
that is the fourth article of
"Nostra aetate",
is located within a decidedly theological framework regarding the universality
of salvation in Jesus Christ and God’s unrevoked covenant with Israel. That does
not mean that all theological questions which arise in the relationship of
Christianity and Judaism were resolved in the text. These questions were
introduced in the Declaration, but require further theological reflection. Of
course, there had been earlier magisterial texts which focussed on Judaism, but
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) provides
the first theological overview of the relationship of the Catholic Church to the
Jews.
39. Because it was such a theological breakthrough, the Conciliar text is not
infrequently over–interpreted, and things are read into it which it does not in
fact contain. An important example of over–interpretation would be the
following: that the covenant that God made with his people Israel perdures and
is never invalidated. Although this statement is true, it cannot be explicitly
read into
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4). This statement was instead first made with
full clarity by Saint Pope John Paul II when he said during a meeting with
Jewish representatives in Mainz on 17 November 1980 that the Old Covenant had
never been revoked by God: "The first dimension of this dialogue, that is, the
meeting between the people of God of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God …
and that of the New Covenant, is at the same time a dialogue within our Church,
that is to say, between the first and the second part of her Bible" (No.3). The
same conviction is stated also in the Catechism of the Church in 1993: "The Old
Covenant has never been revoked" (121).
40. It is easy to understand that the so–called ‘mission to the Jews’ is a
very delicate and sensitive matter for Jews because, in their eyes, it involves
the very existence of the Jewish people. This question also proves to be awkward
for Christians, because for them the universal salvific significance of Jesus
Christ and consequently the universal mission of the Church are of fundamental
importance. The Church is therefore obliged to view evangelisation to Jews, who
believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other
religions and world views. In concrete terms this means that the Catholic Church
neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed
towards Jews. While there is a principled rejection of an institutional Jewish
mission, Christians are nonetheless called to bear witness to their faith in
Jesus Christ also to Jews, although they should do so in a humble and sensitive
manner, acknowledging that Jews are bearers of God’s Word, and particularly in
view of the great tragedy of the Shoah.
41. The concept of mission must be presented correctly in
dialogue between Jews and Christians. Christian mission has its origin in the
sending of Jesus by the Father. He gives his disciples a share in this call in
relation to God’s people of Israel (cf. Mt 10:6) and then as the risen Lord with
regard to all nations (cf. Mt 28:19). Thus the people of God attains a new
dimension through Jesus, who calls his Church from both Jews and Gentiles (cf.
Eph 2:11-22) on the basis of faith in Christ and by means of baptism, through
which there is incorporation into his Body which is the Church ("Lumen gentium", 14).
42. Christian mission and witness, in personal life and in proclamation,
belong together. The principle that Jesus gives his disciples when he sends them
out is to suffer violence rather than to inflict violence. Christians must put
their trust in God, who will carry out his universal plan of salvation in ways
that only he knows, for they are witnesses to Christ, but they do not themselves
have to implement the salvation of humankind. Zeal for the "house of the Lord"
and confident trust in the victorious deeds of God belong together. Christian
mission means that all Christians, in community with the Church, confess and
proclaim the historical realisation of God’s universal will for salvation in
Christ Jesus (cf.
"Ad gentes", 7). They experience his sacramental presence in
the liturgy and make it tangible in their service to others, especially those in
need.
43. It is and remains a qualitative definition of the Church of the New
Covenant that it consists of Jews and Gentiles, even if the quantitative
proportions of Jewish and Gentile Christians may initially give a different
impression. Just as after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ there were
not two unrelated covenants, so too the people of the covenant of Israel are not
disconnected from ‘the people of God drawn from the Gentiles’. Rather, the
enduring role of the covenant people of Israel in God’s plan of salvation is to
relate dynamically to the ‘people of God of Jews and Gentiles, united in
Christ’, he whom the Church confesses as the universal mediator of creation and
salvation. In the context of God’s universal will of salvation, all people who
have not yet received the gospel are aligned with the people of God of the New
Covenant. "In the first place there is the people to whom the covenants and
promises were given and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh (cf.
Rom 9:4-5). On account of their fathers this people remains most dear to God,
for he does not repent of the gifts he makes nor of the calls he issues (cf. Rom
11:28-29)" ("Lumen gentium", 16).
44. The first goal of the dialogue is to add depth to the reciprocal
knowledge of Jews and Christians. One can only learn to love what one has
gradually come to know, and one can only know truly and profoundly what one
loves. This profound knowledge is accompanied by a mutual enrichment whereby the
dialogue partners become the recipients of gifts. The Conciliar declaration
"Nostra aetate"
(No.4) speaks of the rich spiritual patrimony that should be
further discovered step by step through biblical and theological studies and
through dialogue. To that extent, from the Christian perspective, an important
goal is the mining of the spiritual treasures concealed in Judaism for
Christians. In this regard one must mention above all the interpretation of the
Sacred Scriptures. In the foreword by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the 2001
document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission "The Jewish People and their
Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible", the respect of Christians for the
Jewish interpretation of the Old Testament is stressed. It highlights that
"Christians can learn a great deal from a Jewish exegesis practised for more
than 2000 years; in return Christians may hope that Jews can profit from
Christian exegetical research." In the field of exegesis many Jewish and
Christian scholars now work together and find their collaboration mutually
fruitful precisely because they belong to different religious traditions.
45. This reciprocal acquiring of knowledge must not be limited
to specialists alone. Therefore it is important that Catholic educational
institutions, particularly in the training of priests, integrate into their
curricula both
"Nostra aetate"
and the subsequent documents of the Holy See regarding the
implementation of the Conciliar declaration. The Church is also grateful for the
analogous efforts within the Jewish community. The fundamental changes in
relations between Christians and Jews which were initiated by
"Nostra aetate"
(No. 4) must also be made known to the coming generations and be received and
disseminated by them.
46. One important goal of Jewish-Christian dialogue certainly consists in
joint engagement throughout the world for justice, peace, conservation of
creation, and reconciliation. In the past, it may have been that the different
religions – against the background of a narrowly understood claim to truth and a
corresponding intolerance – contributed to the incitement of conflict and
confrontation. But today religions should not be part of the problem, but part
of the solution. Only when religions engage in a successful dialogue with one
another, and in that way contribute towards world peace, can this be realised
also on the social and political levels. Religious freedom guaranteed by civil
authority is the prerequisite for such dialogue and peace. In this regard, the
litmus-test is how religious minorities are treated, and which rights of theirs
are guaranteed. In Jewish-Christian dialogue the situation of Christian
communities in the state of Israel is of great relevance, since there – as
nowhere else in the world – a Christian minority faces a Jewish majority. Peace
in the Holy Land – lacking and constantly prayed for – plays a major role in
dialogue between Jews and Christians.
47. Another important goal of Jewish–Catholic dialogue consists in jointly
combatting all manifestations of racial discrimination against Jews and all
forms of anti-Semitism, which have certainly not yet been eradicated and
re-emerge in different ways in various contexts. History teaches us where even
the slightest perceptible forms of anti-Semitism can lead: the human tragedy of
the Shoah in which two-thirds of European Jewry were annihilated. Both faith
traditions are called to maintain together an unceasing vigilance and
sensitivity in the social sphere as well. Because of the strong bond of
friendship between Jews and Catholics, the Catholic Church feels particularly
obliged to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic
tendencies. Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed that a Christian can never be
an anti-Semite, especially because of the Jewish roots of Christianity.
48. Justice and peace, however, should not simply be abstractions within
dialogue, but should also be evidenced in tangible ways. The social-charitable
sphere provides a rich field of activity, since both Jewish and Christian ethics
include the imperative to support the poor, disadvantaged and sick. Thus, for
example, the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the
International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) worked
together in 2004 in Argentina during the financial crisis in that country to
organise joint soup kitchens for the poor and homeless, and to enable
impoverished children to attend school by providing meals for them. Most
Christian churches have large charitable organisations, which likewise exist
within Judaism. These would be able to work together to alleviate human need.
Judaism teaches that the commandment "to walk in His ways" (Deut 11:22) requires
the imitation of the Divine Attributes (Imitatio Dei) through care for the
vulnerable, the poor and the suffering (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 14a). This
principle accords with Jesus’ instruction to support those in need (cf. eg. Mt
25:35–46). Jews and Christians cannot simply accept poverty and human suffering;
rather they must strive to overcome these problems.
49. When Jews and Christians make a joint contribution through concrete
humanitarian aid for justice and peace in the world, they bear witness to the
loving care of God. No longer in confrontational opposition but cooperating side
by side, Jews and Christians should seek to strive for a better world. Saint
Pope John Paul II called for such cooperation in his address to the Central
Council of German Jewry and to the Conference of Rabbis in Mainz on 17 November
1980: "Jews and Christians, as children of Abraham, are called to be a blessing
for the world … , by committing themselves together for peace and justice among
all men and peoples, with the fullness and depth that God himself intended us to
have, and with the readiness for sacrifices that this goal may demand".
10 December 2015
Cardinal KURT KOCH
President
President
The Most Reverend BRIAN FARRELL
Vice–President
Vice–President
The Reverend NORBERT HOFMANN, SDB
Secretary
Secretary
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