Pope: Catholics, Jews must join in common witness of faith in God
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said Catholics and Jews not only must respect and understand one another, they must give the world a common witness of faith in God and in his commandments.
In a message read at a Vatican commemoration of the 40th anniversary of "Nostra Aetate," the Second Vatican Council declaration on relations with non-Christians, Pope Benedict called for "an ever more compelling shared witness."
The pope particularly urged joint efforts for the protection of "the sanctity of life, the promotion of human dignity, the rights of the family and the need to build a world of justice, reconciliation and peace for future generations."
The Oct. 27 event, sponsored by the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, looked at progress made in Catholic-Jewish dialogue and on paths to follow for the future.
Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, declined to attend the ceremony because the Vatican chose as one of the main speakers Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the retired archbishop of Paris who converted to Catholicism from Judaism as a young teenager.
Rabbi Di Segni told reporters that, on a symbolic level, the choice seemed to contradict the fact that dialogue requires respect for the identity of others and a renunciation of attempts to convert them.
Oded Ben-Hur, Israel's ambassador to the Vatican, attended the ceremony along with rabbis and Jewish scholars from other parts of Europe and North and South America.
Cardinal Lustiger and Rabbi David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Relations, delivered the keynote speeches.
Rabbi Rosen said "Nostra Aetate" and updated information about the Catholic Church's official teaching regarding Jews and Judaism must be given more attention in Catholic education programs, especially in seminaries.
He also said the church must deepen its reflections about the implications of saying God's covenant with the Jewish people is still valid.
Within the church, he said, there still is debate about whether Catholics should relinquish all attempts to convert Jews to Christianity, causing concern among Jews and fueling a reluctance to dialogue with Catholics.
"These 40 years since the promulgation of 'Nostra Aetate' have seen a remarkable reckoning of the soul on the part of the church," as well as a rediscovery of the Jewish roots of Christianity, the rabbi said. Members of the Jewish community are beginning to rethink their relationship with Christians, setting aside many of the fears and suspicions of the past, he added.
Members of both communities, he said, are aware they must work together for the good of the world.
In his message, Pope Benedict said the anniversary was a time to thank God for the progress made in fostering reconciliation and understanding, "despite a complex and often painful history, and especially after the tragic experience of the Shoah, which was inspired by a neopagan racist ideology" espoused by the Nazis.
"Nostra Aetate," the pope said, encouraged Catholics and Jews "to recognize their shared spiritual roots and to appreciate their rich heritage of faith in the one God, maker of heaven and earth, who established his covenant with the chosen people, revealed his commandments and taught hope in those messianic promises which give confidence and comfort in the struggles of life."
German Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican commission for relations with the Jews, said "Nostra Aetate" proclaimed the church's "no" to anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism and its "yes" to the Jewish roots of Christianity.
"It is a tragedy of history that the 'no' as well as the 'yes' were expressed only after the terrifying experience of the Shoah, an atrocious and -- until then -- unimaginable crime," he said.
Cardinal Kasper said the Vatican II document was "just the beginning of the beginning" and required further Catholic theological reflection on God's covenant with the Jewish people and its continued validity, as well as Jewish theological reflections about Christianity.
The new relationship, the cardinal said, also calls for serious collaboration in promoting faith and morality, justice and peace, "especially in that land which is holy for both."
Cardinal Lustiger said that as believers in God and as those who follow his commandments, "Jews and Christians together have a responsibility to civilization and the whole of humanity."
In a world where "good" too often is defined as whatever makes an individual or nation happy or rich, Christians and Jews remind people and rulers that "good" has a higher, objective standard, Cardinal Lustiger said.
As people who recognize God as creator of all, Christians and Jews can be a force for building unity among peoples based on respect and on the obligation to provide special care for society's weakest members, he said.
"The balance and peace of the world are at stake here," the French cardinal said.
Cardinal Lustiger said he had no doubt the future of Catholic-Jewish relations would include tensions, but he said he hoped the faithful of both communities would allow their differences to "become a goad for reaching -- carefully and obediently -- ever deeper into the mystery of which we are the joint heirs."
U.S. Archbishop William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, attended the ceremony, as did U.S. Cardinals William H. Keeler of Baltimore and Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington.
Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops