The Document

I am pleased to have this opportunity of reflecting with you this morning on the document published by the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews on March 16 of this year entitled "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah." But before I begin that reflection I would like to pay tribute to the contribution which the American Jewish Committee has made and continues to make to the process of reconciliation between Catholics and the Jewish communities not only within the United States of America but throughout the world. Your friendship and understanding and cooperation are greatly appreciated by the commission that I head, the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. We look forward to continuing working with you in the years ahead so that we Jews and Christians may indeed, to use some words of Pope John Paul II, "be a blessing to each other" and in this way be a blessing for the world. I'm particularly appreciative of Rabbi Rudin's very sincere friendship, a friendship which I am most grate­ful for as are all the members of our Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. You may not believe it but he sends me a letter every week and we thus are able to keep in touch with many of the things that are happening here in the United States in the Jewish world.

Our document is the result of a process of reflection that began with the preparations for the visit of Pope John Paul II to the United States in September 1987. This was an especially difficult time for Jewish-Catholic relations. During a meeting in Rome in the summer of that year between repre­sentatives of the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, my predecessor in the office of president of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews agreed that the commission would begin a study with the view of having a Vatican document on the relation of the Church to the Shoah. On the following day, September 1, 1987, the participants in this meeting were received at Castelgandolfo by Pope John Paul II, who affirmed the importance of the proposed document for the Church and for the world.

In the years following that decision, the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews engaged in a process of consciousness raising and of reflection on the Shoah at several levels in the Catholic Church, and in differ­ent local churches.

Work began on the document soon after I took over responsibility  for the Holy See's commission in January 1990, and we set out with the idea that one single document  would cover all that the Catholic Church throughout the world might wish to state on this great tragedy of the twentieth century.

As the work proceeded, it became clear, however, that the experience and involvement of the local churches throughout the  world in relation  to the Shoah were very different.  What  the Church in Germany or Poland would want to say in this regard would not be identical, and even their statements would not be appropriate for the particular churches in other continents.

The bishops' conferences in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, and France went ahead and each issued a statement  that, while deal­ ing with the same general topic, referred in a special way to the particular experience of the peoples in their countries.  Italy followed by presenting last March 16 a formal letter to the Italian Jewish community strongly condemn­ing antisemitism and deeply regretting the past treatment of Jews in Italy. The way was thus open to the Holy See to speak to, and on behalf of the universal Church.

It is important to keep this fact in mind as one reads the Vatican's statement. We address our reflection to "our brothers and sisters of the Catholic Church throughout the world," and "we ask all Christians to join us in meditating on the catastrophe which befell the Jewish people." And we conclude with an invitation to "all men and women of good will to reflect deeply on the significance of the Shoah," stating that "the victims from their graves and the survivors through the vivid testimony of what they have suffered, have become a loud voice calling the attention of all of humanity. To remember this terrible expe­rience is to become fully conscious of the salutary warning it entails: The spoiled seeds of anti-Judaism and antisemitism must never again be allowed to take root in any human  heart."

It is also important for an objective understanding of the document to keep in mind that our commission saw in this initiative the possibility of promoting among the Catholics in those countries that were far removed by geography and history from the scene of the Shoah an awareness of past injustices by Christians to the Jewish people and encourage their participation in the pres­ent efforts of the Holy See to promote throughout the Church "a new spirit in Jewish-Catholic relations: a spirit which emphasizes cooperation, mutual understanding, and  reconciliation, good-will and common  goals, to replace the past spirit of suspicion, resentment, and distrust."¹

In the Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra  Aetate, no. 4,  published on December 1, 1974,  the  Holy  See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews recalled that "the step taken by the council finds its historical setting in circumstances deeply affected by the memory of the persecution  and massacre of the Jews which took place in Europe just before and during the Second World War." Yet, as the Guidelines point out, "the problem of Jewish-Christian relations concerns the Church as such since it is when 'pondering her own  mystery' that she encounters the mystery of Israel. Therefore, even in areas where no Jewish communities exist, this remains an important problem."

Such a document had by its very nature to attract the attention of and not alienate those to whom it was addressed. As I stated in my presentation  of this document on March 16, it is to be seen as "another  step on the path marked out by the Second Vatican Council in our relations with the Jewish people," and I expressed our  fervent  hope  at that  time "that it 'will help to heal the wounds of past misunderstandings and injustices' (Pope John Paul II)."²

What the Document States

As we approach the close of one Christian millennium and the birth of a third Christian millennium, the Church has been called by Pope John Paul II, in his apostolic letter Tertia Millennia Adveniente, to "become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counterwitness and scandal."³

The document "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah" is to be read in this context. Indeed, it concerns one of the main areas in which Catholics should seriously take to heart the pope's summons. While no one can remain indif­ferent to the "unspeakable  tragedy" of the attempt  of the Nazi regime to exter­minate the Jewish people, for the sole reason that they were Jews, the Church has a special obligation to reflect on this "horrible genocide," "by reason of her very close bonds of spiritual  kinship with the Jewish people and her remem­brance of the  injustices of the past." Moreover, "the  Shoah took place in Europe, that is, in countries  of long-standing Christian  civilization."

This, states the document, raises the question of the relation between the Nazi persecution and the attitudes down through the centuries of Christians toward Jews. In such a short document it was not possible to dwell at any length on the history of these relations, but the text admits clearly the prevalence over many centuries of anti-Judaism in the attitude of the Church towards the Jewish people. It acknowledges the "erroneous and unjust inter­pretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people and their alleged culpability," a "generalized  discrimination" in their regard "which ended at times in expulsions or attempts at forced conversions," attitudes of suspicion and mistrust, while in times of crisis "such as famine, war, pestilence or social tensions, the Jewish minority was sometimes taken as a scapegoat and became the victim of violence, looting, even massacres."

While lamenting this anti-Judaism, the document makes a distinction between this and the antisemitism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, based on racism and extreme forms of nationalism, theories contrary to the constant teaching of the Church on the unity of the human race and on the equal dig­nity of all races and peoples. The antisemitism of the Nazis was the fruit of a thoroughly neopagan regime, with its roots outside of Christianity and, in pursuing  its aims, it did not hesitate to oppose the Church  and persecute its members also. The Nazi regime intended "to exterminate  the Jewish people ... for the sole reason of their Jewish origin."

No attempt  is made  in the document to deny that "the  Jewish people have suffered much at different times and in many places while  bearing  their unique witness to the Holy One of Israel and to the Torah." "But the Shoah was certainly the worst suffering of all. The inhumanity with which the Jews were persecuted and massacred during this century is beyond the capacity of words  to convey. All this was done to them for the sole reason that they were Jews" (my emphasis).

That does not mean of course that the Nazi persecution of the Jews was not made easier by the anti-Jewish prejudices imbedded in some Christian  minds and  hearts.  This is clear in the document. What we state, however, is that before making accusations against people as a whole or individuals, one must know what precisely motivated them in a particular situation.

There were members of the Church who did everything in their power to save Jewish lives, even to the point of placing their own lives in danger. Many did not. Some were afraid for themselves and those near to them; some took advantage of the situation; and still others were moved by envy. Let me quote the document on this central point:

As Pope John Paul II has recognized, alongside such courageous men and women (those who did their best to help), the spiritual resistance and  concrete action of other Christians was not that which might have been expected from Christ's followers. We can­ not know how many Christians in countries  occupied by or ruled by the Nazi powers or their allies were horrified at the disappear­ance of their Jewish neighbors and yet not strong enough to raise their voices in protest. For Christians, this heavy burden of con­science of their brothers and sisters during the Second World War must be a call to penitence. We deeply regret the errors and fail­ures of those sons and daughters of the Church....

At the  end  of  this  millennium  the  Catholic  Church desires to express her deep sorrow for the failures of her sons and daughters in  every age. This  is an act of repentance (teshuvah), since, as members of the Church, we are linked to the sins as well as to the merits of all her children.

The Drancy statement refers in particular to the period of the Vichy govern­ment, following the defeat of France by the German  forces in 1940. While passing no judgment on the consciences of the people of that era nor accept­ing guilt for what took place at that time, the French bishops acknowledge that "too  many  of the Church's pastors committed an offense, by their silence, against the Church herself and her mission" in the face of the multifarious laws enacted by the government of that time.

The bishops find themselves "obliged to admit the role, indirect if not direct, in the process which led to the Shoah which was played by commonly held anti­ Jewish prejudices, which Christians were guilty of maintaining." At the same time they state: "This is not to say that a direct cause-and-effect link can be drawn between these commonly held anti-Jewish feelings and the Shoah, because the Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people has its sources elsewhere."

Reaction to the Document We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah"

The publication of the Vatican document received an enormous amount of publicity worldwide. Our commission has been flooded with reactions from both Jewish and Catholic sources. I would like now to share with you an over­all vision of these responses.

From the part of the Catholic Church—and it was to the  members of this Church that the document was primarily addressed—the reactions have been very positive. This, as I have already indicated, is important, for the document was intended as one that would teach, arouse  interest, and cause reflection within the worldwide Catholic community.

Some Questions Raised in the Document

One of the criticisms of the document we are reflecting upon is that it asks sev­eral important questions, but does not give a satisfactory reply to them. I would like to say a few words about three of these questions.

The first is "the relations between the Nazi persecution of the Jews and the atti­tudes down through the centuries of Christians toward Jews." It seems to me that it is particularly on this point that most disappointment has been expressed by Jewish leaders.

There can be no denial of the fact that from the time of Emperor Constantine on, Jews were isolated and discriminated against in the Christian world. There were expulsions and forced conversions. Literature propagated stereotypes; preaching accused the Jews of every age of deicide; the ghetto which came into being in 1555 with a papal bull, became in Nazi Germany the antechamber of the extermination.

It is also true that the Nazis made use of this sad history in their attacks on the Jewish people, adopting symbols and recalling events of the past to justify their deadly campaign. It is also true, I believe, that a part of the indifference shown toward the mass deportations and brutality which accompanied these forced movements of helpless and innocent  people was a result of the age-old atti­tudes of Christian society and preaching toward those considered responsible for the death of Jesus.

But to make a jump from the anti-Judaism of the Church to the antisemitism of the Nazis is to misread the nature of the Nazi persecution. To quote from the Vatican document:"The Shoah was the work of a thoroughly modern neo­-pagan regime. Its antisemitism had its roots outside of Christianity and, in pursuing its aims, it did not hesitate to oppose the Church and persecute her members also."

The Church can justly be accused of not showing to the Jewish people, down through the centuries that love which its founder, Jesus Christ, made the fun­damental principle of his teaching. Rather, an anti-Jewish tradition  stamped its mark in different ways on Christian doctrine and teaching. "To the extent that the pastors and those in authority in the Church let such teaching of dis­dain develop so long, and that they maintained among Christian communities an underlying basic religious culture which shaped and deformed peoples' attitudes, they bear a heavy responsibility.... This is not to say [however] that a direct cause-and-effect  link can be drawn  between  these commonly held anti-Jewish feelings and the Shoah, because the Nazi plan to annihilate the Jewish people had its sources elsewhere" (Drancy statement). At no time did the church authorities seek to exterminate the Jewish people!

A second question that perhaps needs some explanation is a distinction that the Vatican document makes between "the Church" and the "members of the Church." In our document we quote Pope John  Paul II, who stated  in an address to the October 1997 Vatican symposium  on "The Christian  roots of Anti-Judaism":

In the Christian world—I do not say on the part of the Church as such—erroneous and unjust interpretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people and their alleged culpability have circulated for too long, engendering feelings of hostility toward this people.⁷

This distinction—the Church and the members of the Church—runs through the Vatican document and is not readily understood  by those who are not members of the Catholic Church. Let me state firstly that when we make this distinction, the term "members of the Church" does not refer to a particular category of church members, but can include according to the circumstances popes, cardinals, bishops, priests, and laity.

For Catholics, the Church is not just the members that belong to it. It is looked upon as the bride of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, holy and sinless. We do not speak of the Church as sinful, but of the members of the Church as sinful—a distinction you may find hard to understand, but one which is essential to our understanding of the Church.⁸ An editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 18, 1998, acknowledged that "in Catholic belief, it's impossible to conceive of the Church, divinely ordained and inspired, itself falling into such evil error. But through free will, individual Catholics, even very prominent ones, could so sin."

And that brings me to the third question raised by the Vatican document: the responsibility of certain individual members of the Church, holding the highest positions of responsibility. We have been criticized for mentioning by name some who spoke out against the Nazi ideology and antisemitism. The refer­ences to Pius XII, in particular, have been the object of much comment.

In his article published  in The Jewish Advocate and already referred to above, David Gordis expressed the hope that Jews will see the document "We Remember" as a true act of Christian repentance  and an act of teshuvah.  He makes a comment that seems to me worthy of reflection when he writes:

We have no "repentance" in Judaism; we have teshuvah or "return." The difference is important. As Jews reflect on the past, we look to a positive reshaping  of our behavior and our relationship with God and with our  fellow human beings. It is inevitable that we have missed the mark in small ways and big ways. We are called on not to punish ourselves, but to reshape our lives, to refocus our­selves to the good and proper way, to the path of God.