On October 28, 1965, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Second Vatican Council's Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Church's Relationship to Non-Christian Religions. This was one of the most influential and celebrated of the conciliar documents.
Click on the link below to access a page of primary source documents and educational materials to assist in the observance of its fiftieth anniversary. Materials are arranged in these categories:
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Preconciliar Texts: Texts from the period when the Christian cultural and religious view prevailed that Jews were destined to suffer or live on the margins of society because of their rejection of Jesus Christ.
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Precursors: Texts reflecting post-Shoah efforts to overcome theological anti-Judaism. Many concepts in these materials were taken up in Nostra Aetate.
- Composition Process: Drafts and speeches that chart the development of what began as a statement only on Jews and Judaism to a declaration on all the world's religions.
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Official Conciliar and Postconciliar Texts: The final form of Nostra Aetate, a relevant excerpt from Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, and implementing documents of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the Vatican Secretariat of State.
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Papal Texts: Links to relevant writings of the post-conciliar popes.
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Educational Resources and Anniversary Statements