Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs

Quotes for Bulletin Use – On Judaism

In his address during his historic visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome on April 13, 1986, Pope John Paul said, “…the Church of Christ discovers her ‘bond’ with Judaism by ‘searching into her own mystery.’ 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.”

In his statement on the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Pope John Paul II, January 15, 2005, stated that, “No one is permitted to pass by the tragedy of the Shoah. That attempt at the systematic destruction of an entire people falls like a shadow on the history of Europe and the whole world; it is a crime which will for ever darken the history of humanity. May it serve, today and for the future, as a warning: there must be no yielding to ideologies which justify contempt for human dignity on the basis of race, color, language or religion. I make this appeal to everyone, and particularly to those who would resort, in the name of religion, to acts of oppression and terrorism.”

In a letter to the participants in a symposium on the theme of “The Roots of Anti-Judaism in the Christian Environment,” October 31, 1997, Pope John Paul wrote, “In the Christian world … erroneous and unjust interpretations of the New Testament regarding the Jewish people and their alleged culpability [for the crucifixion of Jesus] have circulated for too long, engendering feelings of hostility toward this people.”

In his address to the West German Jewish community, November 17, 1980, Pope John Paul observed that, “The first dimension of [our] dialogue, that is, the meeting between the people of God of the Old Covenant, never revoked by God (cf. Rom. 11:29), 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.”

This year also marks the fortieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration Nostra Aetate, which opened up new prospects for Jewish-Christian relations in terms of dialogue and solidarity.  This Declaration … recalls the common roots and the immensely rich spiritual heritage that Jews and Christians share.  Both Jews and Christians recognize in Abraham their father in faith and they look to the teachings of Moses and the prophets.  Jewish spirituality, like its Christian counterpart, draws nourishment from the psalms.  With Saint Paul, Christians are convinced that “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” In considering the Jewish roots of Christianity, my venerable Predecessor, quoting a statement by the German Bishops, affirmed that: “whoever meets Jesus Christ meets Judaism.”  -  Pope Benedict XVI to the Jewish Community in the Synagogue of Cologne, Germany, August 19, 2005

General Intercessions

For the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of God’s name and in faithfulness to his covenant, let us pray to the Lord.   - From the Good Friday liturgy

That interreligious dialogue and cooperation will help to establish a sure basis for peace so that the name of the one God may become for us what it is: a name of peace and a summons to peace, let us pray to the Lord. - Adapted from Pope John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, #55

One is the community of all peoples, one their origin, for God made the whole human race to live over the face of the earth. One also is their final goal, God. His providence, His manifestations of goodness, His saving design extend to all people, until that time when the elect will be united in the Holy City, the city ablaze with the glory of God, where the nations will walk in His light.  – Vatican II Declaration Nostra Aetate, #1.

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