Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration
of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, explaining
biblically and theologically in his new book why there is no scriptural
basis for it, said an AP report in the Herald Sun.
The Catholic Church issued
its most authoritative teaching on the issue in its 1965 Second Vatican
Council document Nostra Aetate, which revolutionised the church's
relations with Jews by saying Christ's death could not be attributed to
Jews as a whole at the time or today.
Pope Benedict comes to the same conclusion, but he explains how with a
thorough, Gospel-by-Gospel analysis in his book, Jesus of Nazareth-Part
II, that leaves little doubt that he deeply and personally believes it
to be the case: That only a few Temple leaders and a small group of
supporters were primarily responsible for Christ's crucifixion.
Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.
Jewish scholars said the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff
was a landmark statement from a pope that would help fight
anti-Semitism today.
"Holocaust survivors know only too well how the centuries-long charge
of 'Christ killer' against the Jews created a poisonous climate of hate
that was the foundation of anti-Semitic persecution whose ultimate
expression was realised in the Holocaust," said Elan Steinberg of the
American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.
The Pope's book, he said, not only confirms church teaching refuting
the deicide charge "but seals it for a new generation of Catholics"