If John Paul II was the Pope who caused
momentous changes in relations with the Jews - just think of the
historical visit to the Synagogue of Rome in 1986 and the visit to
Israel in 2000 - his successor Benedict XVI was one of the
theologians who further consolidated the unique and unmistakeable
relationship that joins Christians with the people of the old Alliance.
For Pope Ratzinger, in fact, the link between Christians and Jews is
absolutely unique and unlike any other religion.
Both in his speeches and in his books, Benedict
XVI has always attributed the duty of bearing witness of the one true
God before the world to his "Jewish brothers". In the writings of Piero
Stefani, a biblicist and professor of "dialogue with Judaism" at the
Institute of Ecumenical Studies of Venice, we can confirm that from the
Pope's writings we see "a recognition of the permanence of the vocation
of Israel, which renders the Jewish people different from other peoples,
a vocation that is not denied by the acceptance, or lack thereof, of
Christ."
Stefani goes on to explain that "for Ratzinger, the
relationship between the Church and Judaism is not so much a question of
asking for forgiveness from the Jews, but more the fact that
recognising Abraham's legacy is a benediction promised to the Jewish
people. The Jewish legacy continues in Jesus Christ and then in the
Church."
The first steps
For some unknown providential design, both John
Paul II and his successor experienced first hand Nazi totalitarianism
and the persecution of Jews during the 1930s and 1940s. It is a fact to
acknowledge when reading and interpreting their actions.
The visit to
the Synagogue, the Jubilee request for forgiveness, the historical visit
to the Holy Land where the Pope prayed before the Western Wall or the
silence held before the eternal flame in Yad Vashem are incomprehensible
without the experience lived in Poland by the young Karol Wojtyla.
And Joseph Ratzinger was also able to experience
the anti-Semitic hate of that pagan ideology. On 29 December 2000, in
the Osservatore Romano, the then cardinal Prefect of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of Faith had written: "In the history of Christianity,
relationships that were already difficult deteriorate further, giving
rise in many cases to anti-Semitic behaviours which have produced
deplorable acts of violence throughout history. Even if the last
abominable experience of the Holocaust was perpetrated in the name of
anti-Christian ideology, which aimed to attack Christian faith at its
Abraham roots in the people of Israel, it cannot be denied that a
certain insufficient resistance of Christians to these atrocities can be
explained with the anti-Semitic legacy felt by some Christians".
Ratzinger goes on to write that "Perhaps due to the dramatic nature of
this last tragedy, a new vision of the relationship between the Church
and Israel has been formed; a sincere desire to overcome any sort of
anti-Semitism and to begin a constructive dialogue of mutual knowledge
and reconciliation. To be successful, such a dialogue must begin with a
prayer to our God to give Christians, first and foremost, more respect
and love towards this people, the Israelites [...]"
Following his election, Benedict XVI sent a
message to the chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni: "On 19 April
2005, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church elected me as Bishop of
Rome and pastor of the Universal Church. In informing you of my election
and the solemn inauguration of my papacy, Sunday 24 April, I trust in
the assistance of God on High to continue this dialogue and strengthen
the partnership with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people".
This
gesture was much appreciated by the Jewish community of Rome and was
defined "unusual in the history of relationships between Jews and
Christians", by Rabbi Di Segni.
Since his first official visit to Cologne for
World Youth Day, Benedict XVI wished to include a visit to the Synagogue
and at the time he spoke of the need to send a message of respect and
friendship towards Jews to the new generations who had not lived the
horror of the Holocaust: "It is a particularly important duty, in that
today, unfortunately, new signs of anti-Semitism are emerging and
various forms of generalised hostility towards foreigners are being
seen."
Benedict XVI had also added that for the
dialogue with his Jewish brothers "to be sincere, the existing
differences must not be kept silent or minimised: even in things that,
due to our intimate conviction of faith, make us different from one
another; in fact, precisely in these things, we must respect each
other." The Pope then visited a Synagogue in New York and on 17 January
2010 he repeated the historical gesture of his predecessor, crossing the
threshold of the Synagogue of Rome.
Ratzinger ensured that he wanted to
"confirm and strengthen" the path traced by his predecessor, expressing
the "respect and affection" of the Church for the Jewish people. He
explained that the Council is "a constant point of reference for the
behaviour and relationship with the Jewish people" and that the path of
dialogue that has begun is "irrevocable". He affirmed that "The Church
has not failed to deplore the failures of its sons and daughters, asking
for forgiveness for all that has in some way favoured the plague of
anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism."
The Pope then called for Christians and Jews to
look towards the future, to work together starting from the common roots
of the Ten Commandments, "the flame of morals", and proposed a
commitment to respect life, the value of every single human being,
especially foreigners and those who are weak.
A fundamental point in this relationship, which
also saw moments of tension - the worst being in January 2009 during the
excommunication of the four Lefebvre bishops, one of whom had made
statements denying the existence of the gas chambers (although the Pope
did not know this) - was Benedict XVI's visit to Israel in April 2009,
where he stopped to pray before the Western Wall and pay homage to the
victims of the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem memorial.
The Church's relationship with Israel
It is in the theological reflections of cardinal
Ratzinger that the strong connection between Christians and Jews has
been developed and these reflections have given way to the act of
opening up and profession of kindness and deep respect that Benedict XVI
has showed towards the people of the Old Alliance.
In 1998, the
cardinal devoted a book to this argument, translated into English in
1999 (Many Religions, One Covenant: Israel, the Church, and the World).
In his book, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith
commented on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and explained that
"Whilst the conflict of Jesus with the Judaism of his time is presented
in a superficially controversial way, we derive from it an idea of
liberation that can only consider the Torah as a servitude to exterior
rites and rituals.
The view of the Catechism, initially traced
back to Matthew, but successively defined by the whole of evangelical
tradition, logically leads to a completely different perspective: "The
Law of the Gospel fulfils the commandments of the Law. The Lord's
Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral
prescriptions of the old law, reveals hidden virtues and creates new
needs: it reveals the whole divine and human truth. It does not add
new external precepts, but proceeds to reform the root of actions, the
heart, where man chooses between the pure and the impure, where faith,
hope and charity are developed (...). The Gospel thus brings the Law to
its height by imitating the perfection of the Heavenly Father."
The future Pope goes on to write that "Jesus did
not act as a liberal, recommending and practising himself an open and
accommodating interpretation of the law. In the comparison between Jesus
and the Jewish authorities of his time we are not faced with a liberal,
and a closed and rigid hierarchy in its traditionalism. Such a view, so
widespread, misunderstands the conflict of the New Testament at its
root; therefore neither Jesus nor Israel is acknowledged."
Ratzinger
adds that "Jesus embraced the law in a wholly theological way, in the
knowledge and with the claim of acting in the most intimate unity with
God the Father, as his Son, acting with the full authority of God. Only
God, in fact, could interpret the law so radically and proclaim this
transformation and conservation in the meaning truly intended by him."
In this context, Ratzinger also reflected on
the meaning of Jesus' crucifixion: "The sin is responsible for the
cross" and "the cross is the victory of God's love, which is
stronger, over the cross."
The future Pope states that "Since I was a
child, although I naturally knew nothing of all the new knowledge
summarised in the Catechism, it was incomprehensible to me that some
wanted to see the death of Christ as a condemnation of the Jews, because
this concept had already entered my soul as something that was able to
give me profound consolation: the blood of Christ does not purport
revenge; rather it calls for reconciliation."
In concluding his reflection on the relationship
between Judaism and Christianity, Ratzinger wrote: "In the average
reader, a commonplace will come to mind in which the Bible of the Jews,
"The Old Testament", brings Jews and Christians together, while the
faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God and redeemer separates them. However,
we can easily see how superficial a similar distinction is between what
unites us and what separates us. In fact, I should first say that
through Christ, the Bible of Israel reached non-Jews and also became
their Bible. When the Letter to the Ephesians says that Christ broke
down the wall that separated the Jews from the other religions of the
world and restored unity, it is not empty theological rhetoric, but an
entirely empirical observation, even though the full significance of the
theological statement cannot be understood in empirical data. In fact,
though the meeting with Jesus of Nazareth, the God of Israel became the
God of all people. Through him the promise was fulfilled that the
peoples would worship the God of Israel as the one and only God, that
the "mountain of the Lord" would be exalted above all other mountains."
Ratzinger concludes that "if Israel cannot see the
son of God in Jesus, as the Christians do, it is not absolutely
impossible for them to recognise in him the servant of God, who brings
the light of his God to the peoples. And vice versa, even if the
Christians would like Israel to one day recognise Christ as the son of
God, thus overcoming the fracture that still divides them, they would
then be recognising God's plan, who entrusted Israel with his mission
in "pagan times."
The Fathers summarise it in the following way: Israel
must remain before us as the first holder of the Sacred Scripture to
bear witness before the world."