Augustin Cardinal Bea, whom the late Pope John XXIII entrusted with the task of bringing to the Ecumenical Council a schema for improving the relations between the Catholic Church and non-Christian religions, spelled out for the Catholic priesthood today a set of instructions plus advice on how best to understand the Council’s document relating to the Jews, and how to implement the document.
The schema, originally brought by Cardinal Bea before Vatican Council II in 1962, has since been adopted in somewhat different form and is now official Catholic Church doctrine, promulgated as such by Pope Paul VI. Cardinal Bea gave his instructions and advice in a long article that appeared today in The Ecclesiastical Review.
He noted that the draft declaration on Jews was the most debated in the Council “not so much for religious reasons but because of unfortunate political circumstances of the moment. In fact,” Cardinal Bea continued, “it was deleted from the Council’s agenda by the preparatory commission in June, 1962, because of unforeseen opposition. Only new intervention by Pope John succeeded in bringing the subject back to the agenda in December, 1962, when he endorsed an opinion sent to him by Cardinal Bea with the words: ‘We read with attention Cardinal Bea’s note, and share his opinion perfectly as to the importance and responsibility of our interest in it.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
