In a sweeping new document that redefines Roman Catholic attitudes towards Jews, the French Episcopate has called on its faithful to revise their thinking on Judaism and recognize the “political existence” of the Israeli State. The six-page statement entitled “Pastoral Orientations on the Christian Attitude of Judaism,” was termed “a great act” by Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan of France.
The document, prepared during the last two years, was presented Monday afternoon by the Rev. Father Bernard Dupuy. It was drawn up by a study group of French Catholic bishops, and formulated-in-the context of a 1965 declaration by Vatican II, the Second Ecumenical Council. That declaration absolved Jews from guilt in the death of Jesus Christ.
The second of the document’s four main clauses constitutes the first position by the French Prelates on Israel as a State. “Universal conscience cannot refuse the Jewish people, who have so suffered in the course of history, the right and the means of their own political existence among nations,” the document said adding “Nor can this right and these possibilities of existence be denied by nations which…are presently victims of unjust situations.”
ABANDON STEREOTYPE OF JEWS
The paper made no mention of the Palestine question, although some observers took the reference to “means” as a justification of Israeli military ventures against Palestine guerrilla groups. The paper called on Christians to abandon age-old stereotypes of the Jew. This includes the document declared, dropping the false accusation-that Jews are “guilty for the Passion and death of Jesus Christ.”
Rabbi Kaplan said this finding of the Episcopate “repaired the gravest omission” of previous conciliatory texts issued by the Catholics. The document took exception to some traditional Church notions when it said that “We cannot deduce from the New Testament that the Jewish people have been stripped of their election.” According to Rabbi Kaplan, this finding marked the first time that the French Episcopate sought to deepen the dignity of the Jewish peoples’ permanent vocation.
Finally, the document defended the right of conversion: “We must recognize the right of everyone to extend his worship without being suspected of wanting to separate another person from his community in a blameworthy manner. Far from seeking the disappearance of the Jewish community, the Church sees itself as searching for lines of contact with that community,” the document said.
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