Chief Rabbi Jacob Kaplan of France said today that he attached “no particular importance” to the equivocal response by certain Vatican spokesmen to the document on Jewish Catholic relations issued last week by the French Episcopate. The document called for an end to anti-Semitism and recognized the right of Jews to a “political existence of their own among the nations of the world.”
“The Vatican is a prisoner of its own Middle East policy.” Rabbi Kaplan told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “It is under great pressure from the Arab countries and its attitude is not surprising under these circumstances,” he said.
The Vatican has not commented officially on the French bishops declaration. But Vatican press secretary Prof. Federico Allessandrini told reporters in Rome yesterday that the Vatican’s position on Judaism “has been defined by Vatican II.” He added that “There is nothing changed in our position.” French Episcopate circles here interpreted Allessandrini’s remarks as a rebuff to their document. But they maintained that neither Allessandrini nor the official Vatican newspaper, L’Observatore Romano, “can be considered as official Vatican representatives.”
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