Vatican sources indicated today that they considered the controversy over Pope Paul’s Passion Sunday homily, in which he cited Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus, as a closed issue. The same opinion, it was reported, prevails among Italian Jewish leaders.
The Italian press reported widely the telegram to the Vatican signed by Judge Sergio Piperno, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, and Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff of Rome, who expressed concern over the revival by the Pope of the deicide issue in connection with the Jewish people. As background material, most of the newspapers reprinted extracts from the Declaration on Catholic-Jewish relations voted last November by the third session of the Ecumenical Council. This was done, it was indicated, to explain the reasons for the negative Jewish reactions.
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