The president of the American Jewish Committee yesterday expressed sorrow over the death in Rome on Friday of Augustin Cardinal Bea, author of the Vatican Council’s Declaration which voiced Catholic absolution of Jewish collective guilt for the Death of Christ. A message of condolence to Pope Paul VI was sent by Arthur J. Goldberg, who declared that Cardinal Bea would be “remembered by Jewish history as the architect of the Vatican declaration on non-Christian Religions” which “has provided the foundation for an unprecedented improvement in relations between Catholics and Jews throughout the world.”
Mr. Goldberg’s message recalled that Cardinal Bea had met in March, 1963 with a group of leading Jewish scholars at the AJ Committee’s New York headquarters when the issue of Catholic-Jewish relations was being considered by the Vatican Council. “Out of that intense experience, Jewish leadership was deeply impressed by the Cardinal’s sincerity and friendship, his keen sensitivity to and appreciation of Judaism as a living faith and the spiritual vitality of the Jewish people, and his firm commitment to uproot the ancient theological roots of anti-Semitism,” Mr. Goldberg wrote.
Cardinal Bea, born 87 years ago in Germany, joined the Jesuit order and later came to Rome where he initiated a new type of historical research in Biblical studies and served as spiritual advisor to Pope Pius VII. Pope John XXIII elevated him to the rank of Cardinal and entrusted him with drafting the Declaration on non-Christian Religions which was presented when the Ecumenical Council opened in Rome in 1960. The Declaration brought some of the bitterest debate to the Council but Cardinal Bea argued that neither the Jews of Christ’s time, who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire, much less the Jews of today, could be held responsible for the Crucifixion. His view prevailed.
Cardinal Bea noted in his report to the Council in September, 1964 that no other matter before the Ecumenical Council had commanded such widespread attention as the Declaration on Jews. “The simple fact of this interest,” he wrote, “shows how the world is looking to the Church for approval or rejection of this document and how the judgment on the whole Council will be made almost solely on this point. The Church,” his report continued, “must follow the example of Christ and of the Apostles in their love of the Jewish people.”
Mr. Goldberg said in his message that, “In the tradition of Judaism, Cardinal Bea is regarded as one of the truly righteous men among the peoples of the earth who is assured of a blessed portion in the world to come…His memory is an inspiration for all future generations who seek to build a more humane world based on mutual trust and understanding.”
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.
