This entire newspaper would not suffice to recap the anti-Jewish doctrines promulgated by Church Fathers which guided Catholic theology and practice down to the middle of the last century. For centuries, Jews were rejecters of Christ, “perfidious” objects of contempt to be isolated and humiliated until they “saw the light,” a non-people shorn of their covenantal heritage including the right to the Land of Israel. Inquisition, blood libel, pogrom, burning the Talmud and burning Jews at the stake, ghettoization and Holocaust – these were the fruits of 2,000 years of vicious Christian anti-Semitism. In our generation, one pope was complicity silent throughout the Holocaust. Another pope warmly embraced Yasser Arafat way back when (in 1982) no one else would go near the terrorist chieftain. It took until 1993 for the Vatican to accord diplomatic recognition to the State of Israel.
But this is not the whole story, and it is wrong not to appreciate the vast strides forward of recent years in Christian-Jewish relations and Vatican- Israel ties. The ancient Christian anti-Semitism that fueled the Nazi movement has since been roundly repudiated by the Church, beginning with Nostra Aetate in 1965 and expanded upon by Pope John Paul II. John Paul II significantly changed the way in which Christians view, and teach about, Jews. He affirmed that God’s covenant with the Jewish people retains eternal validity; termed anti-Semitism a “sin against God” and called on the faithful to do tshuva for misdeeds against the Jews (using the Hebrew word for repentance); respectfully attended synagogue services and spoke of Jews as “elder brothers”; acknowledged Israel’s right to exist and its right to security; and established diplomatic relations with the state that embodies Jewish continuity. John Paul II’s millennial pilgrimage to Israel in 2000 was indeed an historic voyage.
Pope Francis, who arrives in Israel on Sunday, has deep friendships with the Jewish community of his homeland, and a track record of teaching respect for the Jewish People. He has spoken of Christianity and Judaism as partners, not adversaries, in the modern world; a world where a global struggle is under way against moral relativism on the one hand, and radical religious (mainly Islamic) extremism on the other.
Consequently, Francis should be warmly welcomed in Israel, to build on the bridges of understanding and cooperation that have been established. This is all the more true when we broaden the lens beyond Catholicism, to the Christian evangelical world that has become Israel’s best friend in global affairs. Israeli and Jews everywhere need to be cognizant of and grateful for the moral, spiritual, financial and political support of these believing Christians. They pray and lobby for Israel every day.
And yet, many in the Israeli religious community, in particular, still channel fear and resentment towards Christianity in general, and the Vatican in particular. They scaremonger about purported Vatican takeovers of Jewish sites (like King David’s tomb on Mount Zion), and relate with disdain to well-meaning Christian clergy and even to interfaith cooperation among lay leaders. I have seen angry Jewish religious treatises and newsletters which dismiss the Vatican’s warmer touch as Catholic lip-service, a tactical change in tone forced upon the Church by political realities. They assert that the Church’s goal remains the “theoretical, spiritual and practical destruction of the eternality of Israel,” and the “collapsing of the State of Israel by supporting anti-Israel terrorist organizations, under the cover of concern for justice and humanity.” Such militant talk provides ideological cover for misguided, fringe youth who have taken to occasionally vandalizing Church property.
I say that such radical unfriendliness towards Christians and the pope is wrong – morally, tactically and educationally.
Morally, the Jewish People and the State of Israel ought to amicably adjust to favorable change in Christian attitudes where such exists, and it does.
Tactically, we need not alienate millions of fair-minded Christians around the world. We have no need to make enemies out of friends and to spurn goodwill where it is proffered.
Educationally, contempt for the Church is, I feel, somewhat passé. As a proud people restored to its homeland, we no longer need to scorn. We have the strength to accept the reformed Church and work with its leaders, to mutual benefit.
In accepting the Vatican’s outstretched hand, I don’t mean to erase the memory of our galut years; of the Jewish People’s sad sojourn in the Diaspora as a people despised by the Church. Even the friendliest current voices cannot drown out Church history.
It’s not humanly possible. We certainly have the right to stand aloof from the past attitudes and conduct of the Church.
Furthermore, distinguishing between today’s pro- and anti-Israel Christians is not always easy for Jews.
The lines blur between Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s rotten Anglican-missionary- colonized heart, pro-BDS Presbyterian and Episcopalian churches in the US, and the diabolically anti-Israel Church of Scotland, on the one hand; and the newly Israel-friendly Vatican and even friendlier evangelical churches around the world, on the other.
But we have an obligation to discern and appreciate these differences, and to respond maturely to each in kind.
THAT SAID, I think it incumbent on Pope Francis to take further strides towards Israel and Jews when in Jerusalem next week.
I’m tired of hearing the Vatican talk mainly about justice for the Palestinians, without demanding any concrete, responsible behavior from the Palestinian Authority. It is time for the pope to call upon the Palestinians to recognize Israel as the nationstate of the Jewish People. It is high time for the pope to publicly acknowledge Israel’s magnanimous stewardship of Jerusalem. And it would be appropriate for the pope to explicitly distance Rome from the radical Protestant churches that seek to boycott Israel and that deny the Jewish People’s innate connection to the Land of Israel.
I’ve helpfully penned some language for the pope. This is what I’d like to hear from him in the coming days: “The Heavenly Father is today peering down at us from his perch above as we kneel in penitence and renewed brotherhood. I wish to repeat in the strongest possible way that hatred of Jews, of Judaism, and of the Jewish State of Israel stand in complete contradiction to the Christian vision of human dignity. Anti-Semitism is a sin against God. Calls for the eradication of the State of Israel constitute a great sin against God. Attempts to single out, boycott and demonize the State of Israel are intensely sinful too.
“The permanence of Israel is part of God’s design to enrich the world, to make it a better place for His children.
Sustained by its faith in the Lord, even in its millenary dispersion, the Jewish People has preserved its identity, its rite, its tradition, and its special connection to the land of the Bible.
“As I travel this Holy Land and this re-born State of Israel, I am astonished and grateful for what you have achieved. The state that you have built, the society that you have fashioned, the landscapes that you have quickened into life, the kinsmen that you have gathered in, the passions that have been roused and the inexpressible hopes that have been kindled because of them.
“Indeed, the establishment, survival and advancement of the State of Israel are more than mere political facts in the consciousness of believers. The State of Israel stands as vindication of the spirit; as validation of the tenaciousness of faith; as Providential consolation.
“I acknowledge the Jewish People’s historical and religious roots, and national rights, in this land and this Holy City of Jerusalem, while concomitantly upholding the rights of others. I deeply understand and appreciate Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish People, and call upon the Palestinian people to so likewise in order to bring true peace. I believe that the two peoples can live side by side in mutual recognition and dignity, bringing about an end to all claims in a long conflict.
“While this holy city of Jerusalem belongs to believers of all three great faiths, I must gratefully acknowledge that under your administration for the past almost 50 years Jerusalem has flourished as never before and has been kept open to all who seek to worship God.
“I furthermore find myself obliged to salute the State of Israel for its promotion and protection of Christian rights and institutions in this holy land, across seven decades. I am, of course, disturbed by recent reports of vigilante assaults on Christian properties, but I expect and know that Israel will act to suppress these acts of faithlessness.
“Alas, I cannot fail to note and lament the fact that in Arab and Islamic lands across the Middle East, mass persecution of Christians and wanton destruction of Christian holy sites and properties has become the norm.
Entire Christian communities in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, which have existed for centuries, are essentially being wiped out. Human and religious rights have been trampled under the boot of radical ideologies and vicious dictatorships.
“Let us pray here together for the security, justice and recognition for Israel that she so richly deserves; for the justice that is the right also of your neighbors; and for the grace of a real and deep brotherhood between our faith communities. May peace dwell in your walls, prosperity in your palaces. Amen.”
www.davidmweinberg.com
7monostor Said:
Why would yamit82 need to use a library when he knows he has my mind at the ready, to plumb.
I wonder how much of the Pope’s call for ‘justice’ via ‘peace’ a secret realisation that Israel cannot be destroyed militarily. Catholicism now seeks to ‘buy’ its way into Jerusalem, when for centuries it was the root of Jew hatred.
monostor Said:
No, Never have.
@yamit82,
Have you heard of such a thing called “library”? That’s a collection of what’s called “books”. You know, “printed matter”. Seriously! I know, the age of the internet, blah, blah, blah. I meant “Wikipaedia” when I said Google. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. How could I make such a faux pas? I let you have the last word, I am off of this topic.
monostor Said:
You mean like Yahoo and Bing?
If you have better search engines or methods of on line research we don’t know and are better pls. let us all know…SERIOUSLY!!! 🙂
@bernard ross,
No need to patronize me. If you don’t understand what I meant by 9/11 and the need to look into it I take it that we are not on the same page. As for research through Google it seems to me from time to time too liberal, too politically correct therefore biased, especially when it talks about the enemy that some don’t like to name. There are sources galore elsewhere, very reliable I may say.
monostor Said:
don’t understand the relevance of this statement?
monostor Said:
Most of us are very familiar with this subject. Googling simply shows you the massive material on the subject. Very few will take the time to supply you with citations etc when all you need do is dip your toe in the water. If you are interested in facts you will google and then get your citations from the hundreds of thousands of relevant links supplied. If you are an engineer I assume you have some experience with doing your own research. I understand requesting a citation for an obscure or unknown fact but the info on this subject is so massive as to be unnecessary. Unless you don’t know how to google or research on the internet(I would not even call this research) as i merely put in your original question which spewed out thousands of links. choose the first 10 and read.
According to this and many other passages about the Pope HIS WORD IS LAW.
Amazing Catholic Statements Regarding the Pope
The Pope is God On This Earth
The Pope is Immortal
The Pope is Infallible
The Pope’s Crown Bears This Inscription
“The Pope Has All Power in Heaven and Earth and Can Change Divine Laws
The Pope Can Change, Add to, or Take Away From, and His Word is Greater than the Holy Scriptures”
How difficult would it be for the Pope to voice the words that
“Any antiSemitic spoken words or acted deeds by a Catholic will result in the excommunication of that person or group of persons.”
The 1.2 billion Catholics in the world would then be morally and ethically obliged to stop any manner of persecuting Jews.
Something in which they have partaken for 2000 years.
OK guys, I am not a structural engineer and I am still going to carry on reading in the direction my curiosity took me on 9/11. You may send my regards to the Pope. For all events and dates you listed would be nice to give me a book title too. Google is not a book.
@ monostor:
None of us downplay or diminish the threat of Islam we face it every day here but we also face the insidious threat of the church and other christian denominations. Judaism considers the spiritual threat against Jews by christian greater than any physical threat. Christians are investing over 300 million dollars a year just to convert Jews. How much is that per Jew? That’s always been and still is their greatest and most important objective.
the phoenix Said:
What’s that, Hebrew for “posts to much”.
@ yamit82:
omg yamit,
look at your comment and mine and the time stamp…
is it because we share the same hebrew name?
😉
monostor Said:
I hope you are a better engineer than you are a historical scholar and researcher. 😛
The following all predate Islam and if anything I believe Muslims learned much of their Jewish hatred from christians and not the other way round.
In AD 388. In that year a synagogue at Rome was burnt by Christians and the authorities required that restitution be paid. This was clearly fair, and in keeping with custom. But in the same year another synagogue, at Callinicum on the Euphrates, was razed by Christians at the instigation of the local bishop. Again the Emperor required the bishop to make restitution. The leading Churchman of the day, Ambrose, now a saint and Doctor of the Church, interceded and made it clear to the emperor that it would be sinful to help the Jews in this way . The emperor acceded to the will of the Church, and withdrew his demand for justice.
The Christian Emperor Theodosius II promulgated a new code of law in AD 438 which excluded Jews from all political and military functions. They were again forbidden to marry Christians, or to own Christian slaves, to hold public office or to build synaguogues. In the same year the Empress Eudoxia tried to relax the regulations which barred the Jews from Jerusalem except for the festival of Sukkoth. When the Jews gathered on the Temple Mount they were attacked by Christian monks. Many Jews were murdered. When some of the monks were brought for trial, the leader of the massacre, a monk called Barsauma, assembled his followers again. Now they threatened to burn the empress herself and inspired such fear that the proceedings had to be dropped. Barsauma later became Saint Barsauma.
John Chrysostom, another Christian saint and a Doctor of the Church, was even more extreme. He claimed that Jews sacrificed their children to Satan, an accusation which was to be amplified and believed throughout Christendom for centuries. He also claimed that God hated the Jews and always had done. His eight sermons of 387 whipped congregations into a frenzy of excitement and fanaticism: Jews were drunkards, whoremongers, criminals. They were lascivious, obscene, demonic, and accursed. They murdered prophets, Christ, even God himself.. Before long the sort of massacre of Jews by Christians, which in time would come to be known as pogroms, were being instigated by Christian leaders. St Jerome regarded the Jews as vipers. St Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, instigated a series of riots directed against them. Massacres and riots occurred elsewhere in the empire but, as so often, surviving records are patchy, and have been so sanitised by Christian hands that they are unreliable. We shall almost certainly never know how many Jews were murdered by Christians during the Dark Ages.
I can provide many many more verified examples if you still doubt. In almost every instance whenever the Jews were caught between Christians and Muslims the Jews sided with the Muslims for good reason.
monostor Said:
i hope you are not a structural engineer…
@ monostor:
First, read what Giulio Meotti has said about the current state of the church with respect to Israel. The book is on the right-hand side of the Israpundit home page.
I read the book, and it is a shameful expose of the fact that the church leaders in the Middle East, and their avid supporters in the rest of the world, will stop at nothing to demean and eventually eliminate, the Jews. They will do this – and in fact are doing this – even as their flocks in Arab lands are slaughtered and enslaved. Now that’s hatred. I wonder what God thinks about all this? Do these evil men believe so little in the ways of God – even in their own scriptures – that they believe they will not have to account for their behaviour?
The other book I recommend is Constantine’s Sword, by James Carroll. A large book, that recounts the history of the church and the Jews. Constantine’s meeting at Nicaea was great PR for the Catholic Church, essentially setting it up, dogma and all. The end result, as we all know, has been beyond evil.
George Bernard Shaw was heard to say, “Christianity sounds like a great idea; it’s a pity it has never been tried.”
@Bernard Ross,
Please read Bat Ye’Or’s last to books on Europe: “Eurabia-The Euro-Arab Axis”, “Europe, Globalization and the Coming Universal Caliphate” and the book entitled “The Dhimmi-Jews and Christians under Islam”. I like to see events in context, I like to look at the big picture, I like to connect dots.
@ yamit82:
You stood me up, your loss: http://youtu.be/VIXxJpNwqis
monostor Said:
and yet they still, through their political and religious institutions, promulgate BDS to libel Israel while funding arab orgs connected to jew killing terror. you may beleive this to be administrative oversight but it actually is a logical continuation of a 2000 year chronic and serial habit which since WW2 has been operating somewhat covertly but is now blossoming again and coming out of the closet. The EU/christian MO to the Jews is chronic, serial, reliable and predictable. Only a fool believes there has been a change. what there has been is a leashing of their overt tendencies for the last 60 years but it is now becoming overt again. Nothing has changed:
Esau/Edom/Rome/EU/Christianity incites Ishmael to Murder Jacob
only the names and plot have been changed to protect the guilty. the archetypal drama recycles.
monostor Said:
An absence of love would be paradise, Disraeli has already commented on Jewish reaction to 1900 years of christian love.
monostor Said:
theological arguments, really?
yamit82 Said:
You are much more patient and generous than I
First: I stand by everything I said. I am an engineer and I don’t write treatises. The first Christian pogrom against the Jews was indeed in the Rhineland, not in 1096 but some years before. That followed the very first islamic pogrom of the Jews of Cordoba, 1033. Everything else happened after. There was no love on the part of the Christians towards the Jews, no one denies that. No one denies the theological arguments between the two either. But systematically and stereotypically ignoring that Islam is the main culprit, the main enemy because of the great influence that exercises until this day over all other religions, denying the right of individuals to even have an opinion on the contrary to its own tenets, is done at the peril of those who subscribe to the idea. Forget Europe, the continent is nearly all under dhimmitude again.
monostor Said:
The christian reformers are if anything worse than the Church:
A few excerpts of Luther’s masterpiece of Jew hatred entitled: “The Jews and Their Lies”
monostor Said:
Unfounded??? Are you intentionally obtuse and ignorant or is it a natural deformity?
Fact: Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE – a period of 1,700 years – Jews have experienced more than eighty expulsions from various countries in Europe – an average of nearly one expulsion every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.
@ monostor:
monostor Said:
I won’t go into depth here but will give you some highlights and headlines.
History of Jewish Persecution by christians-a time line
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/HistoryJewishPersecution/
“From New Testament times to the present, it is difficult to find a single period when the church has not acted shamefully toward the Jews. I’m convinced that anti-Semitism has been such a powerful and persistent nemesis largely because of the church’s false witness against the Jews.”
The negative concept of Jews and Judaism begun in the New Testament, and developed further in the writings of the church fathers, created an entire adversos Judaeos tradition. The titles of the tracts by themselves often indicate the nature of the writings:
The sermons of the great orator John Chrysostom offer perhaps the most offensive examples of these patristic diatribes. A single passage from his preaching is all that is needed to make the point:
The widespread polemics against the Jews in the theological foundations of early Christianity led to serious social consequences for the Jews during the Middle Ages. In an excellent study of the problem, Rosemary Radford Ruether argues that
Samuel Sandmel writes:
To anyone who knows this tragic history, it comes as no great surprise that the Holocaust could and did take place in the heart of Christendom. The Nazis’ “final solution” cannot be divorced from the attempts to get rid of the Jews throughout church history — first by forced conversion, then by expulsion, then by extermination.”
Read the complete work of Luther below
@ bernard ross:
@ yamit82:
The more the Jews give to these bastards the more they want. Trying to appease or trying to look good for the Europeans benefit does not work. We want to be respected. The narrative of 2,000 has become so ingrained in their believes. It has become part of their culture.
No amount of concessions is going to make us attractive to them. They expect it. They believe it is their given right to dictate to us. They never ask. They demand from us as if by acceding to their demands they are doing us a favor. Enough! If we show resistance to their demands we are called intransigents.
yamit and bernard are right. Thank G-d for people with clear minds.
Sooner than anyone expect they will be getting what they deserve.
monostor Said:
google: its all over the internet. If you dont know about this I will not do your work for you. 2000 years is hard to miss. It’s still goes on today with BDS churches libeling Israel and funding arab terror connected orgs. the vatican still holds on to Jewish property and seeks to swindle the Jews out of Jerusalem.
monostor Said:
try google if you are actually serious and dont know. the archives of the church are kept hidden, guess why. monostor Said:
perhaps not the christians on the street but the hierarchy who know the truth. I hope to see the day when the Jews are not fooled by the false statements of the supersessionist churches hardly covert agenda, and do everything they can to fund and incite the arabs and to libel the jews through BDS.
bernard ross Said:
I thought I would repeat it for you as you appear to have difficulty with facts. time for you to get out your books and google if you have one shred of honesty.
‘Climate of hate’ blamed for attack on Brussels Jewish museum that kills 3
Two women and a man shot dead; suspect reported in custody; government to increase security at Jewish buildings, Israeli embassy
When Rome Comes to Jerusalem: Papal Visit Causes High Anxiety in Israel
Read More
The above rant with all four of its installments is nothing but that, unfounded rant. Blanket statement like “2000 years of libel, swindle, torture and slaughter of Jews performed by Christendom” have no meaning without historical proof which the author of the comments fails to provide.
Where in the tenets of the Church is stated that Jews need be physically eliminated?
When and where was the first pogrom of Jews by Christians?
When and where were the Jews first ghettoized by Christians?
Where is the account of “millions” killed by the Inquisition? It must be found somewhere within the archives of the Church.
I hope I see the day when Jews will finally recognize that their worst enemy are not the Christians but those from whom the latter learned the despicable attitude, behavior and practice needed to rid the world of apes and pigs a.k.a. Jews, and who are in fact the Mohammedans.
I think the same is true of some neo n@zi parties and even the KKK. However, they are not in a position to swindle and libel the Jews and fund arab jew killers as the church is doing today. changing leaders and toning down criminal behavior to an undercurrent is bullshiite. Lets see the return of Jewish property and REAL restitution by the church of its despicable criminal behavior. these masquerades present a criminal org with fig leafs lending it a false veneer of “respectability” as opposed to the truth of its unbridled abuse of power and its serial criminal and despicable behavior. Instead of negotiating to steal more from the Jews in Israel they should be seeking to restore that which they stole and still have. A bunch of crooks dressed in red herrings.
No system of justice recognizes the rights of thieves and murderers to the fruits of their crimes. the rights of the “others” have proceeded from theft, murder and swindling and his church is at the forefront of such theft. any behavior less than the full returning of all thefts and swindling is a pile of shiite. he attempts to maintain the fruit of his thefts, protect the “rights” of his orgs crimes. Lots of “sweet nothings” but filth is still at the root. The proof of that filth is today’s behavior.
this is what was done to the Jews and was deemed acceptable and to be ignored by the international community and those crowing for justice to the “neighbors”. It is now being done to those who allowed it to the Jews. the same happened in the 1930’s to the euros and is now happening again. the swindlers beleive that Justice is done when they pay 10% of what was lost to the Jews and continue to benefit from their thefts. Justice is beginning to be meted out to the Euros and their supersessionist churches. their libels and swindling is returning to them each day they utter new libels. as the arab spring brought chaos and slaughter to the advocates of slaughter so we should welcome the humiliation and destruction of the euro libelers and swindlers. The wolves are at their gates and the termites are within their cities; yet they continue their swindles and libels against the Jews. It is only fitting that they meet their own arab spring after the jews are forced out. Blessings and curses for the thieves, hijackers, swindlers, torturers and slaughters. Their lies will not help them, they will be consumed in the fires they set for the Jews.
Each day the BDS churches libel Jews and fund arab terrorists a christian is being slaughtered by those they fund.
I find it nauseating that the leader of the most despicable of organizations which libeled, swindled, tortured and slaughtered Jews for 2000 years has the unmitigated gall to pontificate to the Jews on the Jewish homeland to which his org has been perpetually swindling from the jews. Today he is engaged in the same libel and swindling. Rather than endeavoring to rectify the filthy behavior of his organization he continues to perpetuate libels and swindles on the Jewish people. He may have improved the churches stance, and Jews should without doubt still quake in fear at the evil which this org is capable of, but let us not cover up a pile of malodorous shiite with perfume. This pontiff should cower in shame at the thought that he belongs to this timeless evil cabal of serial jew killers and swindlers. Instead he steps forward to exert the power of his org against the Jewish people in an effort to perpetuate their swindling and suffering.
A reformed leader of the KKK, should I believe it?
The new neo n@zi leader is not anti semitic, can it be true?
The fact that he belongs t to this 2000 year dastardly organization speaks for itself. An honest man would disassociate himself from any relationship with an organization with their history. The Jews are happy with any pontifical crumbs they can get from their masters and their masters proceed in confidence with that knowledge.
A pile of shiite dressed in gold is still a pile of shiite.