Catholics Must Accept Vatican II on Judaism
Pope Benedict XVI, Lord Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, and Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, are pictured in 2011 at the Vatican. T he Catholic Church’s relationship to Judaism as taught by the Second Vatican Council and the interpretations and developments of that teaching by subsequent popes “are binding on a Catholic,” Cardinal Koch said. (photo: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano via Reuters)
18 May 2012 – by Cindy Wooden
ROME (CNS) — The Catholic Church’s
relationship to Judaism as taught by the Second Vatican
Council and the interpretations and developments of that
teaching by subsequent popes, “are binding on a
Catholic,” said the Vatican official responsible for
relations with the Jews.
Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the
Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the
Jews and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, spoke to reporters May 16 after delivering a
speech on Catholic-Jewish relations in light of Vatican II’s
declaration “Nostra Aetate” on the church’s relations with
non-Christian religions.
The afternoon speech followed Cardinal Koch’s
participation in a meeting of the doctrinal congregation to
examine the latest progress in the Vatican’s reconciliation
talks with the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X.
“There are questions to clarify in discussions with
this community. I can’t say more than that,” he told
reporters, echoing a Vatican statement saying the
reconciliation talks are ongoing.
In addition to the highly publicized position of
Bishop Richard Williamson, an SSPX bishop who denies
the Holocaust, public statements by the society’s superior
general, Bishop Bernard Fellay, leave in doubt whether
the society as a whole accepts the entirety of “Nostra
Aetate,” including its condemnations of anti-Semitism and
of the idea that the Jews were to blame for the death of
Jesus.
“All the doctrinal decisions of the church are
binding on a Catholic, including the Second Vatican
Council and all its texts,” Cardinal Koch said when asked
if the SSPX would be expected to accept all the teachings
of Vatican II. “The ’Nostra Aetate’ declaration of the
Second Vatican Council is a clear decree and is important
for every Catholic,” he added.
At the same time, Cardinal Koch said, “it is very
necessary to make clear the difference between the
position of the Society of St. Pius X and the negation of
the Shoah (the Holocaust), which is a position that has no
place in the Catholic Church. It is very clear.”
Following the revelation of Bishop Williamson’s
comments about the Holocaust, SSPX leaders issued a
statement saying his position in no way reflected the
views of the society. “I’m very happy about this,” Cardinal
Koch said. “The Holy Father has spoken clearly about this
position of Williamson, that it’s not possible, there is no
place for deniers in the Catholic Church.”
In his speech at Rome’s Pontifical University of
St. Thomas Aquinas, Cardinal Koch said “Nostra Aetate”
is “the ’foundation document’ and the ’Magna Carta’ of the
dialogue of the Roman Catholic Church with Judaism.”
The declaration highlighted the Jewish roots of
Christianity and took “an unambiguous position against
every form of anti-Semitism,” he said.
Tags: Catholic-Jewish relations Judaism Cardinal Kurt Koch anti-Semitism