THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE

Message for the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration Nostra Aetate

28 October 2025, Aula Paolo VI

Kurt Cardinal Koch

The fourth section of the declaration “Nostra aetate” is dedicated to the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people. I would therefore like to extend a particularly warm welcome to all representatives of Jewish institutions and members of the Jewish religion. Historically, the fourth section marks the beginning of the drafting of “Nostra aetate” and may even have been prompted, at least in part, by a Jewish initiative. On the occasion of the meeting between Jules Isaak and Pope John XXIII on 13 June 1960, the Jewish historian presented the Pope with a memorandum urgently calling for a new view of the Church's relationship with Judaism. Pope John XXIII took up this request and commissioned the drafting of a declaration, which, after a long development process, resulted in “Nostra aetate”.

Article Four is characterised above all by two fundamental perspectives. First, it emphasises the Jewish roots of the Christian faith while expressing a clear and binding affirmation of the “common spiritual heritage” of Jews and Christians. The Catholic Church is aware that it received the revelation of the Old Testament through the people “with whom God, in his infinite mercy, made the Old Covenant”. Conscious of this continuity, the Church understands the New Covenant not as a replacement but as the fulfilment of the Old Covenant. This foundation of the Catholic Church’s new relationship with the Jewish people in the history of salvation is also to be understood as the Church’s positive response to the catastrophe of the Shoah, the mass murder of European Jews planned and carried out with industrial perfection by the National Socialists, and to the question of Christian complicity in these horrific events.

Just as “Nostra Aetate” clearly affirms the common heritage of Jews and Christians, it also unequivocally rejects all forms of anti-Semitism. Not simply for political reasons, but “driven by the religious love of the Gospel,” the declaration “Nostra aetate” condemns all reprehensible anti-Semitic behaviour, more precisely “all outbursts of hatred, persecutions and manifestations of anti-Semitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone”. A look at today’s world, in which an alarming increase in anti-Semitic tendencies must be noted, shows how relevant “Nostra aetate” remains today too.

Both the categorical rejection of all forms of anti-Semitism and the binding affirmation of our common spiritual heritage demonstrate that the Catholic Church has a special and unique relationship with the Jewish religion. This is already evident in the fundamental sentence in the introduction: “In reflecting on the mystery of the Church, the Holy Synod recalls the bond by which the people of the New Covenant are spiritually linked to the tribe of Abraham.” This means that the Catholic Church’s relationship with the covenant people of Israel is part of its inner self-understanding, so that the Church cannot understand itself without reference to Judaism.

Because of this inner closeness, theological dialogue between Jews and Christians remains important, and it is very close to Pope Leo XIV’s heart, as he explained in his meeting with representatives of other Christian churches and religions after the celebration of his inauguration as Bishop of Rome and successor to Peter: “Even in these difficult times, marked by conflict and misunderstanding, it is necessary to continue this valuable dialogue with vigour.” “Nostra aetate” commits us to such mutual knowledge and appreciation by recalling the common spiritual heritage of Jews and Christians. “Nostra aetate” is and remains the common compass of Christian-Jewish relations.