The Catholic Church has long had a difficult, even violent, relationship with Judaism. It’s been normal for Jews to be treated as second-class citizens and the Vatican even pioneered the practice of forcing Jews to wear distinguishing symbols to mark them off from the rest of society, something taken to far more deadly lengths under the Nazis. Pope John Paul II attempted to repair the damage, but as was characteristic of so many issues during his reign John Paul sent mixed signals.
Perhaps the most public and well-known example of John Paul’s efforts to improve relations between Catholicism and Judaism was his March, 2000 ceremony in St. Peter’s where he publicly pleaded for pardon and forgiveness from God for the transgressions of Catholics in the past. He took personal responsibility for what had occurred at the hands of “sons and daughters of the Church” and acknowledged that Jews in the past had suffered grievous wrongs not merely by Christians, but also in the name of Christianity.
Although few could deny the responsibility of the Catholic Church for so many “sins” against the Jews, there were those who objected to such public contrition. Other “mea culpas” would follow on various issues and this would only lead to further criticisms. Despite such rhetoric, though, John Paul’s actions have largely pleased traditionalists and conservatives of the Church — for example, the efforts to have Pope Pius XII canonized.
Born Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII has long been a lightning rod in relations between Jews and Catholics. Both while Cardinal Secretary of State during the 1930s and while pope during World War II, many of his actions appeared to be designed to appease the Nazis. At best, it can be argued that he acted to preserve the power and position of the Catholic Church even if at the expense of individuals.
There have been fierce debates over the actions of Pius XII, but the Vatican has been determined to canonize him and hopes to do so with a minimum of negative publicity. In order to placate critics, a special commission was established in October, 1999, to study Pius’ war record. Vatican enthusiasm for the project was made evident when the commission was supplied with little more than a set of books that had been available in public book stores for decades.
Commission members rightly demanded access to the Vatican archives so that they could make a thorough and first-hand study of original documents rather than merely reviewing secondary literature. The Vatican, however, was far from receptive to this. Peter Grumpel, the man in charge of Pius’ canonization, declared the demand to be outside the authority of the commission. When the Jewish historians who were on the commission resigned in protest, Grumpel described their actions as a “violent attack on the Catholic Church.”
Pope John Paul II has the sole authority to give or refuse access to the papal archives, so these events can only be regarded as in line with his policies and feelings. This certainly wasn’t the first or the only time that Jewish interests would be dismissed by the pope. Catholic convert from Judaism Edith Stein was beatified as a Catholic martyr, despite the fact she was killed because of her Jewish birth. Her “remembrance document” signed by John Paul II described antisemitism as a feature of neopaganism and ignored the centuries of Christian antisemitism.
It cannot be denied that John Paul II did more than any modern pope to improve relations between Judaism and Christianity. At the same time, it also cannot be denied that he committed some terrible errors that have only made things needlessly worse. How historians end up describing John Paul's papal legacy is questionable. It’s clear that he wanted to be remembered for having made things better, but honest historians will have to acknowledge that he didn’t do as much as he could have, exactly one of the criticisms leveled against Pius XII.
