Some habits die hard

Editorial

Under Pope John Paul II, great strides were made in Jewish-Catholic relations, progress that the Catholic Church under Pope Benedict XVI seems intent on destroying. The most recent insults came on Good Friday.

With the American Catholic sex abuse scandals of the last two decades receding into memory, the Catholic Church is again in the spotlight, including hundreds of new accusations across Europe. And this time, the Pope is being accused of having helped orchestrate the cover up of abuse, long before he became pontiff.

Feeling embattled, the Church may have thought it prudent to address the allegations on its holiest of weekends, starting with the services on Good Friday, when Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Vatican’s papal household, read from a letter he received from a “Jewish friend.” Instead of calming emotions, Cantalamessa fanned the flames, both of the victims of sexual abuse and Jews the world over.

Cantalamessa’s unnamed Jewish friend voiced his support for the besieged Pope. According to the preacher, Jews “know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also, because of this, they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms.” His friend wrote, “I am following with indignation the violent and concentric attacks against the Church, the Pope and all the faithful by the whole world. The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of antisemitism.”

There are so many things wrong with this letter, from its lack of relevance to the sexual abuse allegations, to the comparison of accused priests to victims of the Holocaust.

Responding to the outcry that followed his remarks, Cantalamessa apologized, while the Vatican left him holding the bag, a spokesman saying that Cantalamessa’s remarks were “not an official position of the Catholic Church.... I don’t think it’s an appropriate comparison. That’s why the letter should be read as a letter of solidarity by a Jew.”

It’s interesting that the Vatican thinks it so important that a solitary Jew supports the Pope, that its preacher read this letter publicly, on Good Friday no less. It seems the Catholic Church has yet to sort out its complex feelings toward Jews and Judaism. Are they looking for another savior? Are they looking for another scapegoat? An Italian newspaper reported that the latest allegations of abuse are part of a smear campaign carried out by the media and abuse victims – notably, the article refers to the “lobby ebraica newyorchese,” the New York Jewish lobby.

Dragging Jews – even just one Jew – into the controversy is abhorrent, given the Church’s historic treatment of Jews, and particularly on Easter weekend, an historically popular time for pogroms, often led by priests, whipped into a frenzy by liturgical references to Jews as “Christ killers.” And linking Jews with this sexual scandal is just another on a lengthy list of antisemitic attempts to label Jews as immoral or damned, while at the same time implying they control world institutions, such as banks and the media.

Instead of taking the opportunity to condemn sexual abuse and confront the systematic problems within the Church, Cantalamessa and other Church spokesmen have portrayed Pope Benedict as the victim of “petty gossip.” For what is this Pope responsible? For what is the Catholic Church responsible?

Sadly, the recent letter is not the only gaffe that should concern Jews. The same Good Friday on which Cantalamessa read the letter from his Jewish friend, the prayer “Let us Pray for the Conversion of the Jews” was recited in Latin in traditionalist Catholic congregations in Italy, plus sections of the Society of Saint Pius, which doesn’t accept the Second Vatican Council reforms of the 1960s, including changes to the prayer for the conversion of the Jews and the retraction the Church’s millennia-old indictment against the Jewish people for the crucifixion of Jesus.

According to the Jerusalem Post, “In 2007, in an effort to bring the traditionalist elements of the Church back into the fold, Benedict issued a ‘Motu Proprio’ declaration allowing wider use of the 1962, pre-Vatican II Roman missal containing this prayer, which was previously restricted to small groups. Three years ago, only 30 Italian churches were affected by that decision, as opposed to the 118 that regularly use the liturgy today.”

While “conversion” was not supposed to be part of the prayer’s title, the Post reports, it somehow made its way into it, “in the brand new luxury re-edition of the missal currently flying off the shelves in Vatican bookstores.”

The traditionalist prayer states, among other things, “Let us pray for the Jews. May the Lord our God illuminate their hearts so that they can recognize Jesus Christ, Savior of all mankind.” The Post wonders how and why the reissue of the Good Friday prayer appeared with the “problematic title.”

Good questions. The Catholic Church, from top to bottom, must come to understand that institutionalized antisemitism and abuse are not random acts by rogue priests, and they won’t just disappear by denying they exist. Jews and Catholics deserve better.

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