Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight anti-Semitism, the Vatican said on Thursday in a major new document that drew the church further away from the strained relations of the past. Christianity and Judaism are intertwined, and God never annulled his covenant with the Jewish people, said the document from the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews. The document, titled "The Gifts and Calling of God are Irrevocable," was authored by the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with Jews. [VIDEO] Catholics should express their faith "in a humble and sensitive manner, acknowledging that Jews are bearers of God's word," when in the presence of Jews, the document says. The publication coincides with the 50th anniversary of a Vatican repudiation of the concept of collective Jewish guilt for Jesus' death and the launch of a theological dialogue that traditionalists have rejected. It also said Catholics should be particularly sensitive to the significance of the Holocaust to Jews (using the Hebrew word for Holocaust -- Shoah) and pledged "to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies." "This document seeks to reflect a sincere comprehension of Jewish self-understanding," said Rabbi David Rosen addressing journalists at the Vatican. "Perhaps then I may be permitted, in the spirit of our mutual respect and friendship, to point out that to fully respect Jewish understanding, it is also necessary to appreciate the centrality that the land of Israel plays in the historic and contemporary religious life of the Jewish people. And that appears to be missing from the document," he said. A Vatican expert in Catholic-Jewish dialogue said it was the first time a repudiation of active conversion of Jews was so clearly mentioned in a Vatican document. The major document was bound to displease ultra-traditionalist Catholics who feel that there should be a so-called "Jewish mission" to convert Jews because they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, a senior Vatican official said. Rosen acknowledged that change required time and patience. "I hope the day will come when we are mature enough to be able to say that we shall be able to agree to disagree. I am not sure yet that we have reached that level of maturity and therefore perhaps there is a need for a certain degree of patience until that moment arrives," he said. Until about 1960, prayers at Catholic Masses on Good Friday, the day commemorating the death of Jesus, called Jews "perfidious" and prayed for their conversion. That prayer was eliminated from general use after the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council introduced a new missal, or prayer book used at Masses. But later a prayer for the Jews was allowed to remain in the old-style Latin Mass, sometimes called the Tridentine Rite, used by ultra-traditionalists such as the Society of Saint Pius X, whose members reject the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In 2008, former Pope Benedict further reformulated the prayer used by the traditionalists to remove language Jewish groups found offensive, such as "the blindness of that people."
Video: Reuters
"The Catholic Church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed toward Jews," the document explains, noting that Judaism was not "simply [another] religion; the Jews are instead our elder brothers."
The highly theological document restated papal teachings in the past decades, saying that the "church does not replace the people of God of Israel." It is expected to be welcomed by Jewish groups.
