REMEMBERING A MOMENTOUS MOMENT

CELEBRATING THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MEETING OF JOHN XXIII AND PROFESSOR JULES ISAAC

13 JUNE 1960

A WEBINAR SPONSORED BY

 The Cardinal Bea Centre of the Pontifical Gregorian University,

 The Institute for Jewish- Relations of Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia 

11 JUNE 2020

REMEMBERING A MOMENTOUS MOMENT

THE MEETING OF POPE JOHN XXIII AND PROFESSOR JULES ISAAC

13 JUNE 1960

Jules Isaac Born in 1877, Professor Jules Isaac was an esteemed French historian and educational leader by the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1940, he lost his position as Inspector General of Public Education when the Vichy government imposed antisemitic policies modelled on Nazi legislation. This prompted him to begin studying, even while eluding the Nazis, the origins of what he came to call the Christian “teaching of contempt” for Jews. During his research he suffered the loss of his wife Laure and daughter Juliette to the Auschwitz gas chambers, but was urged by Laure to persist in his labors in a note she managed to send: “take care of yourself, have confidence and finish your work, the world is waiting for it.” In 1947, he published the important 600-page work Jésus et Israel. He brought the manuscript with him to the “Emergency Conference on ” held that year in Seelisberg, Switzerland, which largely shaped the influential “Ten Points of Seelisberg” that the conference issued. For the next decade, Isaac devoted himself to promoting Jewish and Christian rapprochement. His activities included co-founding the Amitié Judéo-chrétienne de France, meeting with Pope Pius XII in an effort to revise the Good Friday intercession for Jews and publishing in 1962 L'Enseignement de Mépris (The Teaching of Contempt). After newly elected Pope John XXIII announced on January 25, 1959 the convening of the , the French ambassador to the arranged an audience for Isaac. Thus, on June 13, 1960, Isaac met privately with the pope to ask that a subcommittee examine Catholic teaching about Jews in preparation for the Council.

Pope John XXIII

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born in 1881 in the Bergamo province of the Lombardy region of Italy. He was one of thirteen children whose family earned a living by sharecropping. He was ordained a priest in 1904 and consecrated a bishop in 1925. He was made a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in 1953. He was Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria (1931-1934), to Turkey and Greece (1934-1944), and Apostolic Nuncio to France (1944-1953). In World War II he issued Vatican visas and baptismal certificates to thousands of Jews, enabling them to escape the Nazis.

Shortly after being elected Pope John XXIII in 1958, he announced that he was convening the Second Vatican Council, to begin in 1962.

On March 21, 1959, he directed that the word perfidis be excised from the Good Friday prayer for Jews. He welcomed Jewish visitors in October 1960, saying, “I am Joseph [Giuseppe] your brother.”

Known popularly as “Good Pope John” during his papacy, his heartwarming personality was evident on the night of the opening of the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962. Moved by the sight of thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square on that historic day, he gave an impromptu speech, called “the Moonlight Speech,” saying, “Here all the world is represented. One might even say that the moon rushed here this evening – Look at her high up there – to behold this spectacle. …. When you go back home, find your children, and give them a hug and say, ‘This is a hug from the Pope.’”

He was canonized a saint by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014.

2

Isaac’s Account of the Meeting1

“I explained my request regarding [Christian] teaching, and its historical grounding. But how, in a few minutes, could I explain this spiritual ghetto in which the Church had ultimately confined old Israel — along with the physical ghetto?... [I] developed that which I have called ‘the teaching of contempt’ and, since it has subsisted for centuries upon centuries, the Christian psyche has been deeply affected. … “This is why it is critical that a voice proclaim from on high, from the ‘summit’ — the voice of the leader of the Church — to tell everyone what is the right way and solemnly condemn as in essence anti-Christian this ‘teaching of contempt.’ “As a practical matter, how to proceed? I [suggested] that a subcommittee be created to study the question. The Pope reacted immediately, saying, ‘That is what I have been thinking from the beginning of this meeting.’ On several occasions, during my brief presentation, he had shown his understanding and sympathy. ... “Expressing my gratitude for the welcome received, I wondered if there was a glimmer of hope I could take away. He exclaimed: ‘You are entitled to more than a hope!’ and added with a smile, ‘I am the leader, but I must also consult, to have the relevant offices study these questions raised, this is not an absolute monarchy.’ And we parted with a new and good handshake.’”

The Outcome of the Meeting The next day, Isaac had an hour-long meeting with Cardinal Augustin Bea, S.J., whom Pope John had named President of the “I remember very well that the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity only days before. Bea Pope remained extremely seemed to Isaac as already familiar with the topic of relations with impressed by that meeting and Jews. Promising to pursue the establishment of a subcommittee he talked about it with me for a after the summer hiatus, Bea gave Isaac his business card and long time. It is also true that urged him to be in touch as needed. until that day it had not occurred Bea wrote to Pope John on September 14, 1960 to request an to John XXIII that the Council audience, writing, “I would particularly like to bring up the had to deal with the Jewish question of responsibility concerning relations between Jews and question and with antisemitism. Catholics.”2 They met four days later. The pope approved Bea’s suggestion that he add relations with Jews to his Secretariat’s But from that day on he was areas of responsibility. Two months later at the first meeting of completely taken by it.”6 advisors to the Secretariat, Bea announced the formation of a – Msgr. Loris Capovilla, subcommittee on quaestionis de Iudaeis (questions about Jews), Personal secretary to John XXIII thus beginning the process that would ultimately lead to the 1965 promulgation of by the Council.

According to Rev. Thomas Stransky, the Secretariat’s recording secretary: “It was the visit of Jules Isaac with John XXIII and Augustin Bea that initiated the search for the proper Council structure which could handle an even more touchy subject than Christian unity. The search ended in the decision of September 18, 1960 [when] the Cardinal was told that the Secretariat should prepare a statement dealing with the Jewish people.”3

1 Excerpted from Jules Isaac, “Note sur huit jours à Rome (juin 1960),” Cahiers de l’association des amis de Jules Isaac, (1974), no. 2. Translated and quoted in Norman C. Tobias, Jewish Conscience of the Church: Jules Isaac and the Second Vatican Council (London, New York, and Shanghai: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 187-188. Slightly edited. 2 Tobias, Jewish Conscience, 196. 3 Thomas F. Stransky, “Two Pioneers - The Pope and the Cardinal, the Secretariat and the Jews,” SIDIC Review (1969) Special Issue, 4. 3

Conclusion

It seems clear, in the words of a recent historical study, that “Pope John might not have requested a statement on the Jews without the intervention in 1960 of the Holocaust survivor Jules Isaac … [who] made an impassioned plea during an audience of June 1960. … [A]ccording to knowledgeable sources, Isaac’s appeal made the difference.”4 The meeting of Jules Isaac and John XXIII on June 13, 1960 was therefore pivotal in starting the rapprochement between Jews and Catholics that has unfolded over the ensuing six decades.

To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of this watershed moment, research centers at two Jesuit universities, the Institute for Jewish-Catholics Relations of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, are sponsoring a special webinar to consider the developments over the past sixty years, and current and future aspects of what Pope Francis has called “the journey of friendship” between Catholic and Jews.5

The Speakers Dr. Mary C. Boys, SNJM is Skinner and McAlpin Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary, New York. Among her many publications are Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding and Redeeming Our Sacred Story: The Death of Jesus and Relations between Jews and Christians.

Rabbi Dr. Irving Greenberg, ordained in the Orthodox Rabbinate, served for 23 years as a Founding President of CLAL: The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership and for 10 years as Founding President of the Jewish Life Network/ Steinhardt Foundation. Among his many writings are: For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity.

4 John Connelly, From Enemy to Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933–1965 (Cambridge, MA and London, UK: Harvard University Press, 2012), 240. Connelly also cogently notes that of the eighty-one suggestions for the Council’s consideration, “only three … mentioned the question of relations between the church and the Jewish people” (ibid). 5 Pope Francis, “Address to the Chief Rabbis of Israel,” May 26, 2014. 6 Tobias, Jewish Conscience, 250-251.

4

About the Sponsoring Organizations

The Cardinal Bea Centre of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome takes its name and inspiration from the far-seeing vision of the Jesuit Augustin Bea, the principal architect of the Declaration Nostra Aetate. It is dedicated to the promotion of a theological knowledge and understanding of Judaism – from both a Jewish and a Christian perspective — as well as the teaching, research and academic exchanges between Christians and Jews needed to foster a mutually enriching relationship. The Centre offers courses and degree programs in Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations, contributes to research in the field of Judaic Studies and to the development of a Christian Theology of Jewish-Christian relations, is engaged in international academic exchanges with institutions in various countries, and organises national and international public lectures and conferences to increase the knowledge of Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations, and create a space for dialogue and interaction.

The Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia was founded in 1967 in response to the call of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 for Catholics and Jews to join in “biblical and theological inquiry … and friendly discussions.” The first such response to the Council by an American Catholic college, the Institute is dedicated to increasing knowledge and deepening understanding between Jews and Catholics through open interreligious dialogue and study, to academic research and education about the theologies that shape Catholic and Jewish self-understandings in relation to each other, and to a future in which Catholics and Jews are study partners, exploring together their respective texts, rituals, histories, and experiences of God, and who help each other fulfill their covenantal responsibilities to God and the world. This vision is enshrined in the Joshua Koffman sculpture, “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time,” blessed by Pope Francis in 2015.

5