Genocide, Historical Memory, and the Remaking of Catholicism after 1945

After the death of Pope Pius XII, the Catholic Church underwent a paradigm shift in its relation to Judaism, which was part of the aggiornamento initiated by Pope John XXIII. Responding to globalization, decolonization, the creation of the State of Israel, and calls to come to terms with the memory of the Shoah in Europe, the Church sought new ways of relating to the Jews. However, although the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate (1965) cleared the Jews of collective responsibility for the death of Jesus, enabling a transition “From Enemy to Brother” (John Connelly), the reception of Vatican II has not been linear or uniform. Some previously abandoned positions have been reinstated, such as the restoration of the Tridentine Mass (2007) and the readmission of the Pius X Brotherhood (2009). Enduring questions persist regarding the contribution of Christian anti-Judaism to antisemitism, the involvement of Catholics in the Shoah, relations with the State of Israel (formally recognized by the Vatican only in 1993) and the Christian minorities in the Middle East, and the role of the Jewish people today in the history of salvation. This volume seeks to address these problems, ascertaining the state of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation today and contemporary obstacles to dialog.