1、1Review on the Change of the Catholic Churchs Attitude towards Jewry after the Second World WarAbstract. Since the end of the Second World War and the unveiling of the Holocaust committed by Nazi， the Catholic Church has begun to examine its standpoint and sought methods to improve the relationship
2、with other religious groups including Jewry. The change of the Catholic Churchs attitude towards Jewry is a progressive process. The post-war Christian democratic movement in Catholic countries is important force， which drives the change of the Catholic Churchs attitude towards Jewry. During the per
3、iod of the Second Vatican Council， great pressure from public opinions was carried by the Catholic Church. Therefore， Nostra Aetate became a hot topic among people all over the world since its emergence. Key words： Nostra Aetate； Holocaust； Reconciliation Introduction With the end of the Second Worl
4、d War and the unveiling of the Holocaust committed by Nazi， the Catholic Church is forced to encouter great crisis， because a policy of appeasement was carried out by it for Nazi during the Second World War. For 2this reason， the Catholic Church has to examine its standpoint again for seeking method
5、s to improve its relationship with other religious groups. From 1962 to 1965， a series of documents and laws oriented at reform were promulgated by the Catholic Church， including the Nostra Aetate， which is a great declaration about the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the non-Christian relig
6、ions. In addition to making efforts to improving the relationship with other religions， the Catholic Church made a special mention of Judaism in the Nostra Aetate. This was the first time for the grand duke of the Catholic Church to mention that the Church not only objected making persecution on eve
7、ryone， but also was willing to commemorate the common heritages that Jewry owns. At the same time， the Church disagrees with any enmity， persecution and measures taken by any people in any times for fighting against Jewry under the compelling of religious gospel and kindheartedness. All these new ch
8、anges are not driven by the political reasons 1. From the history of the Catholic Church， it can be known that extremely high attention had been paid by people to the declaration Nostra Aetate. Therefore， the Catholic Church has made a highly important progress in the change of its attitude 3towards
9、 Jewry and Judaism 2. Nostra Aetate is a declaration， which is really not so easy to be owned. However， the important significances of Nostra Aetate can be reduced enormously if people in the latter times read it without considering its concrete historical background. Continuation of the Anti-Jewish
10、 Traditions： Kielce Pogrom It is a gradual process for the Catholic Church to change its attitude towards Jewry. Before the declaration Nostra Aetate about the Catholic Churchs attitude towards the non-Christian religions was issued for 20 years， the frictions between the Catholic Church communities
11、 and the Jewish communities occurred with high frequency. The most extreme example was the Kielce Pogrom in Poland. In July 1946， 80 Jewish people were killed by poles in the Kielce of Poland， and also a quarter of the adults in the city were involved. The Kielce Pogrom became the largest European e
12、vent in which many innocent Jewish people were cruelly massacred after the Second World War. This violence was caused by the blood libel， which could only be seen in the middle ages. However， the Catholic Church set their feet in it 3. The anti-Semitism in Poland had been notorious for a long 4time
13、before the Second World War. As early as February 1936， August Hlond， from the Cardinal of Poland， openly declared： “we should reject the harmful influences from the Jewish people on morality， keep far away from their anti-Christian culture， and especially need to boycott the newspapers and relevant
14、 publications of Jewry“ 4. Before and after the Kielce Pogrom in 1946， the Catholic Church indulged the anti-Semitism again dishonestly. Czes？aw Kaczmarek， bishop from the Catholic Church in Kielce， used to say： “There has nothing to say about the Jewish people as long as they can be absorbed in the
15、ir own private affairs， but they insult the national sentiment of the people of Poland if they begin to get involved in the political and public life of Poland“ 5. The presentation of Kaczmare was just a centralized reflection on the attitude of the monks and priests groups of the Church. In additio
16、n， during the Second World War， the people or organizations from the Catholic Churches of all European countries carried out a very detailed and systemic distinction between the “converted Jewry“ and the “common Jewry“. When the Second World War came to end， the Pope of the 5Catholic Church made a d
17、ecision， allowing the inquisitions to proclaim the bishops all over the Europe not to return the Jewish children having received baptism in the Catholic organizations. In the mean time， the Pope also permitted to keep the Children， who had not received baptism and also had no family members to recog
18、nize them 6. First Signs to Call on Reconciliation A great number of the tenets in the declaration of Vatican Council II had been advocated as far back as the 1930s. Some prestigious French Catholic thinkers in the 1930s， such as Jacques Maritain， Emmanuel Mounier and Francois Mauriac， and the influ
19、ential daily La Croix， were opposed to the anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church 7. After the Second World War， among the multiple factors forcing the Catholic Church to make a change to its attitude towards other religions， the Christian democratic movements in the Catholic countries might be the mo
20、st important driving force 8. Christian democratic movement emerged in the European continent in the middle of the nineteenth century or latter. Along with the end of the Second World War， Christian democratic movement welcomed its development peak. 6All Christian Democrats believed that they could
21、seek a compromise road between capitalism and socialism according to the religious doctrines and encyclical spirits of the Catholic society. The change of the Catholic Churchs attitude towards Jewry happened first in Italy. In January 1943， De Gasperi， who led the Italian government after the Second
22、 World War， established the Italy Christian Democratic Party. The Christian democratic movements in France had positive changes， which were of the same significance. However， the Peoples Republic movement that the anti-Catholic members established changed into one of the most important powers during
23、 the fourth republic period. After the Second World War， the development achievements， which were made by the Christian democratic movement in German， were the most significant. In August 1945， CDU was founded. The goal of the CDU was to establish an alliance of religious sects， not only bringing Ca
24、tholic liberal and conservative sects together and also accepting new Protestants and the people from other religious faiths. Questions inside and outside Catholic Church 7In 1963， German dramatist Rolf Hochhuth described the Pope Pius XII as hypocrite in play， because he kept silence about the holo
25、caust. In the critically-academic Catholic Church and Nazi Germany of Guenter Lewy， the spear was directed at Vatican as well 9. All these criticism sounds were attacked firmly from Vatican， but the influences that they exerted were great in the real world. Criticism vioces were not only from the wo
26、rld outside the Church， and also the discontents inside the Church grew. All these dissatisfactions were mainly directed at the negative attitude of the Pope Pius XII towards Vatican Council I movement 10. In 1958， Pope Pius XIII provided a new historical opportunity for Vatican to make an amendment
27、 to its conservative route. Also， Pope Pius XIII became highly known within the Church for a very long time due to his assertions towards freedom and reform. Vatican Council II and Nostra Aetate On October 11， 1962， ecumenical council I was unveiled at St. Pauls Cathedral of Vatican， and ended on De
28、cember 8， 1962. Because of the argument between the innovation and conservative routes， there were no formal documents agreed at 8the Vatican Council I. Therefore， Pope Pius XIII still released the general spirits in April， setting a tone for the second-half of the council. In the process of the Chu
29、rch to issue the declaration about its attitude towards the non-Christian religions， Augustin Bea， general secretary of the Christian tribunal secretariat， played a very important role. In 1959， John XIII named Augustin Bea to prepare the draft of a document. After Vatican Council II was held， the f
30、ormal drafting of the declaration began to be implemented with tension. At the Council， Alfredo Ottaviani， leader of the conservative sect of the Church， made a fierce debate with Augustin Bea concerning about religious freedom. Although Ottaviani also gave his supports to the religious tolerance， h
31、e still was opposed to the separation of religion and politics and the endowment of all equal religious rights， and claimed it was necessary to suppress the public expression of the non-Catholic religions as far as possible. The draft， which was submitted to the Council， received the opposition from
32、 the majority of the representatives. For this reason， the Council decided to rewrite the resolution. In such a way， the Catholic Church held a more flexible attitude towards many issues， and 9also it was possible for the secular party to generate a larger influence on the Church 11. However， unfort
33、unately， John XIII was unable to see the end of the Vatican Council II. New Pope Paul VI was necessary to set prestige in the public when he was just the successor. In November 1964， before the third meeting of the Vatican Council II， the topics about the religious freedom received fierce discussion
34、s under the request of Paul VI. The fourth meeting of the Vatican Council II was held from September 14 to December 8， 1965. On October 26 of this year， the declaration Nostra Aetate was issued in the world. The Church cant forget， it is voter of the Old Testament that the God made with infinite mer
35、cy and accepts the enlightenment of the Old Testament， and at the same time the wild olive branches of the foreign people were connected to the fine olive tree roots， absorbing nutrition. It is our peace when the Church fells a faith on Christ， and the cross makes the Jewry and foreign people peacef
36、ul and friendly with each other， becoming an entirety. In the declaration， it is admited that there are great common spiritual heritages between Christian and Judaism， and also the two religions are advocated and encouraged to know each other with esteem. All 10these are positive attitudes towards J
37、ewry， which could not be seen in the history. Several Questions The questions on the declaration about the change of the Catholic Churchs attitude towards the non-Christian religions are never stopped since its emerngance in the world. Question 1： Does the declaration treat Jewry equally？ The fundam
38、entally unequal tenet for the Christians and Jewry forms a “gray zone“ in the consciences and moral obligations of the Christians actually. However， in the declaration， Jewry are still regarded as the objects that do not receive the gospel and need to be converted （this can be proved in the Holy Bib
39、le that most Jewry did not receive the gospel and were restrained from the communication of the gospel when the Jerusalem did not know them）. Question 2： Is it right to publicize the conversion of Jewry？ From the perspective of the devout Christians， making Jewry converted can be regarded as a religious obligation and the complete kindness no matter how the environment is severe. However， all these “good“ things are questioned by Jewish communities.
