International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission

International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission

The International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission was a body appointed by the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews in 1999. With three Jewish and three Catholic historians, the goal of the group was to study the way the Church reacted to the Holocaust. In October 2000, the group issued a preliminary report raising a number of questions about existing data, in their introduction to their report, they stated:

Many scholars, from the 1960s to the present, have taken seriously the mandate for historical objectivity and have written balanced accounts (albeit in many cases still critical of the Holy See). Others appear to have simply assumed that a particular allegation, if deemed to be damaging to Pius XII's reputation, must therefore be true. Still others, reacting to the charges against the Pope, have developed apologetical defenses, some of which are highly polemical. As a result, there have developed over the years increasingly contentious portraits, both condemnatory and adulatory, of a man whose office, the papacy, is revered by many as a sacred institution.

In 2001, after failing to gain access to the Vatican archives after 1923, the group disbanded amid controversy.

The Commission discovered documents making it clear that Pius was aware of widespread anti-Jewish persecution in 1941 and 1942, and they suspected that the Church may have been influenced in not helping Jewish immigration by the nuncio of Chile and the Papal representative to Bolivia, who complained about the "invasion of the Jews" to their countries, where they engaged in "dishonest dealings, violence, immorality, and even disrespect for religion."

The ICJHC raised a list of 47 questions about the way the Church dealt with the Holocaust, requested documents that had not been publicly released in order to continue their work, and, not receiving permission, they disbanded in July 2001, having never issued a final report. Unsatisfied with the findings, Dr. Michael Marrus, one of the three Jewish members of the Commission, said the commission "ran up against a brick wall.... It would have been really helpful to have had support from the Holy See on this issue."

External links

* [http://www.jcrelations.net/en/?id=759 October 2000 report]
* [http://www.jcrelations.net/en/?id=1770 Notice of Council suspending work]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • JEWISH-CHRISTIAN RELATIONS — Christian Jewish contacts have progressed significantly at the initiative of the major international Church organizations and of national and regional church bodies. Of special importance are the contacts with the main Church organizations: the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Jewish Polish history during the 20th century — Jewish Polish history during the 1900s:Interwar period 1918 1939Independence and Polish JewsJews also played a role in the fight for independence in 1918, some joining Józef Piłsudski, but many other communities decided to remain neutral in the… …   Wikipedia

  • international relations — a branch of political science dealing with the relations between nations. [1970 75] * * * Study of the relations of states with each other and with international organizations and certain subnational entities (e.g., bureaucracies and political… …   Universalium

  • HISTORICAL SURVEY: THE STATE AND ITS ANTECEDENTS (1880–2006) — Introduction It took the new Jewish nation about 70 years to emerge as the State of Israel. The immediate stimulus that initiated the modern return to Zion was the disappointment, in the last quarter of the 19th century, of the expectation that… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict — Arguments about the applicability of various elements of international law underlie the debate around the Arab Israeli conflict. This article discusses the basis for these conflicts. The basis for legal arguments International law is different… …   Wikipedia

  • Pope Pius XII — Pius XII Papacy began 2 March 1939 Papacy ended 9 October 1958 ( 1000000000000001900000019 years, 10000000000000221000000221 days) Predecessor …   Wikipedia

  • EDUCATION, JEWISH — This entry is arranged according to the following outline. Bibliography at the end of a section is indicated by (†). in the biblical period the nature of the sources historical survey the patriarchal period and the settlement the kingdom the… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Novel — For other uses, see Novel (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Novell. New novels in a Oldenburg bookshop, February 2009 …   Wikipedia

  • Michael Marrus — Michael Robert Marrus (born February 3, 1941) is a Canadian historian of France, the Holocaust and Jewish history. He was born in Toronto and received his BA at the University of Toronto in 1963 and his MA and PhD at the University of California …   Wikipedia

  • Military history of Jewish Americans — Jewish Americans have served in the United States armed forces dating back to before the colonial era, when Jews have served in militias of the Thirteen Colonies. Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”