Joshua Bennett
Jews make up 0.2% of the global population, with 14 million Jews worldwide as of 2010. The only country with a Jewish majority is Israel. In contrast, Catholics make up about 16% of the global population, making them the second-largest religious group after Muslims. While there are no exact figures on the number of Catholics worldwide, their numbers are about equal to the global Catholic population.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism | The Catholic Church emerged as the main institution of Christianity, starting to view Judaism as a rival religion. |
| Catholic Church's attitude to antisemitism | The Church attitude to the mistreatment of Jews is not new, though the experience of the Holocaust brought on an urgency to its renewal. |
| Jewish law | By Jewish law, once Jewish, always Jewish. |
| Hebrew Catholics | A movement of Jews who have converted to Catholicism and Catholics of non-Jewish origin who choose to keep Mosaic traditions in light of Catholic doctrine. |
| Number of Hebrew Catholics | In 2013, there were approximately 500 Hebrew Catholics in Israel. By 2023, there were approximately 1,000. |
| Countries with the largest Hebrew Catholic membership | USA and Israel |
| Countries with Hebrew Catholic members | Canada, France, Italy, Australia, Spain, England, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Belgium, New Zealand, Germany |
| Jewish holidays and practices | Hebrew Catholics may celebrate Passover, Rosh Hashana, Shavuot, Hanukkah, etc. and they may also perform rituals like the wearing of kippot, tallitot, tefillin, and the use of mezuzot. |
| Jewish-Catholic dialogue | Since 2002, conferences have been held regularly, alternately in Jerusalem and Rome, in which rabbis, bishops, and priests discuss topics such as the sanctity of life, the place of the family in religion and society, freedom of religion, the ecological challenge, and the ethical challenge of euthanasia. |
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What You'll Learn
The Catholic Church's historical persecution of Jews
The Catholic Church and Judaism have had a long and complex history of cooperation and conflict, with periods of persecution, violence, and discrimination directed towards Jews by Christians. Christianity started as a movement within Judaism in the mid-1st century, and the first Christians were Jewish. However, as Christianity grew and became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, the relationship between the two religions began to change.
In the centuries that followed, the Catholic Church became a powerful force in Europe, and it used this power to persecute and discriminate against Jews. This persecution took many forms, including forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres. During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church institutionalized antisemitism through the creation of discriminatory laws and the establishment of the Inquisition. Jews were expelled from Catholic kingdoms, including England, Spain, and many principalities and cities of the Holy Roman Empire and Italy.
The "Black Death" pandemic that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1350 also had a devastating impact on Jewish communities. Popular opinion blamed the Jews for the plague, and violence erupted throughout the continent. Despite Pope Clement VI issuing two papal bulls in 1348, condemning the violence and rejecting the idea that the Jews were responsible for the plague, the damage was already done.
The Spanish Inquisition, authorized by Pope Sixtus IV in 1478, further institutionalized the persecution of Jews. This period saw the use of torture, property confiscation, and the burning of thousands at the stake. In 1492, Jews were given the choice of baptism or expulsion, resulting in the expulsion of more than 160,000 Jews from Spain. The Portuguese Inquisition, established by Pope Paul III in 1536, also targeted Jewish converts to Catholicism, with an estimated 40,000 victims between 1540 and 1765.
The modern era saw a continuation of anti-Jewish sentiment, with the Nazi Holocaust serving as a tragic culmination of centuries of Christian antisemitism. The Catholic Church has since taken steps to address its historical persecution of Jews, with Pope John XXIII acknowledging the Church's role in perpetuating antisemitism and the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s working towards improving relations between the Church and Judaism. The Church issued the document ""Nostra Aetate" in 1965, condemning antisemitism and recognizing the shared heritage of Jews and Christians. Interfaith committees have been meeting regularly since the 1970s to foster dialogue and cooperation between the two religions.
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The Second Vatican Council and improved Catholic-Jewish relations
The Catholic Church and Judaism have had a long and complex history, with the former emerging as the dominant religion in the Roman Empire and viewing Judaism as a rival faith. This dynamic led to centuries of persecution, forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres of Jews. However, a pivotal moment in improving Catholic-Jewish relations occurred during the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
The Second Vatican Council, also known as Vatican II, was a pastoral ecumenical council of the Catholic Church convened by Pope John XXIII in 1962. Prior to the council, Pope John XXIII demonstrated a commitment to addressing antisemitism within the Church. In 1960, he met with Jewish-French historian Jules Isaac, who advocated for a document at the upcoming council specifically addressing the relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism in light of the Holocaust. In the same year, Pope John XXIII ordered the removal of the Latin adjective "perfidis" ("perfidious" or "unbelieving") from the Good Friday prayer for the Jews, which had enduring potential for misunderstanding due to the divergence of English usage from its original Latin meaning.
During the council, the issue of Catholic-Jewish relations came to the forefront. The World Jewish Congress appointed Dr. Chaim Wardi as an "unofficial Jewish observer" at the council, a move publicly endorsed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry under Golda Meir. This development, known as the ""Wardi affair," caused a political crisis for the Vatican, as it struggled to balance its efforts towards religious reconciliation with the political implications of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
On November 20, 1964, the last day of the third session of the council, a significant step forward was taken. The highest legislative body of the Roman Catholic Church approved, by an overwhelming vote of 1893 to 99, a document condemning "hatred and persecutions of Jews." This document, known as "Nostra aetate," reaffirmed the Church's stance against antisemitism and described its relationship with the Jewish people as a shared patrimony. It emphasized the Church's rejection of all forms of persecution and displays of antisemitism directed against Jews.
The Second Vatican Council played a pivotal role in improving Catholic-Jewish relations by addressing historical antisemitism within the Church and setting a course for reconciliation between the two faiths. It is important to acknowledge that while these improvements in relations are significant, the historical persecution of Jews by the Catholic Church, including during the Inquisition, remains a tragic chapter in their shared history.
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Hebrew Catholics: Jews who converted to Catholicism
The conversion of Jews to Christianity, including Catholicism, has a long history, including both voluntary and forced conversions. Forced conversions of Jews were carried out with the support of rulers during Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages in Gaul, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Byzantine Empire. For instance, in the 18th century, Elizabeth of Russia forced her non-Orthodox subjects, including Jews, to convert. In the 1930s, Nazi officials in Germany discovered that the German Catholic population with some level of Jewish ancestry almost equalled that of the Jewish community of just over five hundred thousand.
During the Holocaust, the conversion of Jews to Catholicism was a controversial aspect of Pope Pius XII's record. While the Church often defended converted Jews, it was less concerned about Jews who remained Jewish. Many Jews during this period converted to Catholicism to escape persecution. For example, Angelo Rotta, Pius XII's nuncio to Hungary, worked to save Jews, especially those who had converted to Catholicism.
The exact number of Jews who have converted to Catholicism is unknown, but it is estimated that there are hundreds or thousands of Hebrew Catholics worldwide. Notable converts include Fr. David Neuhaus, a Jesuit who served as the Patriarchal Vicar of the Hebrew Catholic Vicariate in Jerusalem, and Fr. Antoine Lévy, a Dominican conducting doctoral research at the University of Tel Aviv. Both clerics converted in their twenties and embrace their Jewish identity alongside their Catholic faith.
Converting to another religion is often seen as a betrayal of one's heritage in the Jewish community. However, some argue that Judaism is more than just a religion, making the transition complex. Hebrew Catholics assert that Jews and Christians share a language and scriptures derived from the Hebrew Bible, allowing for shared ethical standards and moral vocabulary.
Some Jewish converts to Catholicism include Gad Elmaleh, a French comedian who played himself preparing for baptism in the film "Stay With Us"; Shia LaBeouf, who converted after playing a priest in a drama; and Robert Novak, a journalist, columnist, and political commentator who converted in 1998.
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Jesus was a Jew
The relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism is complex and fraught with historical persecution and violence. As the Catholic Church emerged as the main institution of Christianity, it began to view Judaism as a rival religion, leading to centuries of persecution, forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres. This persecution was institutionalized during the Middle Ages with the creation of discriminatory laws and the Inquisition. Despite this complex history, it is important to acknowledge that Jesus, the founder of the Catholic Church, was himself a Jew.
Jesus was born a Jew and practiced the Jewish religion. He respected Jewish laws and was well-versed in the Torah. The term "Jew" can refer to those who are ethnically and religiously Jewish, and Jesus embodied both senses. He completed the Jewish religion by serving as the Messiah or Christ, as foretold by the prophets. However, many ethnically Jewish people did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, leading to a divide between those who embraced the new, completed form of Judaism, or Christianity, and those who remained with the original form of Judaism.
Jesus founded a "universal" Church, which became known as the Catholic Church, to serve as the fulfillment of the Jewish religion and be open to people of all races, not just ethnic Jews. This distinction between inwardly (religiously) and outwardly (ethnically) Jewish, as described by Paul, highlights that followers of Christ could include those who were not ethnically Jewish. As such, Catholics are those who have accepted the fulfillment of the Jewish faith by joining the Catholic Church founded by Jesus.
The recognition of Jesus as the Messiah is a fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity. In Jewish theology, Jesus is not considered a divine being, and holidays associated with his life, such as Christmas and Easter, are not part of Jewish practice. However, it is important to acknowledge that Jesus' teachings and actions built upon and completed the Jewish religion, leading to the formation of Christianity as its completed form.
While the historical relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism has been marked by conflict and persecution, it is crucial to recognize the shared patrimony between the two faiths. Efforts towards reconciliation and renewed attitudes towards antisemitism, as demonstrated by Pope John XXIII, reflect a movement towards healing and mutual understanding.
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Jews who embrace Catholicism may identify as having Jewish heritage
The relationship between Judaism and Catholicism is complex, with a long history of persecution and forced conversions. As the Catholic Church emerged as the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, it began to view Judaism as a rival and worked to suppress its practice, leading to centuries of antisemitism and violence against Jews.
Despite this fraught history, some Jews have chosen to embrace Catholicism, either through conversion or as a result of interfaith upbringings. These individuals may identify as having Jewish heritage while practising Catholicism. This identification acknowledges their roots and connection to Jewish culture and traditions, even as they adopt the beliefs and rituals of Catholicism.
The term "Hebrew Catholics" refers to Jews who have converted to Catholicism and continue to observe certain Jewish traditions and practices, such as celebrating Jewish holidays and performing rituals like wearing kippot and observing the commandments in the Torah. As of 2023, there were approximately 1,000 Hebrew Catholics in Israel, gathered in communities like the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew-Speaking Catholics.
For those with interfaith backgrounds, the choice to identify with one or both religions can be complex. Some may choose to embrace Catholicism while still recognising their Jewish heritage, while others may feel a strong connection to both faiths and strive to honour both in their lives. Ultimately, as Susan Katz Miller notes, individuals have the right to decide their own identities and create labels that best describe their unique blend of religious and spiritual affinities.
The question of Jewish identity within Catholicism is further complicated by the views of some rabbis and traditional Jews, who perceive conversion to another religion as a betrayal or denial of one's Jewish heritage. However, as Lévy argues, being born Jewish is a lifelong sacrament that cannot be discarded, even if one converts to another faith. Thus, the concept of Jewish Catholics acknowledges the enduring nature of Jewish identity, even as individuals embrace Catholicism.
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Frequently asked questions
The essential difference is that Christians, including Catholics, accept Jesus as the messiah and personal saviour, whereas Jesus is not part of Jewish theology.
Hebrew Catholics are a movement of Jews who have converted to Catholicism and Catholics of non-Jewish origin who choose to keep Mosaic traditions in light of Catholic doctrine. However, some believe that practising Judaism and believing in Jesus are incompatible.
The Catholic Church has historically persecuted Jews, including forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres. However, in recent decades, there has been a movement towards reconciliation and dialogue between the two religions.
Yes, Jesus was born a Jew and practised the Jewish religion. Catholics believe that Jesus came to complete the Jewish religion by creating a Church that would be open to all people, not just ethnic Jews. Catholics accept the fulfilment of the Jewish faith by joining the Church that Jesus founded.
