“Didn't the Church feed hatred of Jews for centuries?”

🔥The question: “Didn't preaching about ‘the people who killed Jesus’ pave the road to persecution and the Holocaust?”

🕯️First, the admission: In Christian societies there is a history of blaming Jews collectively for the death of Jesus and of tolerating or encouraging discriminatory laws, segregation, expulsions, and violence. Nazi racism and the Church's doctrine cannot be made into the same thing, but we have to face our responsibility for the way long centuries of anti-Jewish teaching and silence weakened the strength to stand against that hatred.

🛡️The Church's answer: Responsibility for the death of Jesus cannot be laid on the Jews of today, nor on all the Jews of that time. The Church rejects antisemitism as contrary to the spirit of Christ, honors the spiritual heritage it shares with Judaism, and has to use remembrance, education, and dialogue so that the hatred is not repeated.

🧐If they press further: “What if hateful expressions are still there in old Church documents and church artwork?” — Rather than hiding them or leaving them with no explanation, attach historical commentary and teaching, and correct our worship and catechesis so the discrimination is not repeated. Preserving is not the same as glorifying.

✨In one sentence: “We confess our responsibility for the way Christian anti-Jewish words and silence created the conditions for real persecution, and we reject that hatred and correct it through remembrance and dialogue.”