Transcript Nostra Aetate - Religion Program at SMCS

The Declaration of Inter-Religious Dialogue
Vatican II
• Called by Pope John XXIII
• Gathering of 2000-2500 bishops
• Renew and update the Church
His Holiness, Pope John XXIII
Results
• 16 Major documents
• Outlining new and updated positions of
the Church on various topics
• Nostra Aetate dealt with other Religions
• Up to the Present, largely defines the
Church’s position
Are Non-Catholics Saved?
• Extra Ecclisiam Nulla Salus
• St. Cyprian of Carthage
• 1492, discovery of the New World
• Argument settled during Vatican II
• Karl Rahner
Chapter 1: The Community
• Community of all peoples and origin
in God
• Final goal of all peoples is God
• Various religions answers
unsolvable questions about human
condition
• Thesis: Church Rejects nothing that
is true in other Religions
Chapter 2: Eastern Religions
• Hinduism contemplates the Divine
• Buddhism seeks liberation from suffering
• The Church, through dialogue, seeks to
promote these good things
Chapter 3: Islam
• Recognizes God
• Acknowledges Abraham, Mary, and
Jesus
• Move beyond bad history between
Islam and Christianity
Chapter 4: Judaism
• Church’s roots in Judaism
• Apostles and Mary were Jewish
• Not all Jews held accountable for
Christ’s death
The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
Chapter 5: Called to Love All
• Cannot Call to God, unless we love all
• Examples of Peter and Paul
Pope Francis and Cardinal Bertone visit tomb of
St. Peter, where his bones are buried.
Why is Nostra Aetate Useful for World
Religions?
• Clarify that World Religions is consistent
with Catholic Faith
• Provide a framework to approach course
content in
“I am Joseph, Your Brother”
Pope Pius XII
• Pope from 1939-1958
• Accused of being anti-Semitic
• Accusations false, but none-the-less, created
impression Church was anti-Jewish
• Catholics had blamed Jews for centuries for killing
Christ
• Prayed for Jews on Good Friday
Good Friday Prayer for Jews, 1955
• Let us pray also for the faithless Jews: that almighty God may remove
the veil from their hearts; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let us pray. Let us kneel. [pause for silent prayer]
Arise. Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy
mercy even Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers, which we offer for
the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy
Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness.
Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with
thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen
Good Friday Prayer for the Jews….Revised
• Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the word of God,
that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in
faithfulness to his covenant. (Prayer in silence.) Almighty and eternal
God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity.
Listen to your Church as we pray that the people you first made your
own may arrive at the fullness of redemption. We ask this through
Christ our Lord. Amen
Relationships with Non-Christians
• At Vatican II, this issue was one of the most
controversial
• Implications of the Arab world
• Anti-Jewish statements in John’s Gospel
Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity
• Created by Pope John XXIII
• Led by Cardinal Bea
• Vague mandate
• Ecumenical Dialogue
His Eminence, Cardinal Bea,
President for the Secretariat for
Promoting Christian Unity
Cardinal Bea meeting with Jewish Rabbi
Second Mandate: Interreligious Dialogue
• November 1960
• Second task: work on improving JewishCatholic relations
• Had some idea that this was leading up to
a Church council
Jules Isaac
Two trends in the Church
• Anti-Jewish
• Biblical – Faithful to historical Christ