Jews are not to blame for death of Jesus, claims Pope in dispute over Bible passageBy Simon Caldwell
Last updated at 4:10 PM on 2nd March 2011
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Pope Benedict XVI exonerates the Jewish people of any culpability of the death of Christ in his new book
The Jews are not to blame for the crucifixion and death of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI said today.
In extracts released from his forthcoming book on Jesus of Nazareth, the Pope completely exonerates the Jewish people of any culpability of the death of Christ.
He directly confronts the controversial text of St Matthew’s Gospel in which ‘the Jews’ demand the execution of Jesus and shout to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate: ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children.'
The passage has been described even by Catholics as a ‘rallying cry for anti-Semites down the centuries’.
But the Pope says the Gospel writer meant the mob in the courtyard and not the Jewish people in general.
As such the crowd was representative of the whole of sinful humanity, he said.
Then he explains that the blood of Jesus was not ‘poured out against anyone, it is poured out for many, for all’.
It does not represent ‘a curse, but rather redemption, salvation’, the Pope writes in Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, to be published next week by the Catholic Truth Society.
Although the Bavarian-born Pope is interpreting the New Testament text as one which is not anti-Semitic, his remarks are bound to excite controversy.
The Gospel passage has been used by some Christians down the centuries to depict the Jews as ‘Christ-killers’ who were collectively and inherently guilty of deicide.
It was said to be Adolf Hitler’s favourite part of the Oberammergau Passion Play, and it also caused a furious outcry when actor and film director director Mel Gibson tried to include it in his 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ.
Gibson eventually agreed to delete the subtitles while leaving in original Aramaic in the script.
Mel Gibson tried to include controversial text from St Matthew's Gospel in his 2004 movie The Passion of the Christ but eventually relented
Although the Catholic Church in 1965 explicitly rejected the notion of the inherent guilt of the Jews in the death of Christ, some analysts say that in his new book Pope Benedict has gone further than any other Catholic leader in offering a theological position to support good Catholic-Jewish relations.
‘Pope Benedict offers original insights into the death of Jesus and the question of responsibility for it,’ said Sister Margaret Shepherd, secretary of the committee for Catholic-Jewish relations of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
She said he ‘takes further’ the Church’s rejection of the deicide charge against the Jews ‘by providing scriptural depth to our understanding of it’.
She added: ‘We have to see this in the context of the tragic history of such a charge, which has provided a rallying cry for anti-Semites over the centuries and whose effects still linger today.’
The Most Rev. Kevin McDonald, the Emeritus Archbishop of Southwark and chairman of the bishops’ committee for Catholic Jewish relations, said it was ‘important to see these reflections against the background of the very positive approach that the Pope has adopted to Catholic-Jewish dialogue both in his words and deeds’.
The first excerpts of Pope Benedict XVI's new book, to be published next week, were released by the Vatican today
He said: ‘He makes it clear that he wants the book to contribute to Christian-Jewish dialogue.’
In the book, Pope Benedict appeals for a ‘new reflection’ on scriptural texts by Christians and Jews and the start of a correct and mutual understanding of each other’s beliefs.
He laments the sufferings of the Jewish people down the ages
and he also offers radical theological reasons why Christians should not seek the conversion of the Jews.The first excerpts of the book, which consists of a meditation on the person of Jesus during Holy Week, were released by the Vatican today.
The book is the sequel to Jesus of Nazareth: From Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, which became a best-seller when it was published in 2007.
Pope Benedict famously offended the Jewish people when he made the mistake of lifting the excommunication of the British ultra-traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who had denied the existence of the Nazi gas chambers.
He explained the error by saying he had failed to check the internet. The Pope later attempted to atone for his gaffe by visiting Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Israel. He has also visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
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