The centuries-old Christian teaching of contempt for Judaism and the Jєωιѕн people was a necessary but nonetheless an insufficient condition for the destruction of European Jєωry. In the wake of the Shoa, it was clear that Christianity and its churches would have to change. Frankly, one would have to be blind beyond all imagination not to know that. In that sense, comparatively speaking, changes in Christian theological thinking about Judaism, the faith of the Jєωιѕн people, were morally unavoidable. Yet much more was needed.


Christianity is a religion. Judaism is not just a religion. It is much more. We the Jєωιѕн people are a family that became a faith and remained a family. In the words of a Catholic theologian, for Judaism the sequence is, "I belong, I do, I believe"; for Christianity, the sequence is, "I believe, I do, I belong." Thus, one is born a Jєω, but one becomes a Christian.

This respect and appreciation for our national self-understanding was demonstrated when Pope John Paul II went to Jerusalem in March 2000, thus witnessing by performance that the church has no theological objection to the Jєωιѕн return to sovereignty in the ancient homeland.

This was also dramatically expressed when Pope Francis laid a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, in May 2014. In 1904 Theodor Herzl went to Rome, seeking the pope's support for Zionism. Pius X responded with the following statement:

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We cannot give approval to this movement. We cannot prevent the Jєωs from going to Jerusalem — but we could never sanction it. The soil of Jerusalem, if it was not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church I cannot tell you anything different. The Jєωs have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jєωιѕн people.

In paying honor to Theodor Herzl at his last resting place on Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, in an act of performance theology, Francis negated his predecessor's words. Pope Francis is our friend.