Letter from the Polish Bishops' Conference on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit to the Great Synagogue in Rome

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Letter from the Polish Bishops' Conference
on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of John Paul II’s visit to the Great Synagogue in Rome
 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Gospel proclaimed in the liturgy takes us to Bethany. It is there, less than two weeks before His death on Good Friday, that the Lord Jesus—with great power and clarity—reveals its meaning to us. Jesus will die so that Lazarus may receive life. Lazarus comes out of the tomb, and Jesus takes his place in death. The Gospel describes Lazarus’s tomb in a way analogous to Jesus’s tomb: “It was a cave, and a stone lay across it” (Jn 11:38).

Jesus’ death is the price of the life given back to Lazarus. Moreover, His death is the price of the life given back to each and every one of us. This price speaks to us of the greatest love: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). For this reason, this price carries within it a profound moral demand: to honor it, not to trample upon it, not to disregard it. Christ does not will our death—even if He allows it (as He allowed the death of His friend), He does not will that we remain in it. Such is the logic of God’s saving action and redemption: our Lord does not magically shield us from spiritual death (which is sin); yet each time we choose it, He stands ready to lead us out of it. He does not accept our remaining in death. And who remains in death? Saint John gives a clear answer in his First Letter: “WHOEVER DOES NOT LOVE REMAINS IN DEATH” (1 Jn 3:14). Let us note: the Word does not speak here only of hatred. It speaks of a “lack of love,” and thus also of indifference, passivity, lack of concern, and callousness.

One such deadly deficiency of love was (and, unfortunately, still remains) ANTISEMITISM. Yet from this “death” the Lord has led us—and continues to lead us—especially over the past sixty years, through events that we feel obliged to recall to all.

On April 13 of this year, we mark the fortieth anniversary of the day when the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Saint Peter, crossed the threshold of a Jewish house of prayer for the first time since apostolic times. On that spring evening, after a warm exchange of embraces with the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Elio Toaff, Saint John Paul II entered the Roman synagogue in a solemn procession accompanied by the singing of Psalm 150: “Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy sanctuary; give praise in the mighty dome of heaven”. “I had been thinking of this visit for a long time,” the Pope confessed as he greeted the Jewish community.

That meeting forty years ago would not have been possible without another event whose significance is difficult to overestimate today. It took place twenty years earlier.

On October 28, 1965, the Second Vatican Council promulgated the declaration Nostra aetate (“In Our Time”), on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions. It contains words that became a turning point in relations between the Catholic Church and Jews and Judaism. It was precisely to these words that Saint John Paul II referred in his address at the synagogue in Rome. Let us recall them today:

“The first is that the Church of Christ discovers her ‘bond’ with Judaism by ‘searching into her own mystery’. The Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’ to us, but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic’ to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers and, in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers” (John Paul II, Address at the Great Synagogue of Rome, April 13, 1986, n. 4).

Here we hear an echo of the words of the Apostle Paul from the Letter to the Romans, where he speaks of “wild olive shoots”—that is, the Gentiles—“grafted in their place,” which are the Jews living in covenant with God. The Church “has come to share in the rich root of the olive tree”. Subsequent popes would repeatedly refer to Paul’s olive tree metaphor, emphasizing its relevance. “We have rediscovered that the Jewish people remain for us the holy root from which Jesus was born,” Pope Francis recalled[1]. And the Holy See confirmed the need to interpret the teachings of Jesus and His disciples “within the Jewish horizon in the context of the living tradition of Israel”[2].

The second issue highlighted by St. John Paul II during his address at the synagogue in Rome is the attribution of collective responsibility to the Jewish people for the death of Christ: “No ancestral or collective blame can be imputed to the Jews as a people for ‘what happened in Christ’s passion’,” the Pope quoted from the conciliar declaration (John Paul II, Address at the Great Synagogue of Rome, April 13, 1986, n. 4). All acts of discrimination and persecution of Jews that have taken place over the centuries in connection with this accusation must be condemned. 

It is worth recalling that the Catechism of the Catholic Church, echoing the Council of Trent, teaches unequivocally: “The Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone. (…) It can be seen that our crime in this case is greater in us than in the Jews. As for them, according to the witness of the Apostle, ‘None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory’(1 Cor 2:8).  (…) When we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him” (CCC 598).

In his address, the Pope strongly opposed the portrayal of Jews as “repudiated or cursed”. For over 1,500 years, these ideas—present in Catholic teaching and in the misinterpretation of Scripture—have shaped Christian attitudes, contributing to hatred, persecution, and manifestations of anti-Semitism. We should remember that the Catholic Church states unequivocally today: Jews are still loved by God, who has called them with an irrevocable calling. For God, faithful to his promises, has not revoked the First Covenant. Israel remains the chosen people[3].

In 1997, speaking about the roots of anti-Semitism in Christian circles, St. John Paul II called the enduring existence of Israel a “supernatural fact.” “This people perseveres in spite of everything because they are the people of the Covenant,” the Pope stated[4]. A return to the sources and theological reflection on the mystery of Israel’s survival, undertaken in the 20th century—especially in light of the terrible tragedy of the Shoah (Holocaust) that took place in Europe—resulted in a new Church teaching on Jews and Judaism, rooted in the apostolic tradition.

Inspired by the conciliar declaration, the Church’s reflection increasingly highlights the bonds that unite Jews and Christians. These are, in particular, reverence for the Word of God, prayer and liturgy, as well as the messianic hope for the future. For “the people of God of the Old and the New Testament are tending towards a like end in the future: the coming or return of the Messiah - even if they start from two different points of view”[5]. Referring to this shared eschatological hope, St. John Paul II said: “The New Covenant has its roots in the Old. The time when the people of the Old Covenant will be able to see themselves as part of the New is, naturally, a question to be left to the Holy Spirit. We, as human beings, try only not to put obstacles in the way”[6].

The anniversary of the Pope’s visit to the synagogue in Rome will fall on the day after the end of the Easter Octave. This year, both Jews and Christians are celebrating Passover at the same time. This is an opportunity to reflect on the Jewish roots of Christian liturgy.

St. John Paul II emphasized that these “roots still need to be explored more deeply; above all, they must be better known and appreciated by the faithful,” because “taking into account the faith and religious life of the Jewish people as they are professed and lived today can help us to better understand certain aspects of the life of the Church,” which can help us better understand the life of the Church[7].

In many towns—sometimes close to us, sometimes a little further away—there are synagogues that survived the ravages of war. In most of them, the joyful sound of Shabbat prayer no longer resounds. There are, however, some that are alive with religious life. Following in the footsteps of St. John Paul II, let us visit a synagogue on April 13. Let us remember the men and women whose prayers have permeated their walls for centuries. Where possible, let us meet with our Jewish sisters and brothers. Remembering that we always pray for them in the Good Friday liturgy, asking God that the people whom He first made His own may “grow in faithfulness to His covenant” and may “attain the fullness of redemption.” For “the Jews are participants in God’s salvation is theologically unquestionable, but how that can be possible without confessing Christ explicitly, is and remains an unfathomable divine mystery”[8].

May Mary, the Mother of our Lord, the “Chosen Daughter of Israel”[9] sustain us with her prayer.

The Bishops of the Catholic Church in Poland 
present at the 404th Plenary Assembly of the Polish Bishops’ Conference.

Warsaw, March 12, 2026 

Translated by Amata J. Nowaszewska CSFN