And our post-Vatican II attitude has 'born fruit', especially in recent years in dialogue with the Jewish community i.e. in 2017 this landmark document was published by orthodox rabbis:
https://www.thejc.com/news/world/ra...h-official-response-to-nostra-aetate-1.443679
Eight of the world’s leading Orthodox rabbis had a special audience with Pope Francis last week in the Vatican at which they presented the first official response from the Jewish world to Nostra Aetate, the 1965 pronouncement by the Catholic church on its major change in attitude towards Jews.
The chief rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, who led the rabbinical delegation to Pope Francis in his role as president of the Council of European Rabbis (CER), said that it had been decided to mark the more than 50 years since Nostra Aetate with an official declaration “which represents 90 per cent of the Orthodox Jewish world". Rabbi Goldschmidt added: "It is the first time there has been an official response.”
Rabbi Goldschmidt said: “Initially there was great scepticism about the change in attitude by the Catholic Church. But we have come to see that the changes were indeed profound, and today we see the church as partners and allies in the challenges which the Jewish people face.”
The text from the
Conference of European Rabbis, the
Rabbinical Council of America, and the Commission of the
Chief Rabbinate of Israel stated:
Between Jerusalem and Rome
Fifty years ago, twenty years after the Shoah, with its declaration Nostra Aetate (No. 4),6 the Catholic Church began a process of introspection that increasingly led to any hostility toward Jews being expurgated from Church doctrine, enabling trust and confidence to grow between our respective faith communities.
In this regard, Pope John XXIII was a transformative figure in Jewish-Catholic relations no less than in the history of the Church itself. He played a courageous role in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust, and it was his recognition of the need to revise “the teaching of contempt” that helped overcome resistance to change and ultimately facilitated the adoption of Nostra Aetate (no. 4).
In its most focused, concrete, and, for the Church, most dramatic7 assertion, Nostra Aetate recognized that any Jew who was not directly and personally involved in the Crucifixion did not bear any responsibility for it.8 Pope Benedict XVI’s elaborations and explications of this theme are particularly noteworthy.9
In addition, basing itself on Christian Scriptures, Nostra Aetate asserted that the Divine election of Israel, which it calls “the gift of God,” will not be revoked, stating, “God … does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues.” It issued the injunction that “the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God.” Later, in 2013, Pope Francis elaborated upon this theme in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium: “God continues to work among the people of the Old Covenant and to bring forth treasures of wisdom which flow from their encounter with His word.”10
Nostra Aetate also paved the way for the Vatican’s 1993 establishment of full diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. Through the establishment of this relationship, the Catholic Church showed how it had truly repudiated its portrayal of the Jewish people as a nation condemned to wander until the final advent. This historic moment facilitated Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Israel in 2000, which served as another powerful demonstration of a new era in Catholic-Jewish relations. Since then, the last two popes have also made similar state visits.
Nostra Aetate strongly “decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone” as a matter of religious duty. Accordingly, Pope John Paul II repeatedly affirmed that anti-Semitism is “a sin against God and humanity.” At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, he recited the following prayer: “God of our fathers, You chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the Nations. We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant.”
Pope Francis recently recognized a new, pervasive and even fashionable form of anti-Semitism, when he told a World Jewish Congress delegation: “To attack Jews is anti-Semitism, but an outright attack on the State of Israel is also anti-Semitism. There may be political disagreements between governments and on political issues, but the State of Israel has every right to exist in safety and prosperity.”11
Finally, Nostra Aetate called for fostering “mutual understanding and respect,” and for conducting “fraternal dialogues.” In 1974, Pope Paul VI heeded this call by creating the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews; the Jewish community, in response to this call, has met regularly with Church representatives.
Initially, many Jewish leaders14 were skeptical of the sincerity of the Church’s overtures to the Jewish community, due to the long history of Christian anti-Judaism. Over time, it has become clear that the transformations in the Church’s attitudes and teachings are not only sincere but also increasingly profound, and that we are entering an era of growing tolerance, mutual respect, and solidarity between members of our respective faiths.
We acknowledge that this fraternity cannot sweep away our doctrinal differences; it does, rather, reinforce genuine mutual positive dispositions towards fundamental values that we share, including but not limited to reverence for the Hebrew Bible...The doctrinal differences are essential and cannot be debated or negotiated; their meaning and importance belong to the internal deliberations of the respective faith communities...
However, doctrinal differences do not and may not stand in the way of our peaceful collaboration for the betterment of our shared world and the lives of the children of Noah. To further this end, it is crucial that our faith communities continue to encounter and grow acquainted with one another, and earn each other’s trust.
Despite the irreconcilable theological differences, we Jews view Catholics as our partners, close allies, friends and brothers in our mutual quest for a better world blessed with peace, social justice and security.19
We understand our mission to be a light unto the nations, which obliges us to contribute to humanity’s appreciation for holiness, morality and piety. As the Western world grows more and more secular, it abandons many of the moral values shared by Jews and Christians...We therefore seek the partnership of the Catholic community in particular, and other faith communities in general, to assure the future of religious freedom, to foster the moral principles of our faiths...
Despite profound theological differences, Catholics and Jews share common beliefs in the Divine origin of the Torah and in the idea of an ultimate redemption, and now, also, in the affirmation that religions must use moral behavior and religious education — not war, coercion, or social pressure — to influence and inspire.
This would have been unthinkable a century ago and I think demonstrates how much 'trust' we Catholics have built up in dispelling the demons of our once proselytizing ways (i.e. we are sincerely repentant!)
So, to be fair, I think our church has done pretty much all it can to 'change' in that respect - and since more than half of the world's Christians are Catholics (1.3 billion), we represent the majority of Christendom.
