Pope Says Jews Did Not Kill Christ - May Not Really Matter

You have to hand it to the Catholic Church, first they straighten out the mess with Gallileo and now this. They realized that they were wrong to torture Gallileo into saying the world was really flat when he knew it was round, and they admitted it. It takes a brave...Church to admit that it's wrong, and even if it takes them 400 years, they still took the hit, albeit belatedly.

The issue here is that they've already exonerated the Jews. As you can see they came out and said this in 1965. However I've noticed that since 1965, this doctrine has not really taken hold. Not much real impact. Most Catholics, even Mel Gibson, believe that the Jews are responsible for the crucifixion. As a kid, I always thought the Roman soldiers were responsible. It was hard for me to believe that these soldiers beating Christ were taking orders from JEWS. But somehow the blame got handed around and the conclusion was always, "the Jews killed Our Lord."

Maybe this time the Pope's followers will really embrace this doctrine and the Jews will finally be off the hook for good. Maybe this particular Pope will get more respect on this, and for an encore perhaps he can explain that the Jews also do not control the world through a secret cabal led by the Rothschilds. And at some point he may actually address the fact that Jesus was probably black. But Rome wasn't built in a day!

Pope Benedict XVI has made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, tackling one of the most controversial issues in Christianity in a new book.

In "Jesus of Nazareth-Part II" excerpts released Wednesday, Benedict explains biblically and theologically why there is no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus' death.

Interpretations to the contrary have been used for centuries to justify the persecution of Jews.

While the Catholic Church has for five decades taught that Jews weren't collectively responsible, Jewish scholars said Wednesday the argument laid out by the German-born pontiff, who has had his share of mishaps with Jews, was a landmark statement from a pope that would help fight anti-Semitism today.

"Holocaust survivors know only too well how the centuries-long charge of 'Christ killer' against the Jews created a poisonous climate of hate that was the foundation of anti-Semitic persecution whose ultimate expression was realized in the Holocaust," said Elan Steinberg of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants.

The pope's book, he said, not only confirms church teaching refuting the deicide charge "but seals it for a new generation of Catholics."

The Catholic Church issued its most authoritative teaching on the issue in its 1965 Second Vatican Council document "Nostra Aetate," which revolutionized the church's relations with Jews by saying Christ's death could not be attributed to Jews as a whole at the time or today.

[Associated Press]