Meeting with Representatives of the Jewish Community (3 July 1980)

On Thursday, 3 July 1980, the Holy Father met with representatives of the Jewish Community in São Paulo, to whom he spoke of the common religious heritage of Jews and Christians.

I am very happy to be able to greet in you the representatives of the Jewish community of Brazil, so alive and active in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other cities. I also sincerely thank you for your kindness in wanting to meet me on the occasion of this apostolic journey to the great Brazilian nation. For me it is a happy opportunity to demonstrate and further tighten the ties that unite the Catholic Church and Judaism, thus reaffirming the importance of the relationships that exist between us here in Brazil as well.

As you know, the Declaration “ Nostra Aetate” of the Second Vatican Council, in its fourth paragraph, affirms that it is by scrutinizing her own mystery that the church “remembers the bond which unites her spiritually to the descendants of Abraham”. In this way the relationship between the Church and Judaism is not something external to the two religions: it is something that is based on the characteristic religious heritage of both, on the proper origin of Jesus and the Apostles, and on the environment in which the early church grew and developed. If, despite all this, our respective religious identities divide us, and have sometimes divided us painfully, over the centuries, this should not prevent us from wanting now, with respect for these same identities, to value our common heritage and thus cooperate, in light of the same heritage,

I am very happy to know that this cooperative relationship exists here in Brazil especially through the Jewish-Christian fraternity. Jews and Catholics thus strive to deepen their common biblical heritage, without however concealing the differences that separate them, and thus a renewed mutual knowledge can lead to a more adequate presentation of each religion in the teaching of the other. On this solid foundation it will then be possible to build, as you are already doing, the cooperation activity for the benefit of concrete man, for the promotion of his rights not infrequently violated, of his just participation in the achievement of the common good without exclusivism and discrimination . On the other hand, these are Puebla , 1110. 1123).

This will make alive and effective, for the good of all, the important spiritual heritage that unites Jews and Christians. So I wish with all my heart. May this also be the fruit of this fraternal meeting with the representatives of the Jewish community of Brazil.

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