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JEWS-CATHOLICS: CARD. KOCH (HOLY SEE), COUNCIL “BINDING FOR ALL”

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Creato: 19 Maggio 2012

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“All doctrinal decisions of the Church’s Magisterium are binding for all Catholics, including Vatican Council II and all of its documents. Card. Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, said this during a press conference in Rome yesterday evening at the end of the 2012 edition of the annual “Berrie Lecture” at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, in which the cardinal participated as a guest lecturer. Answering a question about the “binding character” and “possible interpretations” of the Council’s declaration “Nostra Aetate”, an essential document in the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jews and the main focus of the Lecture, Card. Koch pointed out that “the true key to the interpretation of Vatican II’s texts and the open questions” connected to them cannot depend on a “subjective view”, a “position of criticism both on the left and on the right”, but it is “only and always that offered by the Magisterium”. Yesterday morning Card. Koch participated in the Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which also focused on the issue of the Society of St. Pius X. 

Answering a question about Holocaust-denying Lefebvre bishop Richard Williamson, Card. Koch recalled that “the Holy Father has already clarified his position”. “Denying the Holocaust - he pointed out - is unacceptable both in the Catholic Church and in a fair and honest historical analysis”. As for “Nostra Aetate”, the cardinal said, “it is important and beautiful, but it remains a paper document. It is more important, as the Pope says, to pray for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, and even better to do so in Jerusalem”. Hence he referred to his upcoming trip to Israel “to deepen relations with chief rabbis in Jerusalem as well as with the leaders of other Christian Churches”, and most important, to “strengthen the friendship between the Catholic Church and the people of Israel”. “Mutual understanding is essential” to establishing an authentic dialogue. “In this regard, education should not be based on information but rather on encounter and mutual exchange”. “The highest goal of dialogue” between Catholics and Jews, he added, “is reconciliation in the unity of our common roots”. “We need to find out how to educate our students in this”, Rabbi Jack Bemporad, director of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Studies which sponsored the event, concluded.

© www.agensir.it - may 17th 2012