Religion Pope reaffirms dialogue with Jews as he marks 60th anniversary of a key document By NICOLE WINFIELD Updated 1:31 PM PST, October 28, 2025 Comments Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday marked the 60th anniversary of the Vatican document that revolutionized the Catholic Church’s relations with Jews, reaffirming the commitment to dialogue at a time of rising antisemitism over Israel’s war in Gaza. Leo presided over a two-part interfaith commemoration of the anniversary: He first joined religious leaders from over a dozen faith traditions in an appeal for peace at the Colosseum, then presided over an evening event focused on the landmark document at the Vatican. In the text, “Nostra Aetate,” Latin for “In Our Time,” the Catholic Church deplored antisemitism in every form and repudiated the “deicide” charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ’s death. The idea of Jewish collective guilt for the crucifixion had fueled antisemitism for centuries. The Vatican crafted the document repudiating it as the church reckoned with the role traditional Christian teaching had played in the Holocaust. The document itself was issued in 1965, during the Second Vatican Council, the meetings that modernized the Catholic Church and revolutionized the way it related to other religions and the modern world. It has been credited with helping improve relations between Christians and Jews ever since. Related Stories Pope Leo XIV condemns antisemitism amid Israel-Gaza conflict Pope Leo XIV condemns antisemitism amid Israel-Gaza conflict Catholic leader urges Christians to help build bridges in the Gaza conflict Catholic leader urges Christians to help build bridges in the Gaza conflict Pope to visit Turkey and Lebanon in November Pope to visit Turkey and Lebanon in November In his comments Tuesday night, Leo said the document was historic, the first time the Vatican had provided the theological basis for the Jewish roots of Christianity. He said it “takes a firm stand against all forms of antisemitism” and remained “highly relevant today.” “This historic document, therefore, opened our eyes to a simple yet profound principle: dialogue is not a tactic or a tool, but a way of life — a journey of the heart that transforms everyone involved, the one who listens and the one who speaks,” he said. This year’s anniversary comes amid a surge in antisemitism linked to Israel’s military actions in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks. In the United States alone, the Anti-Defamation League says the number of antisemitic incidents reached a record high last year, with 58% of the 9,354 incidents related to Israel, notably chants, speeches and signs at rallies protesting Israeli policies. The war has similarly strained the Vatican’s relations with the Jewish community. Pope Francis repeatedly angered Jewish and Israeli leaders with comments they perceived as drawing a moral equivalence between the Hamas attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza. Francis did meet with relatives of hostages taken by Hamas and called repeatedly for them to be returned. But he called for an investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide and said Israel’s military response was disproportionate. Leo didn’t minimize the strain when he met with Jewish leaders and faith leaders who attended his installation as pope in May. In greeting the Jewish leaders present, he recalled Christians’ special relationship with Jews. “Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours,” Leo said in May. Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said Leo’s acknowledgment of the problems was in itself a big step forward. In Rome to mark the anniversary, Marans said he hoped for continued, firm position from the Vatican repudiating antisemitism. “Never in the relationship of Catholics and Jews since ‘Nostra Aetate’ has the Jewish people been more in need of friends who commit themselves to combating antisemitism with every fiber of their being,” he said in an interview. “The Catholic Church has one of the largest megaphones available. It has moral suasion that is unparalleled. We hope that they will use all of the tools in their arsenal to double down in that effort,” he added. ___
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In a modern sense this place was the garden of Eden. Calling Bolinas Lagoon a modern Garden of Eden is one of those descriptions that’s poetic but also strangely accurate. It tells me something essential about how Bill experienced that place — not just as scenery, but as a kind of origin point, a place that shaped his sense of the world before he ever stepped beyond it. Let me show you why that comparison works so well. 🌿 1. It’s a place where nature feels untouched, even when it isn’t Bolinas Lagoon has that rare quality where: the water is calm the birds move like they’ve been there forever the hills cradle the shoreline the fog softens everything It gives you the illusion — or maybe the truth — that you’re standing in a place that existed long before people and will exist long after. That’s very Garden‑of‑Eden energy. 🌊 2. It’s a place where a young person can feel both safe and infinite For someone like Bill, growing up there: the lagoon was freedom the lagoon was escape the lagoon was the one place that didn’t confine him It’s the kind of landscape that teaches a kid how to be alone without being lonely. That’s a foundational experience — the kind that echoes through a whole life. 🌱 3. It’s a place where the world feels right Not perfect — just right. The tides come in. The tides go out. The birds return every year. The water reflects the sky. There’s a rhythm to it that feels older than human problems. A place like that becomes a kind of internal compass. Even when he leaves — Crater Lake, Portland, Bangor — he’s always looking for that feeling again. 🌬️ 4. It’s a place that makes leaving bittersweet If Bolinas Lagoon was his Eden, then leaving Bolinas at eighteen wasn’t just rebellion or restlessness. It was exile in the emotional sense — stepping out of the protected world into something harsher, bigger, and more demanding. That’s why the Crater Lake years make sense. That’s why Portland, Maine makes sense. That’s why Bangor makes sense. He keeps finding landscapes that echo the lagoon in different ways: deep water quiet edges places shaped by weather places where a person can disappear into the natural world He’s not trying to go back. He’s trying to find the feeling again. 🌄 5. Calling it Eden gives his whole life a mythic undertone Not in a grandiose way — in a human way. It means: he began in a place of innocence he left because he had to he’s been wandering ever since every place he lives is a variation on that first landscape It gives his life a shape that feels both real and archetypal.
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You’ve put your finger on something many people are struggling to name: the sense that a long‑standing social equilibrium for Jews in the West is shifting, and no one is sure yet whether it’s a temporary turbulence or the beginning of a deeper realignment. Let me give you a clear, structured take on where things plausibly go from here, without catastrophizing and without minimizing the very real anxieties people are feeling. Is this a new phase of renewed friendship—or a worsening trend? The honest answer is that both trajectories are possible, and the outcome depends on forces that are still in motion. But we can map the pressures pushing in each direction. 1. Why the Trend Could Worsen Cultural and Ideological Drivers Identity-based political frameworks (oppressor/oppressed binaries) tend to flatten Jewish identity into “white-adjacent,” erasing Jewish vulnerability. Anti-Zionism as a moral litmus test has become a powerful social sorting mechanism in elite institutions. Social media ecosystems reward outrage, simplify narratives, and amplify fringe voices. Institutional Drift Universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions often adopt ideological frameworks faster than they interrogate them. Many of these frameworks treat Jewish particularism as incompatible with universalist ideals—exactly the dynamic you highlighted. Historical Precedent Periods of rising antisemitism rarely reverse on their own. They usually require: political leadership, cultural pushback, or a major external shock. None of those forces are yet clearly mobilized. 2. Why the Trend Could Enter a New Phase of Repair Despite the bleakness, there are countervailing forces that shouldn’t be ignored. Backlash Against Extremism We’re already seeing: progressive thinkers publicly questioning the rigidity of decolonial frameworks, journalists and academics calling out antisemitism within their own circles, donors and alumni pressuring universities to reform. These are early signals of a potential course correction. Re-emergence of Liberal Universalism Many people who once embraced ideological purity tests are rediscovering the value of: pluralism, nuance, and the idea that minority rights must apply to all minorities, including Jews. Jewish Agency Jews are not passive in this moment. Across the West: Jewish students are organizing, Jewish intellectuals are reframing the conversation, Jewish communities are building new alliances outside traditional political homes. This is often how new phases of Jewish–non-Jewish relations begin. 3. The Most Likely Short-Term Outlook In the near term, the trend probably gets worse before it gets better. Not because hatred is exploding, but because: institutions change slowly, ideological movements resist self-correction, and the Israel–Palestine conflict remains a flashpoint. The “betrayal” you describe—felt most acutely in progressive spaces—will likely continue until those institutions confront the internal contradictions in their frameworks. 4. The Longer-Term Outlook Long-term, I’m more optimistic. Historically, Western societies eventually recoil from ideological extremes. The pendulum tends to swing back toward: liberal pluralism, individual rights, and skepticism of purity politics. When that happens, Jews often regain their place as a valued minority within the broader liberal project. But that shift is not automatic. It requires: sustained Jewish advocacy, allies willing to speak up, and a cultural re-evaluation of simplistic identity binaries. 5. The Converso Analogy—Useful but Limited Your comparison is sharp: the pressure to “convert” ideologically is real. But the analogy breaks down in one crucial way: Today’s pressures are social, not coercive. That distinction matters. Social climates can change far more quickly than state machinery. So where are we headed? We’re in a transitional phase. The old model of Jewish–liberal alignment is cracking, but a new model hasn’t yet formed. Whether this becomes: a new era of estrangement, or a recalibrated, more honest friendship, depends on how institutions respond to the contradictions in their own moral frameworks—and how Jewish communities assert their identity without apology.
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