In 1965 the Second Vatican Council produced a declaration on the relation of the Catholic church with non-Christian religions. In this document, “Nostra Aetate” (In Our Age), the Catholic Church revolutionized its relations with Jews by saying Christ’s death could not be attributed to Jews as a whole at the time or today.
A forthcoming book by Pope Benedict XVI supports and furthers this doctrine. In the second volume of “Jesus of Nazareth”, which will be released by Ignatius Press on March 10, the Pope explains that although scripture has the Jewish crowd shouting, “Let his blood be on us and on our children,” as they demand that Pilate execute Jesus, the crowd should be read to represent all humanity. News sources are hailing this excitedly with headlines like: “Pope Exonerates Jews…” and “Pope Absolves Jews…” For the interest of FPR readers, I am going to include a lengthy excerpt from the book, which has been released as a “trailer” from the publishers. Pertinent information to this post is in bold type. Continue reading “Do Mormons Need a “Nostra Aetate” of Their Own?”