May 9, 2026
This piece was originally published in The Times of Israel.
Cardinal Robert Prevost’s election as the first American pontiff last May was a welcome surprise, and one that I suggested at the time, bodes well for the future of Catholic-Jewish relations. One year into Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, that prayerful prediction still rings true.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that we can altogether avoid significant disagreements between Catholic and Jewish leaders, not least regarding differences in our understanding of conflicts in the Middle East and just war theory. Yet, I have confidence that the relationship is strong enough to weather those disagreements. Why? Pope Leo’s foundational statements on the Catholic-Jewish relationship.
In an unprecedented move, on the very day of his election, Pope Leo wrote to American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other key Jewish leaders, declaring: “I pledge to continue and strengthen the Church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate.” Citing the Church declaration that revolutionized Catholic-Jewish relations and rejected two millennia of anti-Jewish teaching, the new pontiff elevated this relationship on day one.
He followed this up just eleven days later, when in meeting with non-Catholic delegations attending his Inaugural Mass, he eschewed platitudes and said to the Jewish people, “Even in these difficult times, marked by conflicts and misunderstandings, it is necessary to continue the momentum of this precious dialogue of ours.”
He was very clearly acknowledging – and importantly not shying away from – that he inherited a challenging moment in Catholic-Jewish relations, one characterized by deep disagreements between Pope Francis and Jewish leadership about Israel’s response to the October 7 massacre. In that traumatic period, all the good Francis had done to advance Catholic-Jewish relations was overshadowed for many by his severe criticism of Israel. With one sentence, Pope Leo lowered the temperature of the overheated dialogue.
But we cannot simply rely on popes to sustain and bolster Catholic-Jewish relations. We must ask ourselves: what are our respective Catholic and Jewish responsibilities in the Pope Leo era?
For Catholics, the key challenge continues: getting the teachings of Nostra Aetate from the highest levels of religious leadership—the treetops—to the grassroots. This is no small task, given the size of the Church (1.4 billion adherents) and greater Catholic expansion in Asia and Africa, where, unlike in North America and Europe, there are few sizeable Jewish communities with whom to interact. As always, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has led in this effort, including publishing Translate Hate: The Catholic Edition together with AJC. This glossary of antisemitic tropes is accompanied by Catholic teaching in opposition to them.
For Jews, we must redouble our efforts to educate those in our community who have chosen to ignore or deny the positive evolution of Christian thought and action regarding the Jewish people, and continue instead to cling to an outdated view of Christianity as the eternal enemy of the Jewish people. The recent abhorrent desecration of a statue of Jesus on the cross by Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon is a particularly visible example of a wider problem of Jewish extremism—a small but very destructive force—that sullies the good name of the Jewish people. It is reassuring that Israel has announced the creation of a new senior position, Special Envoy to the Christian World, but there is nonetheless much work to be done.
And yet, as we pursue avenues of learning and unlearning within and between our two communities, we must not delude ourselves. Pope Leo likely holds critical views of Israel’s strong responses to its enemies’ aggressions that are similar to those of Pope Francis, their different speaking styles notwithstanding. We need frank exchanges and dialogue on these issues, including better Catholic understanding of the centrality of the State of Israel to Jewish identity worldwide.
Still, whatever differences of opinion Catholic and Jewish leadership may have about Israeli policies and actions, we must never lose sight of the progress we have made in the post-Nostra Aetate process.
This past February, we saw the fruits of this labor, as hundreds of Catholics and Jews gathered to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate in Jerusalem. The historic gathering, which was led by cardinals, rabbis, bishops, and scholars from Israel, the Vatican, the United States, and beyond, would not have been possible without the monumental establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the Holy See in 1993.
Catholic and Jewish leadership have a precious opening to sustain and expand the six decades of the Catholic-Jewish rapprochement together. The Pope Leo pontificate has started strong, and we dare not miss this opportunity. In celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate this past October, Leo took the opportunity to passionately condemn expressions of hatred towards Jews, confirming “that the Church does not tolerate antisemitism and fights against it, on the basis of the Gospel itself.” In a time of surging antisemitism, he and other Catholic leaders have shown that the Church is and can be even more a leading force in the battle against antisemitism. There can be no going back to a bygone pre-Nostra Aetate era. There is too much at stake for both Catholics and Jews.
