Deicide At The Second Vatican Council

Vatican II was largely and perhaps most famously about Deicide – and the desire of modern Jews to be released from what they considered to be an outdated and unjust charge against them. A massive media campaign blitzed the Council Fathers to promote a change in Catholic teaching – nothing less than the exoneration of the Jews of complicity in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. A Declaration was composed to this end and actually passed by the Council Fathers; only to be rejected by Pope Paul VI and rewritten into a new Declaration on Non-Christian Religions. This is the story of the struggle and failure by Jewish groups and of Bishop Luigi Carli chairman of the commission which reworked the Declaration for Pope Paul VI. Bishop Carli’s articles written while the Council was on-going were “lost” until finally located by Professor von Peters and translated into English. This work showcases Bishop Carli’s articles giving the good Bishop’s own thoughts research and reasons for rejecting the original Declaration. Carli later an Archbishop was Pope Paul VI’s man to settle the questions of deicide rejection of the Jews etc. Supplementary materials highlight the struggle.