Saint John Paul II changed significantly the relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism. Not only did he fulfil the guidelines of the Second Vatican Council, but did so of his own profound inner conviction, said Fr. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, Director of the Polish Bishops' Conference Foreign Communications Office and deputy Director of the Heschel Centre at the Catholic University of Lublin.
On Tuesday, January 17, 2023, the Catholic Church in Poland commemorated the 26th Day of Judaism. The Archdiocese of Lublin, in collaboration with the Abraham Joshua Heschel Centre of Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Catholic University of Lublin, held the celebrations on January 18.
“Israel remembers the pontificate of John Paul II, a breakthrough event for the dialogue with the ‘elder brothers in the faith’,” wrote the Embassy of the State of Israel in Poland on its social media accounts to mark this year’s celebrations of the Day of Judaism. Many representatives of Judaism stress the significant role played by the pope in the creation and development of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue.
Saint John Paul II was the first pope to visit a synagogue in Rome. During that time, in 1986, he stressed that “the Jewish religion is not an external reality to our religion, but something internal,” and that the attitude towards it “is different from that towards any other religion. You are our beloved brothers and – one might say – our elder brothers,” said the Pope to the Jews.
Archbishop Henryk Muszyński, the first chairman of the Commission for Dialogue with Judaism of the Polish Bishops' Conference, currently a member of the Honorary Committee of the Heschel Centre of the Catholic University of Lublin, repeatedly stresses that it would not have been possible to do so much in the field of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue in Poland had it not been for Saint John Paul II.
“I often hear from the Jews that no one has done more for the sake of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue than Saint John Paul II. He was the first pope not only to enter a synagogue, but he was also the first pope to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Moreover, as the motto for the first Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland, he chose the words: Whoever meets Christ, meets Judaism,” indicates Fr. Rytel-Andrianik.
The Day of Judaism in the Catholic Church in Poland was established by the Polish Bishops’ Conference. It has been observed since 1998. This year’s motto of the celebrations is taken from the Book of Exodus: “The coming of the Lord: You are leaving today.”