Other articles from this issue | Version in English | Version in French

The Architect of Nostra Aetate
The Editors

Cardinal Bea and the Conciliar Declaration on the relations between the Church and Judaism.

"If I had been able to foresee all the difficulties that were to be faced, I don't know if I would have had the courage to undertake it." (See S. Schmidt, S.J., "Il cardinale Agostino Bea", La Civiltd Cattolica, I, 1969, pp. 10-11.) Thus, after the Council, did Cardinal Bea refer to his heroic and extremely difficult work towards officially promoting a new and quite revolutionary awareness in the Church with regard to Judaism. In order to obtain these results he had to face difficulties of all kinds: religious, political, psychological, and scientific; difficulties foreseen and unforeseen.

In the development of the Cardinal's life and work during these last years, there are several surprising aspects. He seems to have had, or to have been endowed with, new powers, previously unexpected and unforeseen qualities when faced with unexpected tasks and difficulties.

On September 25th 1964, as the Declaration on the relations of the Church towards Judaism was being presented for the second time, he remarked:
... This Declaration is one in which public opinion has shown the greatest interest. There is scarcely any other schema about which so much has been written in the world press and in newspapers of wide circulation and influence. 'Whatever may be thought of this interest and of the value to be attached to it, the mere fact of its existence shows that on this subject the eyes of the world are upon the Church, and that on the approval or disapproval of the Declaration will largely hinge a favourable or unfavourable judgement of the whole Council. (Cf. 'Cardinal Bea, The Church and the Jewish People, New York, Harper and Row, p. 159.)

Was the Cardinal prepared for such a decisive task? Apparently, not. Before becoming cardinal he had had no contacts with Jews and had manifested no interest in Judaism after the time of Christ. Among the many articles penned by the professor of Sacred Scripture none mention the existence of post-biblical Judaism or Jewish exegesis followed traditional lines and his contact with the land of Israel was limited to a journey to Palestine in 1929. True, the Cardinal had an important influence on the development of biblical studies especially through his contribution towards the encyclical Divino Aglante Spiritu in 1943 and his work within the Pontifical Biblical Commission. But all this was done without any contacts with Judaism.

But there are means, it would seem, of reaching a deeper insight into Cardinal Bea's preparation for the discovery of Judaism. Here two elements are decisive: the Bible and ecumenism.

I. Although not a "liberal" biblist the Cardinal was definitely a great exegete in the traditional sense, always open to a deeper understanding of the Bible. In his rather dry and traditional expose on divine inspiration he flatly rejects that rigid literalism which makes the human author the typist of God. He emphasizes the fact that God inspires the former as man who in consequence retains his own style, imagination, mode of expression. Thus, the biblical author and therefore the Bible are basically linked to and influenced by the historical and living reality of the people of God. It was in this way also that Cardinal Bea himself considered the Bible, not as a dead letter but as the inspired expression of a lived reality. During his more than forty years as professor of Old Testament he became thoroughly familiar with the world and ideas of the Bible. This understanding of divine Revelation formed in him an authentic biblical spirit: a real and living contact with God, intimate awareness of the divine presence and providence, openness to the signs of the times. This attitude was to prepare him for new discoveries in the adventure of God with his people.

II. Ecumenism had come gradually into the life of the future Cardinal Bea. Born at Riedbiihringen in a traditional Catholic milieu, Augustin Bea had, during his later education, many normal and open contacts with non-Catholics. On the scientific level his first collaboration with Protestant exegetes took place in 1935 on the occasion of a biblical congress at Gottingen, Germany. He went with the explicit approval of Pope Pius XI, in keeping with the spirit of the time. From that year on such contacts continued. But in 1951 the horizons of his ecumenical interest were considerably broadened by the repeated visits of Mgr. J. Willebrands, then secretary of the very young International Catholic Conference for Ecumenical Questions, to discuss with him the ecumenical relations which were beginning to develop, especially in Germany and Holland. Fr. Bea, keenly interested, became more and more involved in the ecumenical movement. With his vast knowledge and love of the Bible he understood the various possible ways of interpreting it to support differing ecclesiological views. Sacred Scripture, which has so often played an important, even decisive, role in the division of Christians, remains nevertheless their common source. The new search for Christian unity led, of necessity, to a return to the sources. But a return to the sources of Christianity is a return to Jerusalem. That Jerusalem was the scene of Pope Paul VI's meeting with the Patriarch Athenagoras I is, from this point of view, a symbol of great importance.

These two elements — a life impregnated with the Bible and involvement in the ecumenical movement — were to lead the Cardinal with his open-mindedness to the clear discovery of post-biblical Judaism. Since Sacred Scripture is inextricably linked to the history of Abraham and his descendants, ecumenism, by returning to these sources, brings us necessarily into contact with Judaism. There, in one way or another, we must take a stand. Cardinal. Bea did so with an open mind and in a very positive manner.

Pope John XXIII who had not met Fr. Bea before March 1959 created him Cardinal on December 14th of the same year. "What a great grace the Lord has granted me in letting me discover Cardinal Bea!" (Cf. S. Schmidt, above-mentioned article, p. 15.) John XXIII's concern for the Jews in their unjust sufferings and their destiny is a known fact. The importance he placed on improving relations between the Church and Judaism was brought out by several decisions and acts. Encouraged by his words and actions, several Jews asked for his intervention to the end that the Council, announced January 25th 1959, might proclaim a new attitude within the Church towards Judaism. Of particular importance was the audience Jules Isaac had with Pope John on June 13th 1960 (described at greater length in the I: 3 - 1968 issue of Sidic). The Pope referred him to Cardinal Bea whom he saw two days later. Some time after these encounters John XXIII charged the Cardinal with the preparation of a document on the subject. During the first meeting of the members and consultors of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, the Cardinal communicated this decision and the work was entrusted to a subcommission. The long and difficult history of this work is reported on elsewhere. [For example, see the well-documented article of John M. Oesterreicher, "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions", in Commentary on the Documents of Vatican II, Vol. III, ed. Herbert Vorgrimler (Herder and Herder, New York; Burns and Oates, London; 1969), pp. 1-136; see also Arthur Gilbert, The Vatican Council and the Jews (The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, 1968); as well as Father Stransky's article in this issue of Sidic.] Three documents, from the Biblical Institute in Rome, the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies in the States and an international group which met in Apeldoorn, Holland, were submitted to the Secretariat for Unity in 1960. They definitely had an influence, in one way or another, especially on the status questionis and the spirit of the future Declaration.

As for the personal attitude of Cardinal Bea as director of this work, several facts merit our attention:

1) Throughout the period of preparation for the Council and its duration, he had many contacts with Jews and with members of Amitie judeo-chretienne groups from various nations whom he met either in Rome or in their respective countries. Some of them offered suggestions concerning the document still in preparation. The Cardinal was always open and ready to receive their ideas. Several Jewish organizations, already in contact with the Cardinal and encouraged by certain Catholic dignitaries, sent him some "memoranda" on the question. It seems that these documents contributed mainly to the Cardinal's personal information since they were not always passed on to the subcommission. In fact, an accurate history of the development of the text of the Declaration would show quite clearly that documents which Jewish groups sent directly to the Cardinal had only an indeterminable, indirect influence.

2) The first indication as to the spirit of the future Council Declaration was made public through the words Cardinal Bea addressed to the seventh agape of the Pro Deo University in Rome, held January 14th 1962. Before an audience of more than one hundred persons representing forty-three nations and eighteen different religions, he spoke of the necessity of fraternal collaboration among peoples and religions in benevolence and love. He did not explicitly mention Judaism or other peoples and religions, but the Jewish representatives as well as all present understood that the Cardinal had indicated the spirit and basic themes of the new attitude of the Church towards others. Several Council documents were to make this new attitude more concrete. Repeatedly, on different occasions, Cardinal Bea stressed this background of the Declaration concerning relations with Judaism.

3) The Secretariat for Unity prepared several texts and documents for the Council. As a rule, the documents were not presented in the Aula of the Council by the presidents of the commissions that had composed them. But the Cardinal, who understandably made nineteen interventions as a member of the Council, took the exceptional course of reserving to himself the official presentation of the schema concerning the attitude towards the Jews. Thus, as President of the Secretariat, he introduced the document on November 19th 1963, September 25th 1964, November 20th 1964, and October 14th 1965. No one knows why he held so much to presenting it himself. But on this point he was quite definite; the Secretariat members and consultors were aware of this and took it for granted that he would do it. This fact emphasized the importance of the subject. For, when Cardinal Bea spoke in the Council Aula everyone took notice. All knew something important would be said.

And so Cardinal Bea truly became the architect of Nostra Aetate. Basing his remarks on his vast knowledge of the Bible and urged on by a profound love, he courageously and with much persistence defended the basic themes of the Document known to all of us, in which the fundamental bond between the Jews and all Christians is brought to light. During his September 25th address, concerning this point he said: "The close association between the Church, the chosen people of the New Testament, with the chosen people of the Old Testament is common to all Christians, and thus there is an intimate connection between the ecumenical movement and the matters discus- sed in this Declaration". Traditional prejudices and antisemitism are clearly rejected. Biblical and pastoral indications provided the starting point for theological reflection on the role of post-biblical Judaism in salvation history. Studies and dialogues advocated by the Council were to contribute to a better knowledge of Judaism as it exists.

During the Council the attention of the whole world was drawn to the question of the relations between the Church and Judaism. It has become very clear that these relations are not limited to a theological treatise but are situated within the very complex reality of concrete history. And for this reason all kinds of motives, more or less religious or not religious at all, were in a position to try and influence the development of the text. Here Cardinal Bea showed himself a master of clarity, perseverance, and also of flexibility. To assure precision and clarity in the future document and to safeguard its substance, he was ready to give way on points of lesser importance. Thus the final text of the Declaration was accepted and promulgated on October 28th 1965. The future will show that the wise attitude of Cardinal Bea, a truly prophetic figure, in a real sense inaugurated a new era in the relations of the Church with Judaism.