Most significant papal bulls about the Jews

Sicut Judaeis, by Callistus II, about 1120 This is a Bull to protect the Jews who suffered from the hands of the participants in the first crusade (1095-96) and who were attacked by their Christian neighbors. It is forbidden to kill them, use violence to convert them, molest them or their synagogues. The Bull is founded on the model of a letter which began with the same sentence, sent to the Bishop of Palermo by Pope Gregory I in 598 and which was against the use of violence as a method of conversion. The formulations of Callistus are repeated by many of the Popes from the 12th to the 15th centuries. They often added references to current problems of their time. Many of them condemn the accusation of ritual homicide. Post Miserabile, by Innocent III, in 1189 It is addressed to the prelates of Europe and deals with the necessity of another attempt at crusade. Among the privileges given to those who will take part in the crusade is the protection of their property while they are away, including the suspension of the payment and interest on their debts to the Jews. The formula in which this suspension is expressed becomes a rule in the call to later crusades. Etsi non displaceat, by Innocent, in 1205 It is a list addressed to the king of France against the Jews accused of: usury, blasphemy, arrogance, signing up of Christian slaves and other things. The king is urged to put an end to such evil. The same “evils” continue to be mentioned by various Popes for centuries and to be completely ignored by others. In generali concilio, by Honorius III, 1218 Addressed to the Archbishop of Toledo, it requests the application of the decision of the 4th Lateran Council in which the Jews had to wear clothes which distinguished them from the Christians and pay ten percent to the local churches. Both requests were repeated frequently by subsequent Popes. Etsi Judaerum, by Gregory IX, 1233 Addressed to the prelates of France, it exhorts the prevention of attacks on the Jews, generally motivated by greed. This concept will be repeated by more Popes in the 14th and 15th centuries. Si vera sunt, by Gregory IX, 1239 Addressed to the king and prelates of France and Spain, it orders the confiscation and inspection of the Talmud and of all the other Jewish books suspected of blasphemy against Christ and Christianity. The destruction of Jewish books will be ordered often from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Lachrymabilem Judaeorum, by Innocent IV, 1247 Addressed to the prelates of Germany in response to entreaties by the Jews, it exhorts putting an end to racial assassinations and persecutions provoked by accusations of ritual homicides. Various other Popes repeated this exhortation, even though mildly. Turbato corde, by Clement IV, 1267 Addressed to the Inquisitors of heresy, it expresses consternation about the rumor that the Jews were trying to induce the Christians (possibly converted from Judaism) to pass to their religion. The accusations of these activities aimed at conversion to Judaism are repeated frequently by subsequent Popes.