Far more disturbing than anything the White House has done recently are some statements by Pope Francis. First there was his use of a verse often cited by anti-Semites in his letter to Middle Eastern Catholics. Now he is calling for an inquiry into whether Israel is committing “genocide.” Adam Gregerman analyzes the pontiff’s many comments about the current conflict, and contrasts more recent ones to previous statements of sympathy for Jews and the Jewish state.
The pope cannot and does not separate the Jewish-Catholic relationship from the Israel-Hamas war. Francis has spoken often and highly personally about Jewish-Catholic relations and emphasized his commitment to deepening the connection between the two long-estranged communities.
But when speaking about the current war, writes Gregerman, Francis makes a hash of both the specific moral stakes and the many-centuries-old Catholic tradition of just-war theory:
It is ironic, or perhaps predictable, that the Catholic Church in the modern period, now without access to military power, has moved away from just-war theory and now largely deploys its more restrained views of war and peace in judging others.
By ignoring central aspects of the conflict, such as the motivations of the combatants, [the pope] actually undercuts his promise of vigilance and resistance against all such forms of hatred. . . . In over a year, he has never once mentioned Hamas by name, though mentions of Israel are ubiquitous.
Why does Francis fail to live up to the moral and historical commitments to Jews that he emphatically endorses? Does the appearance of anti-Judaism in the context of a war explain his silence? Perhaps he prefers to speak out against hatred of Jews only when Jews are exclusively victims.
Of the possible reasons for Francis’s hostility to Israel that Gregerman considers is the influence of liberation theology, which often encourages anti-Zionism if not outright anti-Semitism. Francis presently seems committed to moving the Catholic Church away from a wholehearted embrace of Zionism.
More about: Gaza War 2023, Jewish-Catholic relations, Pope Francis, Vatican