“This guilt seems more enormous in us than in the Jews, since according to the testimony of the same Apostle: If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory,” the text adds.
The issue is also specifically addressed in the Second Vatican Council document Nostra Aetate. The council states that “what happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today.” Rather, it adds, “the Jewish authorities and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ.”
“Although the Church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God,” the document adds.
Stephen Hildebrand, a professor of theology at Franciscan University, told CNA that the crux of the matter is that “we don’t hold a whole people responsible for the actions of some of them.”
“To attribute guilt to a whole people on the basis of the actions of a few of them is profoundly unfair and against all sense and reason and … against the teaching of the Catholic Church,” Hildebrand said.
Additional free speech concerns
The legislation, which passed the House of Representatives 320-91, has yet to be considered by the Senate. In the House, the measure received broad bipartisan support, with only 91 members (70 Democrats and 21 Republicans) opposed.
“I’m proud to support this important legislation that will protect our brave Jewish students who are watching their campuses be taken over by unsanctioned mobs of antisemites by requiring the Department of Education to use the IHRA definition of antisemitism when enforcing antidiscrimination laws,” said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York, who is also Catholic.
Meanwhile, the right-leaning Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression has argued that the legislation’s definition of antisemitism is “vague, overbroad, and includes criticism of Israeli government policy,” and that it would stifle speech that is protected under the First Amendment.
The left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union has expressed similar concerns, saying the bill “threatens to censor political speech critical of Israel on college campuses.”
Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.
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