ShalomNewYork.com

“Constantine’s Sword,” a film by Oren Jacoby, has its theatrical premier in New York on the day of the pope’s visit to the Synagogue.* The coincidence has no significance, although, in my mind, it raises these questions. In the film, Oren Jacoby and I show that the dark legacy of Christian antisemitism began to be redeemed when the Second Vatican Council both repudiated the “Christ-killer” charge against the Jewish people, and affirmed the on-going validity of Jewish religion. The days of scapegoating Jews, and seeking their conversion are over. Or are they? When Pope Benedict meets with Jewish leaders in New York this week, the cordial greetings will be heartfelt, but so will an undercurrent of wondering. Why, under his authority, has the Vatican recently restored the pre-Vatican II Good Friday prayers for the conversion of Jews? Does this pontificate represent a retreat from Christian moral reckoning with the Holocaust? Does it intend to restore the lethal Christian conviction that God’s only plan for Jews is baptism? WashingtonPost.com