Rabbi Joshua Stanton of East End Temple in New York was among the members of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations who were scheduled to meet with Pope Francis on June 30.

Reflecting on his conversations with Vatican officials, Rabbi Stanton marveled at the progress made in Jewish-Catholic relations since Nostra Aetate (1965), the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Cardinal Luis Ladaria, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the group that “it is important for priests to have good relations with the Jews. If you are anti-Semitic, you cannot be ordained.’

“It would be difficult to imagine [the] efflorescence of American Judaism without the largest religious organization in the world delegitimizing anti-Semitism and making evident that Jews are a beloved part of a larger religious family,” said Stanton. “The Jewish awakening in the United States may well be due in part to a miracle of the Catholic Church.”