Pope Leo XIV addresses the world following his election. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, who taught for nearly half a century at the Catholic Theological Union until his retirement in 2017, served as co-founder and director of the school\u2019s Catholic-Jewish Studies Program and also served four terms on the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. <\/p>\n
More than 40 years after Leo\u2019s ordination as a priest, Pawlikowski remembers the new pope as a good student with an open mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cI do remember him as a pretty bright student,\u201d Pawlikowski said in an interview shortly after his former student was introduced to the world as the sitting bishop of Rome. <\/p>\n
Pawlikowski added later, \u201cMy experience of him was he\u2019s a very open-minded person who\u2019s very much in the context of Vatican II.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vatican II, or the Second Vatican Council, inaugurated a new era in Jewish-Catholic relations in 1965 when it issued a document, Nostra Aetate, repudiating antisemitism and stating that the Jewish people were not responsible for Jesus\u2019 death. Ties between the two religious communities were blossoming at the time when Leo was studying for the priesthood in the late 1970s and early \u201880s. <\/p>\n
Under Pawlikowski, Leo studied Catholic social teaching, which focuses on social and economic issues. Pawlikowski says relations with Jews are relevant to that field. CTU has also had a commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations since its founding and launched its formal program in the field in 1968.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019I\u2019ve always argued that antisemitism is something that has to be counted as part of the Catholic commitment to social justice and human dignity,\u201d he said. \u201cMy work on Catholic social teaching did include always the issue of antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope spent much of his career in Peru and is thought of as a relative centrist and Vatican insider. He hasn\u2019t been a prominent figure in Jewish-Catholic dialogue or fighting antisemitism, and doesn\u2019t appear to have commented publicly on Israel or the war in Gaza. Pope Francis, his predecessor, did opine on those issues and had relations with Jewish leaders in his native Argentina.<\/p>\n
But Leo\u2019s coming of age in the era of Vatican II \u2014 plus his roots in Chicago, which has a large Jewish community, also lead Rabbi Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee\u2019s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, to feel optimistic. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe studied at CTU under John Pawlikowski and in the post-Nostra Aetate era, in the country where Catholic-Jewish relations is preeminent,\u201d Marans said in an interview. \u201cAn American pope bodes well for the future of Catholic-Jewish relations. More than anywhere in the world, the relationship between Catholics and Jews has flourished and set a gold standard in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Francis was outspoken in his opposition to antisemitism and his promotion of ties with Jews, he raised the ire of some Jewish leaders in recent years for his criticism of Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza. One of his last acts as pope was to donate his popemobile to Gaza as a mobile medical unit. <\/p>\n
Pawlikowski said he believes \u201cthere\u2019s a desire to carry on\u201d with Catholic-Jewish relations, though he added, \u201cthe situation in Israel and Gaza has had a dramatic effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will his former student begin a new chapter in Catholic-Jewish ties? Pawlikowski said it\u2019s too soon to tell, given that Leo has not thus far focused on the issue. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe hasn\u2019t really been stationed in any area where there was a really pronounced Jewish community,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the question of interreligious [affairs], he\u2019ll have to show us where he is, but I would assume he had an outgoing, positive attitude generally.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his first address as pope, Leo issued a call to dialogue. <\/p>\n
\u201cHelp us as well\u2014help one another\u2014to build bridges through dialogue, through encounter, uniting everyone to be one single people always in peace,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Rabbi Joshua Stanton, associate vice president for interfaith and intergroup initiatives at the Jewish Federations of North America, saw that as a sign that the pope is committed to Catholic-Jewish relations. He noted that this year is Nostra Aetate\u2019s 60th anniversary, which he hopes Leo commemorates in an active way. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very hopeful that he referenced the importance of dialogue and reaching out beyond the Catholic Church to other religious communities,\u201d Stanton said. Stanton noted that Leo has a reputation for \u201cquiet efficacy,\u201d and as he settles into his position, Stanton said he\u2019ll be looking at how the pontiff acts. <\/p>\n
\u201cDoes he invite Jewish leaders to the Vatican to meet with him?\u201d he said. \u201cDoes he invite leaders from other traditions? Does he try to bring multiple groups together at the same time?\u201d<\/p>\n
The focus of Leo\u2019s address on Thursday was peace. With war raging in Gaza, Marans did not take that as a specific reference to the Middle East. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll popes want peace,\u201d he said. \u201cMay I add, all Catholics, Jews, rabbis want peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
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