From:  (Les Brown)
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion,alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic,soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Vatican seeks forgiveness
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 15:17:15 GMT

"Rowland C. Croucher" <> wrote in aus.religion:
>
>Vatican to seek forgiveness for past sins
>
>         
>            By Philip Pullella
>            VATICAN CITY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Vatican theologians have
>finished the draft of a major document in which the Catholic
>Church will officially ask forgiveness for its past errors,
>possibly including the Inquisition and its treatment of Jews.

[sd]

>            In a trip to Germany in 1996, the Pope said not enough of
>the country's Catholics stood up to Adolf Hitler.
>            The Pope has said in various documents and speeches that the
>Church needed to assume its responsibility for the Inquisition,
>which was marked by the forced conversion of Jews and the
>torture and killing of heretics.

[sd]

>            The Vatican has already held a conference on the religious
>roots of anti-Semitism and one on the Inquisition is planned for
>later this year.

So, will the R.C. church really be sorry for what they did, or will
they be just trying to appease the Jews so that the R.C. church will
now appear apologetic and that they really love Jews afterall? Such
Vatican sentiments have led at least one Catholic, Dr. Susan Moore,
director of the Roman Catholic "Thomas More Centre" to write in The
Age, 26/03/98:

"Hurts sustained for hundreds of years go so deep that only when
anti-Semitism disappears is a prevailling JEWISH OPENNESS TO THE
TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT A GENUINE POSSIBILITY. From Vatican II
onwards, MOVES DESIGNED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN HAVE COME FROM ROME"
(all my caps)

There you have it. The remorse is not genuine but rather reflects a
desire for Jewish converts to Christianity, in particular Roman
Catholicism. Will these Catholics EVER leave us Jews alone? Try as
they might, they couldn't kill us all off, thank G-d, and now they're
trying once again to convert us by being "nice"!

The Vatican may beat its breast with mea culpas from here to eternity,
but it will never been seen as genuine contrition. The R.C.C. cannot
change it's spots any more than it can ressurrect the millions of my
brethren killed by its believers over the last 2000 years.

Les Brown