On Monday the Vatican’s top diplomat defended Pope Pius XII’s record on helping Jews during the Holocaust while historians offered a more critical view, and Rome’s chief Rabbi cautioned against morally defending anti-Jewish prejudice.
There are a couple basic factors that have reshaped the Israel-Vatican relationship in recent years, to some extent downgrading its perceived importance to both sides.
Catholic senior archbishops from around the world have urged followers of Christ to actively fight the rise of anti-Semitism amid increasing hate crimes and other incidents targeting Jews in the United States and elsewhere.