Nostra aetate, the "Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions" of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Innocent III's 760-year-old declaration.
Nostra aetate (from Latin: "In our time") is the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated on 28 October 1965 by Pope Paul VI.It is the shortest of the 16 final documents of the Council and "the first in Catholic history to focus on the relationship that Catholics have with Jews." Similarly, Nostra aetate is considered a monumental declaration in describing the Church's positive relationship with Muslims. It "reveres the work of God in all the major faith traditions." It begins by stating its purpose of reflecting on what humankind has in common in these times when people are being drawn closer together. The preparation of the document was largely under the direction of Cardinal Augustin Bea as President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, along with his periti, such as John M. Oesterreicher, Gregory Baum and Bruno Hussar.Following an approach by Jules Isaac, a French-born Jew who was associated with the Seelisberg Conference of the International Council of Christians and Jews, in which, he claimed that what he called "Christian antisemitism", had prepared the way for the Holocaust, a sympathetic Pope John XXIII endorsed the creation of a document which would address a new, less adversarial, approach to the relationship between the Catholic Church and Rabbinic Judaism. Within the Church, conservative Cardinals were suspicious and Middle Eastern Catholics strongly opposed the creation of such a document. With the Arab-Israeli conflict in full swing, the governments of Arab nations such as Egypt (in particular), Lebanon, Syria and Iraq vocally lobbied against its development (the document was subjected to several leaks during its development due to the involvement of the intelligence agencies of several nations). Jewish organisations such as the American Jewish Committee, B'nai B'rith and the World Jewish Congress also lobbied for their side with the assistance of sympathetic liberal clergymen. After going through numerous drafts, compromises were made and a statement was added on Islam to mollify the security concerns of the Arab Christians. Finally, statements on Eastern religions; Buddhism and Hinduism; were also added.