Originally published at National Catholic Register
The Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate, on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, was solemnly approved on Oct. 28, 1965, along with several other Council documents.
The text represented one of many groundbreaking moments for Vatican II, as Cardinal Augustin Bea — the German Jesuit and great champion of the cause of Christian unity — pointed out before the Council Fathers. The declaration marked the first time that an ecumenical council had made a teaching about the attitude of Christians toward non-Christians and the first time that the Church had proposed a fraternal dialogue with these followers of other religions.
The declaration traces its origin to a specific command of Pope St. John XXIII, who asked the Secretariat for Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Bea, to produce a text that made special reference to the Jewish people. The proposed draft was later removed from the Council’s agenda, due to the tense political situation in the Middle East. However, some months after the beginning of the Council, in December 1962, Cardinal Bea presented the issue once again in writing to the Pope, who shortly afterward expressed his full approval for the document.
Nearly a year later, in
