Vatican II’s declaration on other religions. It notes that Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet and honour Mary, and states that Christ’s passion cannot be charged against all Jews then living or Jews today. A modern reception, not historical evidence.
Nostra aetate (“In our time”) is the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 28 October 1965. It is one of the shortest documents of the Council, in five sections, but one of the most consequential for relations between the Catholic Church and other faiths.
After a general reflection on religion, it speaks of Hinduism and Buddhism, and then of Muslims, noting with esteem that they revere Jesus as a prophet, though they do not acknowledge him as God, and honour his virgin mother Mary. Section 4, on the Jewish people, recalls the Jewish roots of the Church and states that what happened in Christ’s passion cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today. It deplores antisemitism.
For this archive it is a modern reception of the passion narratives and of other religions’ views of Jesus. It is the Catholic Church’s repudiation of collective Jewish guilt for the crucifixion, not historical evidence about who was responsible, and it offers a point of comparison with the Qur’an’s portrait of Jesus.
A citation note only: the document’s text is not mirrored in this archive. Follow the link for the official text.
The full text is not reproduced on this site. It is published by the Holy See, which holds the copyright, and this archive keeps only a citation card for it. The introduction above summarises its contents; read the document itself at the official source.
Official text: Nostra aetate (1965), official English text on vatican.va
