The Council of Christians and Jews
Encyclopedia
The Council of Christians and Jews, or CCJ, is a voluntary organisation in the United Kingdom
. It is composed of Christians and Jews working together to counter anti-semitism
and other forms of intolerance in Britain. Their patron is Queen Elizabeth II
.
The CCJ was founded, in 1942, by Chief Rabbi
Joseph H. Hertz
and Archbishop
William Temple
during a time of all-out warfare and Nazi
persecution of Jews
. In late 1954, and reflecting the theology of the era, the Vatican
instructed the head of English Catholics to resign from the CCJ due to its perceived indifferentism
, with Catholics not returning until the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council
. Cyril Bibby
was an early member of their Council: he prided himself on being the only such member who was "neither a Christian nor a Jew".
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GPEA_enGB308GB308&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Council+of+Christians+and+Jews%22%22cyril+bibby
In 1924 the Presbyterian Church of England Congress agreed to form a sub committee to discuss the lack of understanding between Jews and Christians. The committee wished to abandon proselytising and instead promote cooperative methods of action.
In 1925 Herbert Lowe, a Jewish Cambridge scholar, addressed the General Assembly for the first time.
In 1924 the Social Service Committee of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue convened a meeting for Jews and Christians to confer together on the basis of their common ideals and with mutual respect for differences of belief'. From this developed the Society of Jews and Christians in 1927 that provided a platform for a number of notable speakers.
The inter war years was marked by a reappraisal by Christian scholars of Jewish religion. In 1930 James Park published 'The Jew and his neighbour', setting out the causes of anti-Semitism and its Christian roots. Parks would later be placed on Hitler's list of those he wanted killed.
With the rise of Nazi anti-Semitism a few Christians did speak out. In 1934 The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
noted the 'age-long sufferings of the Jewish people' and that during 'the present outbreaks of anti-Semitic fanaticism', declared its 'heart-felt sympathy for the Jewish people' and deplored their present treatment as being 'abhorrent'.
A Youth Council on Jewish-Christian Relations was formed in 1934 that included several Christian organisations and by 1940 also included Jewish groups. By the middle of the decade various groups made up of Jews and Christians were involved in giving aid to Jewish refugees from Germany, whose number rose sharply after Kristallnacht
. The Refugee Children's Movement took care to ensure that whenever a Jewish child was placed in a Christian home the child would not be subject to proselytisation and that contact was established with the nearest Rabbi.
Anglican, Free church and Roman Catholic Church
es came together in 1938 to form a Christian Council for Refugees following the passing of the Nuremberg Decrees. The councils secetary was W. W. Simpson, a Methodist minister, who would dedicate his life to the improvement of Christian-Jewish relations. His 1939 pamphlet 'The Christian and the Jewish Problem' recognised the part of Christianity in Jewish suffering, involving factors such deicide, the Crusades, the ghettos, the Inquisition and their influence on present day persecution.
, William Temple, invited leaders of various communities to discuss these proposals in 1941. Temple outlined the mission of what was to become the Council of Christians and Jews. The Council would work against all forms of discrimination and promote the 'fundamental ethical teachings which are common to Judaism and Christianity' The Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hertz, agreed with this approach and highlighted the central point as being 'the danger to civilisation involved in antisemitism, as well as the steps that might be taken by Christians, working in consultation with Jews, to prevent its spread in this country', noting also how Pius XI had recently affirmed that 'Anti-semitism is a movement in which we Christians can have no part whatsoever. Spiritually we are Semites'. Hertz made it clear that Jews and Christians would be responsible for their own religious teaching without mutual interference.
At a meeting chaired by William Temple, now the nominated Archbishop of Canterbury
, on 20 March 1942 the formation of the Council of Christians and Jews was agreed. The aims of the council were specified as:
The initial membership of the CCJ was composed of leaders of Christian and Jewish organisations. The Roman Catholic prelate
, Cardinal Hinsley, agreed to be a Joint President subject to the condition that any statements be approved by him prior to publication. The formation of the CCJ was announced on radio and in the press on 1 October 1942.
regarding the accounts then emerging about the Nazi extermination process, followed by a letter published in The Times
on 5 December speaking of a 'horror beyond what imagination can grasp...burning indignation at this atrocity, to which the records of barbarous ages scarcely provide a parallel.” The letter criticised the delays in officialdom, branding their excuses as having an 'air of irrelevance', and called for the prosecution of those involved in the extermination process after the war.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Temple, at the behest of the CCJ, made a broadcast to the Hungarian people using the BBC World Service
and appealed:
Some political voices raised concerns that such protestations could make things worse for the Jews but by early 1943 it had already become clear that nothing could be worse than what the Jews were currently suffering. Archbishop Temple addressed the House of Lords
in March 1943 in which he referenced the massacre of Jews taking place, urging all means of action and condemned the procrastination of officialdom. He concluded:
Braybook (1991) notes that "Much is said of the silence of the Churches, which was often all too evident" but he picks out Temple, and the leaders of the various Churches who supported him, as an outspoken critic on this issue. The World Jewish Congress
spoke of him as "the champion of the Jews".
At a meeting of the CCJ held on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht in 1988 Dr. Robert Runcie
, the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged that the roots of these events lay in the preceding centuries of Christian anti-Semitism:
, R. A. Butler and Rabbi Leo Baeck, a survivor of Theresienstadt concentration camp. Various commissions were set up, a resolution was sent to the Paris Peace Conference
, an agreement reached to hold an emergency conference dealing with anti-Semitism in Europe, and that a committee should research the possibility of forming an International Council of Christians and Jews which would bring together all the various national bodies.
The emergency conference took place in Seelisberg
Switzerland in 1947. "The Ten Points of Seelisberg" agreed at the conference became a reference for many future statements by various Churches regarding new approaches to Judaism. The need for an International Council of Christians and Jews was affirmed by the conference but due to differences regarding how it should be implemented this plan did not come to fruition until 1974.
During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII "a heavy blow fell on the Council" when in November 1954 Cardinal Griffin announced that the Roman Catholic Church would be withdrawing from the CCJ following an instruction received from the Vatican indicating that the educational work being done by the council could result in religious indifferentism. Leading Roman Catholics resigned from the CCJ in the aftermath. The popular press was highly critical of this development with headlines such as "The Pope bans Queen's Council" and criticising Roman Catholic intolerance. The Catholic periodical "The Tablet
" expressed the view that the public resignations ought to have been avoided, further discussions held, and that the Vatican should have made the reasons for the withdrawal explicit. The reasons for the withdrawal were never clearly explained, however Roman Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain
had previously warned the CCJ that Rome was suspicious of any cooperative ventures between Jews, Protestants and Catholics. During the pontificate of Pope John XXIII
Catholics were once again permitted to join the CCJ, including notable figures such as Lord Longford and Lord Perth. In 1964 Archbishop Heenan addressed the CCJ and expressed the opinion that the original withdrawal from the Council was due to a misunderstanding in Rome. The early difficulties associated with Roman Catholic membership largely disappeared in the aftermath of the issuing of Nostra Aetate
by the Second Vatican Council
. In 1980 and 1990 Pope John Paul II
met delegations from the CCJ and conferred a knighthood on Sir Sigmund Sternberg
who was joint treasurer of the CCJ and chairman of the International Council of Christians and Jews.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is composed of Christians and Jews working together to counter anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and other forms of intolerance in Britain. Their patron is Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
The CCJ was founded, in 1942, by Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Joseph H. Hertz
Joseph H. Hertz
----Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz, CH was a Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi and Bible scholar. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world wars and The Holocaust.- Early life :Hertz was born in the...
and Archbishop
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
William Temple
William Temple (archbishop)
William Temple was a priest in the Church of England. He served as Bishop of Manchester , Archbishop of York , and Archbishop of Canterbury ....
during a time of all-out warfare and Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
persecution of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
. In late 1954, and reflecting the theology of the era, the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
instructed the head of English Catholics to resign from the CCJ due to its perceived indifferentism
Indifferentism
Indifferentism, in Roman Catholic theology, describes the belief that there is no evidence that one religion or philosophy is superior to another. The Catholic Church ascribes indifferentism to all atheistic, materialistic, pantheistic, and agnostic philosophies...
, with Catholics not returning until the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. Cyril Bibby
Cyril Bibby
Cyril Bibby was a biologist and educator. He was also one of the first sexologists.-Early life, family, etc. :...
was an early member of their Council: he prided himself on being the only such member who was "neither a Christian nor a Jew".
http://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GPEA_enGB308GB308&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Council+of+Christians+and+Jews%22%22cyril+bibby
Background
Prior to the foundation of the Council of Christians and Jews a number of initiatives had already taken place. The London Society for the Study of Religions,founded in 1904, included Jews in its membership.In 1924 the Presbyterian Church of England Congress agreed to form a sub committee to discuss the lack of understanding between Jews and Christians. The committee wished to abandon proselytising and instead promote cooperative methods of action.
In 1925 Herbert Lowe, a Jewish Cambridge scholar, addressed the General Assembly for the first time.
- "The love of God and love of man are the foundations of our faith and of yours. We have a vast heritage in common...We recognise that we are put on earth to serve each other...When we consider the framework on which our creeds are built the wonder is not that our views of life are similar, but that we should have been so long in discovering the similarity, the wonder is that centuries of ignorance and hatred should have intervened between us..I am convinced that our partnership in the fight against oppression and injustice and race-hatred can be successful, and our efforts can never be blessed until we learn to respect the standpoint of each other."
In 1924 the Social Service Committee of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue convened a meeting for Jews and Christians to confer together on the basis of their common ideals and with mutual respect for differences of belief'. From this developed the Society of Jews and Christians in 1927 that provided a platform for a number of notable speakers.
The inter war years was marked by a reappraisal by Christian scholars of Jewish religion. In 1930 James Park published 'The Jew and his neighbour', setting out the causes of anti-Semitism and its Christian roots. Parks would later be placed on Hitler's list of those he wanted killed.
With the rise of Nazi anti-Semitism a few Christians did speak out. In 1934 The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body[1] An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland, A Gordon McGillivray, 2nd Edition .-Church courts:As a Presbyterian church,...
noted the 'age-long sufferings of the Jewish people' and that during 'the present outbreaks of anti-Semitic fanaticism', declared its 'heart-felt sympathy for the Jewish people' and deplored their present treatment as being 'abhorrent'.
A Youth Council on Jewish-Christian Relations was formed in 1934 that included several Christian organisations and by 1940 also included Jewish groups. By the middle of the decade various groups made up of Jews and Christians were involved in giving aid to Jewish refugees from Germany, whose number rose sharply after Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
. The Refugee Children's Movement took care to ensure that whenever a Jewish child was placed in a Christian home the child would not be subject to proselytisation and that contact was established with the nearest Rabbi.
Anglican, Free church and Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
es came together in 1938 to form a Christian Council for Refugees following the passing of the Nuremberg Decrees. The councils secetary was W. W. Simpson, a Methodist minister, who would dedicate his life to the improvement of Christian-Jewish relations. His 1939 pamphlet 'The Christian and the Jewish Problem' recognised the part of Christianity in Jewish suffering, involving factors such deicide, the Crusades, the ghettos, the Inquisition and their influence on present day persecution.
Formation
Out of the diverse groups that marked Jewish-Christian dialogue and aid during the 1930s a proposal was circulated with a view to forming an organization built on a national network. The Archbishop of YorkArchbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, William Temple, invited leaders of various communities to discuss these proposals in 1941. Temple outlined the mission of what was to become the Council of Christians and Jews. The Council would work against all forms of discrimination and promote the 'fundamental ethical teachings which are common to Judaism and Christianity' The Chief Rabbi, Dr. Hertz, agreed with this approach and highlighted the central point as being 'the danger to civilisation involved in antisemitism, as well as the steps that might be taken by Christians, working in consultation with Jews, to prevent its spread in this country', noting also how Pius XI had recently affirmed that 'Anti-semitism is a movement in which we Christians can have no part whatsoever. Spiritually we are Semites'. Hertz made it clear that Jews and Christians would be responsible for their own religious teaching without mutual interference.
At a meeting chaired by William Temple, now the nominated Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, on 20 March 1942 the formation of the Council of Christians and Jews was agreed. The aims of the council were specified as:
- (a) To check and combat religious and racial intolerance.
- (b) To promote mutual understanding and goodwill between Christians and Jews in all sections of the community , especially in connection with problems arising from conditions created by the war.
- (c) To promote fellowship between Christian and Jewish youth organisations in educational and cultural activities.
- (d) To foster co-operation of Christians and Jews in study and service directed to post-war reconstruction.
The initial membership of the CCJ was composed of leaders of Christian and Jewish organisations. The Roman Catholic prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
, Cardinal Hinsley, agreed to be a Joint President subject to the condition that any statements be approved by him prior to publication. The formation of the CCJ was announced on radio and in the press on 1 October 1942.
Early years
The CCJ was formed at a time of Nazi persecution of Jews but the full scale of the extermination process, and the response of organisations such as the CCJ, was to an extent governed by the amount of factual information then available in the public domain. In 1942 deputations were sent to the Foreign Office and Anthony EdenAnthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
regarding the accounts then emerging about the Nazi extermination process, followed by a letter published in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
on 5 December speaking of a 'horror beyond what imagination can grasp...burning indignation at this atrocity, to which the records of barbarous ages scarcely provide a parallel.” The letter criticised the delays in officialdom, branding their excuses as having an 'air of irrelevance', and called for the prosecution of those involved in the extermination process after the war.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Temple, at the behest of the CCJ, made a broadcast to the Hungarian people using the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
and appealed:
- "do your utmost to save from persecution, it may be from massacre, those who are now threatened as a result of German occupation...Help them to hide from their tormentors, help them, if possible, to escape. Do all you can to prevent the extermination of people whose only fault is the race from which they are born or the independence of their minds and constancy of their convictions".
Some political voices raised concerns that such protestations could make things worse for the Jews but by early 1943 it had already become clear that nothing could be worse than what the Jews were currently suffering. Archbishop Temple addressed the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in March 1943 in which he referenced the massacre of Jews taking place, urging all means of action and condemned the procrastination of officialdom. He concluded:
- "We at this moment have upon us a tremendous responsibility . We stand at the bar of history, of humanity, and of God."
Braybook (1991) notes that "Much is said of the silence of the Churches, which was often all too evident" but he picks out Temple, and the leaders of the various Churches who supported him, as an outspoken critic on this issue. The World Jewish Congress
World Jewish Congress
The World Jewish Congress was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations...
spoke of him as "the champion of the Jews".
At a meeting of the CCJ held on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht in 1988 Dr. Robert Runcie
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged that the roots of these events lay in the preceding centuries of Christian anti-Semitism:
- 'Without centuries of Christian anti-Semitism, Hitlers passionate hatred would never have been so passionately echoed....The travesty of Kristallnacht and all that followed is that so much was perpetrated in Christ's name. To glorify the Third Reich, the Christian faith was betrayed. We cannot say, "We did not know", We did - and stood by.. And even today there are many Christians who fail to see it as self evident and why this blindness? Because for centuries Christians have held Jews collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. On Good Friday Jews have, in times past, cowered behind locked doors for fear of a Christian mob seeking 'revenge' for deicide. Without the poisoning of Christian minds through the centuries, the holocaust is unthinkable'.
International Council of Christians and Jews
During the blitz of 1942 some British Christians and Jews met with members of the American National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ) who were visiting London. It was agreed that after the war an international conference should be held for all the bodies who were active in the field of Christian-Jewish relationships. This was held in Oxford in 1946 and over one hundred delegates from fifteen countries attended. A public meeting held on the eve of the conference included as guest speakers the Archbishop of Canterbury, Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
, R. A. Butler and Rabbi Leo Baeck, a survivor of Theresienstadt concentration camp. Various commissions were set up, a resolution was sent to the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference may refer to:* Paris Peace Conference, 1919, negotiated the treaties ending World War I* Paris Peace Conference, 1946 July 29 to October 15, 1946See also...
, an agreement reached to hold an emergency conference dealing with anti-Semitism in Europe, and that a committee should research the possibility of forming an International Council of Christians and Jews which would bring together all the various national bodies.
The emergency conference took place in Seelisberg
Seelisberg
Seelisberg is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.-History:The Rütli meadow, according to legend the site of the original oath foundational to the Old Swiss Confederacy, is situated in the territory of the municipality....
Switzerland in 1947. "The Ten Points of Seelisberg" agreed at the conference became a reference for many future statements by various Churches regarding new approaches to Judaism. The need for an International Council of Christians and Jews was affirmed by the conference but due to differences regarding how it should be implemented this plan did not come to fruition until 1974.
Relations with the Roman Catholic Church
See also Pope Pius XII and JudaismPope Pius XII and Judaism
The relations between Pope Pius XII and Judaism have long been controversial, especially those questions that surround Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust...
During the pontificate of Pope Pius XII "a heavy blow fell on the Council" when in November 1954 Cardinal Griffin announced that the Roman Catholic Church would be withdrawing from the CCJ following an instruction received from the Vatican indicating that the educational work being done by the council could result in religious indifferentism. Leading Roman Catholics resigned from the CCJ in the aftermath. The popular press was highly critical of this development with headlines such as "The Pope bans Queen's Council" and criticising Roman Catholic intolerance. The Catholic periodical "The Tablet
The Tablet
The Tablet is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Contributors to its pages have included Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Paul VI ....
" expressed the view that the public resignations ought to have been avoided, further discussions held, and that the Vatican should have made the reasons for the withdrawal explicit. The reasons for the withdrawal were never clearly explained, however Roman Catholic theologian Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
had previously warned the CCJ that Rome was suspicious of any cooperative ventures between Jews, Protestants and Catholics. During the pontificate of Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII
-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...
Catholics were once again permitted to join the CCJ, including notable figures such as Lord Longford and Lord Perth. In 1964 Archbishop Heenan addressed the CCJ and expressed the opinion that the original withdrawal from the Council was due to a misunderstanding in Rome. The early difficulties associated with Roman Catholic membership largely disappeared in the aftermath of the issuing of Nostra Aetate
Nostra Aetate
Nostra Aetate 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 October 28, 1965, by Pope Paul VI.The first draft, entitled "Decretum de...
by the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
. In 1980 and 1990 Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
met delegations from the CCJ and conferred a knighthood on Sir Sigmund Sternberg
Sigmund Sternberg
Sir Sigmund Sternberg, is a British philanthropist, businessman and Labour Party donor.-Early life:Sternberg is Jewish and was born in Hungary. He emigrated to Britain in 1939 and was naturalised as a British citizen in 1947.-Career:...
who was joint treasurer of the CCJ and chairman of the International Council of Christians and Jews.