Rabbi Noam Marans, the recently appointed Director of Interreligious Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the oldest Jewish civil rights advocacy organizations, met with senior Vatican officials and representatives of Jewish institutions last week in Rome. Speaking with journalists during an event held on July 9 at the headquarters of the Foreign Press Association and organized by AJC’s Italian representative, journalist Lisa Palmieri-Billig, Marans acknowledged that these are challenging times.
While recognizing that there are still “differences of opinion” with the Christian world—particularly the Catholic Church—on several issues, especially those concerning the situation in the Middle East, Marans expressed satisfaction with the “policy shift” and “more moderate language” adopted by Pope Francis compared with his predecessor. “He has lowered the temperature, and that is certainly a positive development.”
“There is no going back”
To describe relations between Jews and Christians, Marans drew an analogy with the stock market. There may be sudden fluctuations, with periods of decline and recovery, “but the overall direction is the right one.” He attributed this progress to several long-standing “milestones,” including the 1993 agreement signed between the Holy See and the State of Israel, which he described as monumental. “I call it monumental because a pope’s visit to Israel is a state visit, which includes a stop at the Kotel, the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The significance of this gesture for Israelis and Jews throughout the diaspora is immense.”
Marans expressed hope that Pope Leo XIV will continue along the path established by the Church since John Paul II, including visiting the Synagogue of Rome, traveling to the State of Israel, and making a pilgrimage to Auschwitz-Birkenau. “However, Leo XIV is an independent man. He may not do exactly the same things, but that certainly would not mean he is any less committed.”
According to Marans, the pope took two unprecedented steps immediately following his election. “He wrote letters to specific Jewish leaders, including myself, and personalized them with references to Nostra Aetate.” (In 1965, the landmark declaration Nostra Aetate — Latin for “In Our Time” — significantly changed the Catholic Church’s relationship with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism.)
In short, there is no turning back. Nor is there in the relationship with Israel. According to Marans, “No one at the highest levels of the Church questions Israel’s right to exist. The debate begins over how that principle should be put into practice.”
However, more significant challenges remain at the grassroots level among clergy and the faithful. “That is the real challenge, although in the United States, we are beginning to achieve some success.”
Marans also highlighted his organization’s commitment to “defending and promoting empathy in every direction.” When a church in Gaza was accidentally struck by the Israeli army last year, “we organized a donation.” It was a way of saying, “We are here. We do not turn a blind eye to suffering.”
Marans also had some messages for the Jewish world. The first was to overcome certain fears rooted in the difficult historical relationship with Christianity. Second, he called for a commitment to “isolating and denouncing extremists who claim to speak in the name of Judaism.”
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Translated by Caterina Mansani and revised by Elizabeth El Khoury, students at the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of the University of Trieste, trainees in the newsroom of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities – Pagine Ebraiche.