Article: Rabbi asks pope to repeat position on Jews, Jesus Vatican says its 1965 view still holds: There's no blame

JERUSALEM -- One of Israel's two chief rabbis urged the pope Thursday to publicly reaffirm that Jews are not to blame for the death of Jesus, saying he fears Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" could revive such beliefs.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he is sending a letter to Pope John Paul II asking him to reiterate a Roman Catholic Church decision in the 1960s that reversed the centuries-old doctrine that Jews were behind the Crucifixion.

"The Vatican and the pope must explain today . . . that the Jewish nation, the Jewish people didn't kill Jesus," Metzger said.

Vatican officials responded by saying the church's opposition to anti-Semitism is clear, as expressed by its ...

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