Written by: Catholics for Israel
Category: Israel and the Church

What Do We Mean by “Catholics for Israel”?

Catholics for Israel is an apostolate faithful to the Magisterium, the living teaching office of the Church to whom Jesus has entrusted the task of authentically interpreting the word of God (DV 10). This means that official magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church, most especially chapter 4 of the declaration Nostra Aetate and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, form the core of our beliefs concerning Israel and the Jewish people. 

The Church and the Jewish People as Formulated in Nostra Aetate

Pope John Paul II and chief rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff For the first time in the history of the Church, the declaration Nostra Aetate (promulgated at the Second Vatican Council in 1965) laid a positive foundation for a theology of Israel and of the Jewish people.  This document affirmed:

Open Questions 

While Nostra Aetate has provided an essential foundation for a positive Catholic theology of Israel, it has but laid the most basic building blocks of this foundation, while leaving many questions open and unanswered.  Examples of such questions are:

Statement of Faith 

In light of Nostra Aetate and of the above questions, Catholics for Israel proposes the following statement of faith:

Concerning the Jewish people:

We DO:

We do NOT:

Concerning the land and people of Israel:

We DO:

We do NOT:


See also: Why Catholics for Israel?


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