On April 16, 2026, American Catholic and Jewish leaders gathered at the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the 40th anniversary of John Paul II’s 1986 visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome. The event, co-sponsored by the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism and the shrine, extolled the late antipope as a champion of interfaith dialogue and religious tolerance. Eric Cohen, president of the Tikvah Fund, praised John Paul II as “one of the greatest philosophers, religious leaders, and statesmen of the modern era,” while Catherine Szkop of the Israeli Embassy recalled the antipope’s popularity in Poland. The event promoted a vision of Catholic-Jewish relations rooted in the heretical teachings of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, which denies the exclusive salvific mission of the Catholic Church and undermines the social kingship of Christ the King.
The Theological Bankruptcy of “Elder Brother” Theology
The central heresy promoted at this event—and indeed, the very foundation of post-conciliar “interfaith dialogue”—is the claim that Jews are “elder brothers” in faith. This phrase, uttered by John Paul II in 1986, is not merely a diplomatic courtesy; it is a direct repudiation of Catholic dogma. The Church has always taught that the Catholic Church is the sole ark of salvation, and that those who knowingly reject the Gospel are outside the covenant of grace. As Pope Eugene IV declared at the Council of Florence (1441): “The holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal.” To call Jews “elder brothers” is to imply that the Old Covenant remains valid and salvific apart from Christ and His Church—a proposition condemned as heresy by the Council of Florence and countless papal pronouncements.
This “elder brother” theology is a direct fruit of the modernist revolution that has consumed the Vatican since the calling of the Robber Council of Vatican II (1962–1965). The conciliar document Nostra Aetate, which George Weigel referenced approvingly at the event, marked a decisive break with 2,000 years of Catholic teaching by declaring that “the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God.” This statement, while superficially benign, implicitly denies the doctrine of supersessionism—the teaching that the New Covenant in Christ has fulfilled and superseded the Old. As Pope Pius XI warned in his encyclical Quas Primas (1925), the rejection of Christ’s kingship over all nations leads to the dissolution of Christian society. The “elder brother” theology is precisely such a rejection: it elevates a false religion to the status of a “sister” faith, thereby denying the unique and universal lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Myth of “Shared Values” and the Betrayal of Catholic Doctrine
Eric Cohen’s speech at the event promoted the idea that Jews and Christians share a “covenantal renewal of the West” and must stand together against “nihilism.” This language is deeply revealing. It assumes that the Catholic Church and Judaism share a common religious mission—a proposition that is categorically false. The Church has always taught that the Catholic Faith is the only true religion, and that all other religions are false and cannot lead to salvation. As Pope Gregory XVI wrote in his encyclical Mirari Vos (1832), “The shameful font of indifferentism is the absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone.” The notion that Jews and Christians are “providentially entangled” in a shared religious project is a textbook example of the indifferentism condemned by the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 15–18).
Moreover, Cohen’s appeal to George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Jewish synagogue of Savannah, Georgia, is a telling example of how post-conciliar Catholics appropriate Protestant and Enlightenment narratives to justify their apostasy. Washington’s letter, while respectful, reflects the naturalistic and latitudinarian spirit of the American Founding—a spirit that Pope Leo XIII explicitly condemned in his encyclical Immortale Dei (1885) as incompatible with Catholic teaching on the social kingship of Christ. The United States, far from being a “providential nation” in the Israelite mold, was founded on the Lockean principle of religious indifferentism—a principle that the Church has consistently condemned. To invoke Washington as a model for Catholic-Jewish relations is to betray the Church’s own teaching and to substitute the Gospel with the ideology of liberal democracy.
The Erasure of the Church’s Mission: From Evangelization to “Dialogue”
Perhaps the most damning aspect of this event is its complete silence on the Church’s primary mission: the conversion of the Jews. The Church has always taught that the conversion of the Jewish people is a necessary precondition for the Second Coming of Christ, as St. Paul teaches in Romans 11:25–26. Yet nowhere in the speeches cited in the article is there any mention of this dogma. Instead, the focus is on “mutual enrichment,” “shared values,” and “religious education”—all of which are euphemisms for the abandonment of the Church’s evangelical mandate.
This silence is not accidental; it is a direct consequence of the conciliar revolution. Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate, while not explicitly denying the need for Jewish conversion, effectively rendered it a dead letter by declaring that “the Church awaits that day, known to God alone, on when all peoples will address the Lord in a single voice.” This eschatological deferral is a subtle but devastating denial of the Church’s missionary mandate. As Pope Benedict XVI (Ratzinger) himself admitted in a 1985 interview, the post-conciliar Church has “no explicit mission to the Jews”—a statement that would have been unthinkable before 1965.
The Idolatry of “Religious Freedom” and the Cult of Man
The event’s emphasis on “religious freedom” and “religious education” as shared priorities is another symptom of the modernist apostasy. The Church has always taught that the state has a duty to recognize the Catholic Church as the one true religion and to suppress public manifestations of false worship. As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors (Proposition 77), “In the present day, it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship” is an error. The post-conciliar Church’s embrace of religious freedom, as enshrined in Vatican II’s Dignitatis Humanae, is a direct repudiation of this teaching.
Eric Cohen’s call for a “renaissance of religious education” is particularly insidious. It assumes that religious education is a private matter, to be determined by families and communities, rather than a public duty of the state in service of the true religion. This is the liberal, Protestant model of religion—a model that the Church has consistently rejected. As Pope Leo XIII wrote in Immortale Dei, the state must “place the religion of Jesus Christ among the first and chief of its cares” and “protect and defend” the Catholic Faith. The notion that Jews and Catholics should work together to promote “religious education” in a secular framework is a betrayal of this teaching and a capitulation to the spirit of the age.
John Paul II: Apostate, Not Saint
The event’s hagiographic portrayal of John Paul II is a grotesque distortion of reality. The man who visited the synagogue in 1986 was the same man who kissed the Qur’an in 2001, who prayed with animists at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, and who presided over the disastrous World Day of Prayer for Peace in 1986—an event in which representatives of false religions prayed side by side for “peace,” with no mention of Christ or His Church. These acts are not merely diplomatic gestures; they are formal cooperations in false worship, which the Church has always condemned as gravely sinful.
The claim that John Paul II was “one of the greatest philosophers, religious leaders, and statesmen of the modern era” is a blasphemous insult to the true saints and doctors of the Church. The man who “canonized” the pseudo-mystic Faustyna Kowalska, who promoted the heretical “theology of the body,” and who systematically dismantled the Church’s missionary mandate was not a saint but an apostate. His “canonization” by the antipope Francis in 2014 is null and void, as the Church teaches that a heretic cannot be a saint (cf. St. Robert Bellarmine, De Romano Pontifice, II.30).
Conclusion: The Abomination of Desolation
The event at the St. John Paul II National Shrine is a microcosm of the post-conciliar apostasy. It promotes a vision of Catholic-Jewish relations that is rooted in religious indifferentism, the denial of Christ’s kingship, and the abandonment of the Church’s missionary mandate. It extols an apostate antipope as a saint and invokes the spirit of the American Enlightenment as a model for Catholic action. It is, in short, the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place (Matthew 24:15).
The faithful must reject this modernist counterfeit and return to the unchanging teaching of the Catholic Church. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, “The Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… He is indeed the source of salvation for individuals and for the whole… The state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men.” There is no salvation outside the Church, no covenant apart from Christ, and no peace except in the Kingdom of Christ the King. Let us pray for the conversion of the Jewish people, for the destruction of the conciliar sect, and for the restoration of the Social Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ over all nations.
Source:
American Jewish leaders extol Pope John Paul II’s legacy on historic synagogue visit anniversary (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 20.04.2026