The long-awaited Vatican document, “We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah,” received a mixed report when it was issued in March.
The IJCIC’s response isn’t completely negative, however.
A draft of IJCIC’s report obtained by JTA says that by calling the Holocaust a major fact in the history of the century, the Vatican’s document “should render impossible the obscenity of Holocaust denial among Catholics and we see in this one of the major positive aspects of the document.”
Rabbi A. James Rudin, the interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee and a member of IJCIC, said that “50, 75, 100 years from now, there can never be any doubt that the Holocaust took place, because here is a definitive statement from the Catholic Church by a pope from Poland.”
Members of IJCIC include representatives from the three main branches of Judaism, the Israel Interfaith Committee and some major Jewish organizations.
IJCIC representatives say they do not expect the Vatican to respond to their statement.
Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, said the IJCIC response “represents the maturity of the dialogue. We can be candid with one another and discuss issues on a substantive level.”