To help especially younger generations grasp the significance of St. John Paul II’s prophetic act at the Western Wall on March 26, 2000, it’s essential to remember how deeply the renewal of fraternity between Jews and Catholics lay at the heart of his pontificate.

As early as March 12, 1979—just five months after his election—Pope John Paul II welcomed members of Jewish organizations for an audience in Rome. In what was essentially a programmatic address, he emphasized how the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate—which marks its 60th anniversary this year—had opened a new chapter in Catholic-Jewish relations.

He affirmed, “As your representatives has mentioned, it was the Second Vatican Council with its Declaration “Nostra Aetate” that provided the starting point for this new and promising phase in the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish religious community. In effect, the Council made very clear that, “while searching into the mystery of the Church”, it recalled “the spiritual bond linking the people of the New Covenant with Abraham’s stock.”

John Paul II concluded with a call for dialogue to overcome past hostilities and work for the good of humanity. He would soon frequently use the phrase: “to be together a blessing for the world.”

Whoever meets Christ encounters Judaism

During his visit to Germany in November 1980, he met in Mainz with representatives of the Jewish community. In his remarks, he quoted the German bishops: “Whoever encounters Jesus Christ encounters Judaism,” and emphatically declared that the first covenant made by God with the people of Israel was “never annulled.” This statement—one of the most emblematic of his pontificate—made it clear that the Church does not replace the people of Israel. It was a firm and unambiguous rejection of the supersessionist theory, which for centuries, along with other prejudices, had fueled Christian anti-Judaism—what Jules Isaac (1877–1963), prominent French Jewish historian and a key figure in transforming Christian-Jewish relations in the 20th century, famously called “the teaching of contempt.”

On April 13, 1986, John Paul II took a step that left a lasting mark on collective memory: the first-ever visit of a pope to the Great Synagogue of Rome. Following in the footsteps of John XXIII and Nostra Aetate, he delivered words that still resonate in the history of Jewish-Catholic relations: “The Jewish religion is not 'extrinsic' to us, but in a certain way is 'intrinsic' to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship that we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.”

He concluded with a sharp denunciation of Christian anti-Judaism: “Any alleged theological justification for discriminatory measures or, worse still, for acts of persecution is unfounded” and that “it is not lawful to say that the Jews are repudiated or cursed.”

A landmark agreement between Israel and the Vatican

The signing of the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel was a historic milestone—an immense leap from the “non possumus” pronounced by Pope Pius X (1835-1914) to Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), the father of modern political Zionism on January 25, 1904. On December 30, 1993, at John Paul II’s initiative and at the urging of several French bishops, the Holy See formally signed the agreement.

Though mostly legal and technical in nature and light on theological content, the agreement represented a clear sign of a major shift in the Church’s attitude. Before Vatican II, the Jewish diaspora was often interpreted as divine punishment for the supposed collective guilt of killing Christ. By contrast, Nostra Aetate had decisively rejected this view, and the Fundamental Agreement put that teaching into concrete action. Simultaneously, the Holy See also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state, with guarantees of security for Israel.

A prayer at Yad Vashem, a suppliant note at the Wall

During the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, on March 23, John Paul II visited the deeply symbolic site of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial. Standing before numerous dignitaries—including his childhood friend Jerzy Kluger, a survivor of the Final Solution—the pope declared: “In this place of solemn remembrance, I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the twentieth century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews.”

At the end of his pilgrimage, he made his way to the Western Wall. Accompanied by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, he was received by, among others, the former Chief Rabbi of France, René-Samuel Sirat. Thanks to archival footage from France's National Audiovisual Institute, we can still witness the stirring images of the ailing pope slowly approaching the wall. He paused for a long personal prayer and then, like so many Jewish and Christian pilgrims before him, placed a note in the cracks of the wall—a written plea to God for forgiveness for the sins committed by members of the Church throughout history against the Jewish people.

This gesture, imbued with immense symbolic power, remains a call to us all—now more than ever—to commit ourselves to living a truly authentic fraternity.

Grand Rabbi Moshe Lewin is Vice President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Special Advisor to the Chief Rabbi of France. Father Christophe Le Sourt is Director of the French Bishops’ Office for Relations with Judaism.