Jews and Catholics last night celebrated "a revolution unparalleled in human history" marking an "amazing transformation" of Catholic attitudes towards Jews over the last 40 years, according to former chief Rabbi of Ireland David Rosen.
Rabbi Rosen was speaking during a commemoration at Terenure Road synagogue in Dublin of the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, a document of the second Vatican Council which withdrew the Catholic Church's long-standing charge of "deicide" against the Jewish people.
In his keynote address Rabbi Rosen said: "We have to bear in mind the attitude that existed in the church before this document which made Jews the scapegoat for the ills of society and suspected them of collusion with diabolical forces." He contrasted this teaching with the Vatican II leadership of "that great hero of reconciliation, Pope John XXIII".
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "An empty secularism which denies the importance of religious belief and practice may in the wrong circumstances give rise to an oppressive public culture. In the great tradition of Daniel O'Connell we have a proper separation of church and State and the avoidance of confessional politics."