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But the document acknowledges that “the simple admission of faults” might “look like acquiescence in the face of accusation made by those prejudicially hostile to the church.”
The document list faults the pope will address, including wars of religion; abuses during the Crusades; the coercion of the Inquisition; disrespect for cultures and faiths during evangelization; affronts to women, races, and ethnic groups; and abuses of the rights of individuals.
On the “tormented” 2,000-year history of Christian-Jewish relation, it says, “The hostility or difference of numerous Christians toward Jews, in the course of time is a sad historical fact and is the cause of profound remorse for Christian.”
Though calling Nazism a pagan ideology, “it may be asked whether the Nazi persecution of the Jews was not made easier by the anti-Jewish prejudices imbedded in some Christian minds and hearts.”
The acknowledgement is a big step, said Rabbi James Rubin of the American Jewish Committee: “This pope has long equated anti-