International Conference | New documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their Meaning for Jewish-Christian Relations: A Dialogue Between Historians and Theologians

Monday-Wednesday, October 9-11, 2023  | Aula Magna of the Pontifical Gregorian University Piazza della Pilotta 4, Rome, Italy

Registration is now open for the international conference New Documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their Meaning for Jewish-Christian Relation: A Dialogue between Historians and Theologians. After its first announcement, last June, the conference aroused already widespread interest. Indeed, it aims to offer new light on the historical and theological controversies concerning Pope Pius XII and the Vatican during the Holocaust period, and on Jewish-Christian relations at multiple levels, thanks to important discoveries emerging from the analysis of the Vatican archives and to a strengthened collaboration between institutions and researchers.

The conference, which will take place from 9 to 11 October in the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will see the participation of the major international academics and researchers involved in this sector, both in the historical and theological fields, allowing the meeting and the comparison between a plurality of approaches and visions. Structured in seven sessions, the conference will address the most complex issues, both in the historical-diplomatic implications and in the social, religious and cultural ones which led to an irrevocable reformulation of the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish People in the following decades.

In March 2020, Pope Francis opened millions of documents pertaining to the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII (1939-1958). It will take decades of scrutiny and analysis to ascertain the full significance of these archives estimated to be at least 16 million pages, but some important discoveries have been made and must be shared to the wider public. These documents can be approached from the point of view of a variety of historical and theological questions.

New Documents from the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII and their Meaning for Jewish-Christian Relations conference will focus on how these archives shed light on historical and theological controversies over Pope Pius XII and the Vatican during the Holocaust, and on Jewish-Christian relations at multiple levels – from ordinary people to authority figures in Jewish and Catholic milieus, institutions and power structures.

In 1965, the Catholic Church issued a renewed teaching, Nostra Aetate, that rejected antisemitism and presented the Jewish people as blessed by God. What can the new documents tell us about the encounters that led up to this watershed moment in Church teaching? This conference will bring together historians and theologians, Christians and Jews, studying together to further both historical knowledge and Jewish-Christian relations.

More info and registration

The event will be open to the public and accredited media. Lectures in English and Italian. Simultaneous translation available.
The conference will also be live streamed, in both languages, on youtube.com/unigregoriana

The International Conference is organized by:

• CDEC – Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Milano, Italia (EHRI Partner)
• Centro “Cardinal Bea” per gli Studi Giudaici – Facoltà di Storia e dei Beni Culturali della Chiesa, Pontificia Università Gregoriana, Roma, Italia
• Programs on Ethics, Religion, and the Holocaust at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, USA (EHRI Partner)
• Institute for International Research Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem, Israel (EHRI Partner)
• Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies, Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida, USA