In an unprecedented event, the Knesset on
Tuesday commemorated Pope John XXIII, who helped save thousands of Jews from
the Holocaust and initiated a process of reconciliation between the Catholic
Church and the Jewish people.

After being elected pope in 1958, he laid
the groundwork for the Nostra Aetate declaration of 1965.

Approved after his death, the declaration
repudiated ancient charges by the Catholic Church against the Jewish people,
particularly the church’s position that the Jews were cursed and guilty of
Jesus’s death.

Five years ago, numerous historians,
authors and other public figures in Israel called on the state to recognize
Roncalli for his efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust and his work to
change Church doctrine regarding the Jewish people.

Speaking at the Knesset on Tuesday, former
immigration and absorption minister YairTzeven, who helped initiate the day’s
events, praised Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein for backing the recognition of
the pope.

“There has not been an event like today’s
in the history of the Knesset, an event which is so important to our relations
with the Christian and Catholic world,” said Tzeven. “John XXIII should serve
as an example for all men of the need to bring together peoples of different
races, faiths and beliefs.”