I go to the Church’s traditional teaching, what the Church always has taught. Please, find me a pre-Conciliar source that espouses the heresies that you are trying to convince me of. You can’t. It’s a post-Conciliar phenomenon.
I.F.
My dear brother/sister Immaculata
In my honest and humble opinion, one should be nourished spiritually by what the
Magisterium says YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMMORROW not just YESTERDAY
That aside the Holy Father’s teaching on the Jews is not magisterial but rather in his private capacity as a premier theologian. I do not much like the idea that you might be attributing heresy to our Holy Father.
How can you pick and choice what to obey based upon a personal understanding of pre and post conciliar teaching? Good luck with that, for fear of endagering my soul I would not risk doing such a thing.
You desire a pre-conciliar source. Ok, how about two Doctors of the Church (one currently and one going to de declared such in a few months)? Will you accept that or will only a Papal Bull or ecclesiastical document proper serve your needs? If you seek the latter then you will not find it because this teaching, although very ancient and venerable, has not yet ascended to the heights of full magisterial approval. It is an acceptable theological belief that has been held by some very authoritative people in the Church throughout the ages.
“…You also have obligations toward unbelievers, whether Jew, Greek, or Gentile. Granted, with regard to the Jews, time excuses you; for them a determined point in time has been fixed, which cannot be anticipated. The full number of the Gentiles must come in first. But what do you say about these Gentiles? … Why did it seem good to the Fathers … to suspend the word of faith while unbelief was obdurate? Why do we suppose the word that runs swiftly stopped short?..”
***- Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), (De Consideratione III/1, 3), Doctor of the Church ***
"…In the light of Romans 11:25, the Church must not concern herself with the conversion of the Jews, since she must wait for the time fixed for this by God, ‘until the full number of the Gentiles come in’ (Rom 11:25). On the contrary, the Jews themselves are a living homily to which the Church must draw attention, since they call to mind the Lord’s suffering (cf. Ep 363)…”
***- Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), Doctor of the Church [this year] ***
There is a long, long line of theologians, saints and Doctors of the Catholic Church who do not believe that we should be as ardent in our attempts to convert Jews as we should Gentiles because scripture tells us that God himself will - at his own appointed time - bring all Jews into the Catholic Church.
Romans 11:25 is one of the base texts that undergirds the two-phrase conception of Christian history that the pope has been discussing. It is where St. Paul says:
Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in.
What does this mean?
According to the two-phase conception adhered to by many saints, theologians and Doctors of the Church this does not mean that the Jews do not require conversion to faith in Jesus, but that this is in the hands of God as his original chosen people and is not in the hands of the Church at the present time.
The duty of the Church at the present time,the “time of the gentiles”, is to focus on her mission to evangelise every gentile nation of the world, because it is only when the Church has fulfilled this responsibility that the next phase of salvation history can truly begin, God’s conversion of the Jewish people to faith in Jesus as Messiah and Lord. It does mean though that as Christians we must not focus our missionary activity on evangelising the Jewish people. If individual Jews approach Christians to hear the Gospel then we have a duty to evangelise them fully like every person and bring them to the fullness of truth however that is their choice on their own personal journey of faith. For our part we must be reactive and not proactive.
The fact that a Pope is now supporting this venerable tradition, even in a private capacity, demonstrates that it is edging closer to full magisterial approval.
I would hope if it does, as do many doctrines in Church history, move out of the realm of theological supposition and into the Magisterium, that you offer it your full and complete assent.
At the moment you are not obliged to do so, however please be respectful and do not tell us Catholics who agree with the likes of Saint Bernard, Saint Hildegard and the Holy Father that we are heretics.