The Catholic Church and Judaism have a long and complex history of cooperation and conflict, and have had a strained relationship throughout history, with periods of persecution, violence and discrimination directed towards Jews by Christians, particularly during the Middle Ages.
The Catholic Church, as the largest Christian denomination, traces its roots back to the early Christian community, while Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions and the first of the Abrahamic religions. Christianity started as a movement within Judaism in the mid-1st century. Worshipers of the diverging religions initially co-existed, but began branching out under Paul the Apostle. In 380, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire, and a power on its own after the Fall of Rome. As Christianity grew and became the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, the relationship between the two religions began to change with the Catholic Church, which emerged as the main institution of Christianity, starting to view Judaism as a rival religion. In the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made it the state religion. The Church began to suppress the practice of Judaism and forced many Jews to convert to Christianity. This persecution continued for several centuries, with Jews being subjected to forced conversions, expulsions, and massacres.
During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church institutionalized antisemitism through the creation of discriminatory laws and the establishment of the Inquisition. This led to widespread persecution of Jews, including forced conversions, expulsions, and pogroms. Jews were expelled from Catholic kingdoms, including England and Spain and many of the principalities and cities of the Holy Roman Empire and Italy.
After the Holocaust in the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s led to improvements in the relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism, following the Church's repudiation of the Jewish deicide accusation and its addressing the topic of antisemitism. In 1965, the Church issued the document "Nostra aetate" which condemned antisemitism and recognized the shared heritage of Jews and Christians. Since the 1970s, interfaith committees have met regularly to address relations between the religions, and Catholic and Jewish institutions have continued to work together on issues such as social justice, interfaith dialogue, and Holocaust education. The Catholic Church has also taken steps to address the harm caused by past persecution of Jews, such as the establishment of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the apology of the Pope John Paul II to the Jewish community.
Background
Christianity started as a movement in Second Temple Judaism in the Roman province of Judea in the mid-1st century. The first Christians were Jewish and the early spread of Christianity was aided by the wide extent of the Jewish diaspora in the Roman Empire. Although Jesus was not accepted as the messiah by Jewish leaders, worshipers of the diverging religions initially co-existed within the Jewish synagogues, reading the Jewish scriptures, singing the Psalms and joining in the various rituals of the Jewish calendar. Christians moved away from Jews in subsequent centuries, but modern Catholicism has retained much of its Hebrew literary heritage, the Old Testament (Tanakh).
Even as pagans and gentiles increasingly began to attend Christian worship, the Jewish framework remained strong. Paul the Apostle initially took part in the Jewish persecution of the early Christian movement, but following his conversion, he became a leading exponent for Christianity branching away from Judaism and becoming a religion open to all, which could move away from strict Jewish dietary laws and the requirement of circumcision. Judaism was recognized as a legal religion by Julius Caesar but the relationship was volatile resulting in several Jewish–Roman wars. Christianity did not receive legal recognition until the 313 Edict of Milan. The reign of the Emperor Constantine elevated Christianity to the preferred religion of the Roman State - while reducing the position of paganism and Judaism, with Christianity becoming the State church of the Roman Empire in 380. The dominance of Christianity was to flourish and outlast the Roman Empire.
Following the Fall of Rome, and during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church became a temporal power in its own right.