A recent closed-door meeting in Jerusalem among diplomats and Catholic and Jewish leaders brought into focus the gap that still exists between the Vatican and Israel, despite years of dialogue.

Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith, and Father David Yager, jurist of the delegation of the Holy See in the Vatican-Israel bilateral committee, said that were "shocked" with the comments made at the meeting.

Father Yager said he was also very "shocked and surprised" that "well-informed people of good will" should make "slanderous" accusations against Christians, holding them responsible for the Holocaust and specifically objecting to the proposed beatification of Pope Pius XII.

Jewish leaders have criticized what they term Pope Pius' lack of public action against the Nazis, saying this facilitated the genocide of 6 million Jews. The Vatican says the pope acted behind the scenes to prevent endangering more lives.

Father Yager's description of the continuing Jewish and Israeli criticism of Pope Pius' actions during the Holocaust as a "blood-libel" brought an angry response from Jewish leaders.

The term "blood libel" can be incendiary in this context because for more than two millennia, Jews have been the subject of blood accusations, claims that they killed non-Jews for ritual purposes.

In the 17th century, European Jews were said to have murdered Christians to mix their blood into matzo, the unleavened bread used at Passover. Kosher laws forbid ingesting blood; nevertheless, the accusations, which came to be known as the Blood Libel, was spread in Czarist Russia and used to justify the persecution of the Jews.

Rabbi Rosen said he was not surprised that Father Yager raised the issue of Pope Pius XII, but "he didn't have to use that kind of language. It is certainly shocking."

Father Yager also raised the issue of St. Edith Stein, who was born a Jew and considered herself an atheist before she converted to Catholicism. The church considers her a martyr for the faith. Over the years, some Jews have protested her sainthood cause, saying that she was arrested and killed because of her Jewish heritage.

Rabbi Rosen said the way Father Yager spoke of Edith Stein and "blood libel" shows a lack of understanding and an "errant sensitivity" to what the issues mean for Jews.

Father Yager called for a "paradigm shift" in the Jewish-Catholic dialogue, noting that until now Jews have taken a prosecutory stance, in which their task is to obtain admissions of guilt.

"As a strategy ... it was very useful decades ago into shocking the Christian world into a reevaluation, but this strategy has crossed the point of diminishing return and is no longer smart or useful," said Father Yager.

Evidently, said Rabbi Rosen, the dialogue still has a long way to go.

"That in no way minimizes the distance we have transversed," he said. "To get in a huff and turn our back because one hasn't come as far as one would want is childish and totally counterproductive."

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