The Opus sacerdotale Amici Israel or the Clerical Association of Friends of Israel, was a short-lived international organization of

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

priests founded in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in February 1926. Its purpose was to pray for the

conversion of the Jews Many Christians believe in a widespread conversion of the Jews to Christianity, which they often consider as an end-time event. Some Christian denominations consider the conversion of the Jews imperative and pressing, and as a result they make i ...

and to promote a favorable attitude towards them within the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. By the end of the year, its membership included 18 cardinals, 200 bishops and about 2,000 priests. When the association was dissolved by the

Holy Office The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible f ...

on 28 March 1928, its membership included 19 cardinals, more than 300 bishops and archbishops and about 3,000 priests. Its ideas were outlined in leaflets written in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and circulated among the clergy. Its first request to the Church was that the word "perfidis", which described the Jews during the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, be removed, since some believed the prayer could be interpreted as anti-Semitic.

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

asked the Congregation of Rites to consider the proposed reform.

Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster OSB (, ; 18 January 1880 – 30 August 1954), born Alfredo Ludovico Schuster, was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Benedictines who served as the Archbishop of Milan from 1929 until his ...

, a member of the Amici Israel and a liturgist who was then a Benedictine abbot and soon to become Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, was appointed to monitor this issue. The Congregation of Rites authorized the proposed change but the

withheld its consent. On 7 March 1928 its head, Cardinal

Rafael Merry del Val Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta, (10 October 1865 – 26 February 1930) was a Spanish Roman Catholic cardinal. Before becoming a cardinal, he served as the secretary of the papal conclave of 1903 that elected Pope Pius X, who is said to have ac ...

, himself a member of the Friends, objected: Pius reluctantly accepted this view the next day. He advised that the announcement that the Amici was being dissolved be handled with great care. The decree from the Holy Office that announced the suppression of the association upheld the traditional Catholic belief that Christianity had superseded Judaism (

supersessionism Supersessionism, also called replacement theology or fulfillment theology, is a Christian theology which asserts that the New Covenant through Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ has superseded or replaced the Mosaic covenant exclusive to the Jews ...

), asserted the need to pray for the conversion of the Jews, and firmly condemned racist antisemitism: This was the Holy See's first authoritative statement condemning anti-semitism.

References

{{Reflist Catholicism and Judaism Conversion of Jews to Christianity Organizations disestablished in 1928 Christian organizations established in 1926 Catholic organizations established in the 20th century

See also

References