October 28, 2025

Originally issued in 1965 during the Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate has become recognized as a landmark shift in the Roman Catholic Church's approach to other religions, especially Judaism.

The document was part of the sweeping reforms issued by the 1962-65 council. The Catholic Church's long history of antisemitism, rooted in theology that blamed Jews for the death of Jesus, prompted appeals for change. Pope Paul VI issued Nostra Aetate on Oct. 28, 1965, after intense negotiations within the council over several issues, including how far-reaching the document should be about Catholicism's relationship to other faiths generally. 

In its final form, Nostra Aetate explicitly rejects the claim that Jews as a whole are responsible for the death of Jesus and condemns antisemitism. It affirms the shared spiritual heritage between Christians and Jews and calls for mutual respect.

The document also recognizes elements of truth and holiness in other major world religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, and urges Catholics to engage in dialogue and cooperation with followers of those faiths.

Coming after the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II, historians and church officials say Nostra Aetate paved the way for improved Catholic-Jewish relations, theological reassessments, and practical cooperation, including papal outreach such as subsequent visits to synagogues, and joint declarations with Jewish leaders.

Nostra Aetate also encouraged and advocated for interreligious engagement more broadly, influencing Catholic education, diplomacy and pastoral practice. The document states that the church "rejects nothing that is true and holy in other religions," and that other faiths "often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men." It emphasizes encounters with other faiths, including shared moral concerns and collaboration for peace.

 A Muslim Reflection on Nostra Aetate

by Zeyneb Sayilgan

Growing up as a Muslim child of immigrants in Mainz, surrounded by a rich Catholic culture, I experienced firsthand both the beauty and the tension that can come from living between religious worlds. At home, I recited the Quran: in school, I sang Christmas songs. I fasted during Ramadan while my classmates opened Advent calendars. 

I often felt the weight of being seen as "other," but still I recognized that our faiths were not as distant as they were often portrayed. I was raised to revere Jesus as a prophet, one of the most beloved figures in Islam. Mary's name is honored in the Quran more than any other woman. Above all else, I believed in the one God — in mercy, in accountability and in a shared moral call to justice.

In Nostra Aetate, the Catholic Church's groundbreaking document on its relationship with other religions, I saw a vision that affirmed my experience, one that invites Muslims and Christians to move beyond fear and toward mutual respect, shared values and a more just future. Nostra Aetate offers hope, but does not and should not erase the painful parts of our shared history. 

It was the spirit of this document that gave me the opportunity as a Muslim to study at Georgetown University and to serve as a Muslim chaplain-in-residence on the same campus, where I walked alongside students of all faiths — and none.

Meanwhile, Muslims were also making efforts to advance relationships with other communities. In 1950, the Muslim scholar Bediüzzaman Said Nursi wrote a letter to Pope Pius XII expressing his hope for cooperation between Christians and Muslims against growing hostility, widespread poverty and moral decay. Nursi visited Patriarch Athenagoras in 1953 in Istanbul about working together on the issues of the time. Nursi's vision is rooted in the example and universal teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and still resonates: collaboration rooted in faith, not in spite of it.

Pope John Paul II, on his 1980 apostolic visit to my hometown of Mainz, spoke directly to Muslim immigrants — my community — acknowledging our presence, our faith, and our dignity:

But not all guests in this country are Christians; a particularly large group professes the faith of Islam. To you as well I extend my heartfelt blessing!

If you have brought your belief in God from your homeland to this foreign land with sincere hearts, and if you pray here to God as your Creator and Lord, then you too belong to the great pilgrimage of people who, since Abraham, have repeatedly set out to seek and find the one true God.

When you are not afraid to pray publicly, you offer us Christians an example that deserves respect.

Live your faith, even in a foreign land, and do not allow it to be misused by any human or political interest!

Pope Francis continued this legacy in Fratelli Tutti, his 2020 encyclical on fraternity and social friendship. In it, he calls on people of all faiths and none to recognize one another as brothers and sisters. Inspired by his friendship with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, Pope Francis affirmed that authentic dialogue must be a force for peace and solidarity.

The message of Nostra Aetate is still relevant today, not only for clergy and theologians but also for the wider public, helping the next generation understand the complexity of our histories and the promise of a shared future. We live in a world of polarization, but this document reminds us that Christian-Muslim collaboration is not naive, but necessary; and we can find, in one another's scriptures and hearts, the foundations for respectful relationships, justice and peace.

Zeynab Sayilgan is the Muslim Scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. Her research centers mainly around Islamic theology and spirituality.