Papacy

Gregory I
During his years as the Pope from 590 to 604, Gregory I described Jews as “preachers of Antichrist” and complained of Jews being stubborn. He considered Judaism to be Jewish “superstition”, “depravity”, and “faithlessness”, and was disgusted with converts who “return to their vomit.” Gregory also opposed Jews having ownership over Christian slaves. In 599, he wrote a letter to Visigothic King Reccared I, congratulating him on his “regulations against the perfidia of the Jews.”

Stephen III
Pope Stephen III in the eighth century described Jews as “enemies of God”, and he complained of Jews owning land in a letter to the archbishop of Narbonne: “The Jewish people, ever rebellious against God and derogatory of our rites ... own hereditary estates, as if they were Christian residents; for they are the Lord's enemies ... liars ... miserable dogs. [They must have no such benefit] in vengeance for the crucified Savior.” Stephen also opposed Jews using Christian slaves.

Leo VII
In the mid-tenth century, Pope Leo VII described Jews as “enemies of God” and urged the archbishop of Mainz to expel Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity.

Benedict VIII
Pope Benedict VIII, in the early 11th century, executed a number of Jews for alleged blasphemy against Jesus Christ.

Alexander II
In a letter in 1063, Pope Alexander II claimed that Jews were “by God's grace slaves who, having lost their homeland and liberty, are living in agony over the whole earth, suffering perpetual punishment, and damned due to their spilling of the Savior's blood.”

Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII decreed in 1078 that Jews could not hold office or be superiors to Christians. He referred to Jews as “enemies of Christ”. In 1081, he wrote that the placing of Jews in authority over Christians was an insult to the Church.

Urban II
The pope who preached the First Crusade, Urban II, did nothing to prevent and condemn the excesses of the Crusaders. He did condemn allowing those who were forcibly converted to Christianity to return to Judaism.

Alexander III
In 1179, Pope Alexander III presided over the Third Council of the Lateran, which over 290 bishops attended. At the council, he banned Jews from employing Christian servants and guaranteed that only Jews who converted to Christianity would be prevented from losing their property to disinheritance or confiscation. He also forbade the construction of synagogues at locations where there hadn't been one before and prohibited Jews from having opened doors and windows on Good Friday.

Innocent III
Statement by Pope Innocent III in 1205 in his bull “Etsi iudeos”: “... the Jews, by their own guilt, are consigned to perpetual servitude because they crucified the Lord ... As slaves rejected by God, in whose death they wickedly conspired, they shall by the effect of this very action, recognize themselves as the slaves of those whom Christ's death set free at the same time that it enslaved them. ...” Also in his bull, he forbade Jews from employing Christian servants. In the same year, he accused Jews of usury, blasphemy, arrogance, employing Christian slaves, and murder in his bull “Etsi non displiceat”, addressed to the king of France. Innocent also ordered Jews to keep out of sight during Church festivals.

The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 was gathered by Pope Innocent III. Some laws or canons resulting from the council were aimed at the Jews. Canon 68 forced Jews to wear a Jewish badge and hat; Canon 69 disqualified Jews from holding public offices; and Canon 70 forbade Jews who converted to Christianity from returning to Judaism.

Honorius III
Pope Honorius III demanded in his bull “In generali concilio”, issued in 1218 and addressed to the archbishop of Toledo, the enforcement of the decision of the Fourth Lateran Council that Jews wear distinguishable clothing from Christians and that Jews be made to pay the tithe to local churches.

Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX formally incorporated the doctrine of perpetual servitude of the Jews (perpetua servitus iudaeorum) into canonical law in 1234. He renewed the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews, and in 1234, he ordered King Theobald I of Navarre to enforce the badge requirement. Gregory also ordered for all copies of the Talmud to be confiscated with the bull “Si vera sunt” in 1239.

Innocent IV
The papal bull “Impia gens” by Pope Innocent IV in 1244 ordered for the Talmud to be burned. In the same year, he also issued the bull “Impia iudaeorum perfidia” (The impious perfidy of the Jews), which called Jews deceitful and repeated his condemnation of the Talmud. In 1253, he issued a bull expelling Jews from Vienne.

Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV renewed the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews.

Clement IV
Statement by the papal legate of Pope Clement IV at the Council of Wrocław: “Since the Poles are a new plantation on the soil of Christendom, we must continually be on our guard lest the Christian population here, where the Christian religion has not yet taken deep root in the hearts of believers, succumb to the influence of the counterfeit faith and the evil habits of the Jews living in their midst.” The council ordered for Poland the prohibition of Jews from living next to Christians, the requirement of Jews to wear a distinctive hat, and that Jews were not to have more than one synagogue in a town. In 1267, Clement ordered that Christians who converted to Judaism be treated as heretics in his bull “Turbato corde”.

Nicholas III
Pope Nicholas III reissued Pope Clement IV's bull “Turbato corde” in 1274, and in 1278, Nicholas issued the bull “Vineam sorec”, ordering the attendance of Jews at conversion sermons. He also ordered French Jews who had reverted from Christianity back to Judaism to be burned.

John XXII
Pope John XXII ordered Jews to wear a badge on their breast in 1317. He expelled Jews from his domain of Avignon in 1322, issued the bull “Ex parte vestra”, which refused the right of asylum in churches to Jews who converted to Christianity and were suspected of relapsing, and ordered the inquisitors to pursue Jews even into their places of refuge. John also ordered for the Talmud to be burned.

Benedict XIII
The schismatic pope from the late 14th century to the early 15th century, Benedict XIII, ordered for Jews to be debarred from office, restricted in their occupation, only one small synagogue for each congregation be permitted, the construction of new synagogues be prohibited, for Jews to listen to Christian sermons, and the renewal of the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews. He also ordered for the study of the Talmud to be forbidden and for copies of it to be confiscated and destroyed.

Martin V
Pope Martin V appointed the antisemitic John of Capistrano as Inquisitor for Germany, the Slavic countries, and Italy. Martin, in his bull “Sedes apostolica”, renewed the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews.

Eugenius IV
In 1442, Pope Eugenius IV ordered Jews to be prohibited from building synagogues, lending money for interest, holding public office, and testifying against Christians. He also ordered the complete residential separation of Jews from Christians (ghetto). He also renewed the Fourth Lateran Council's badge requirement for Jews.

Statement by Eugenius in his decree: “We decree and order that from now on, and for all time, Christians shall not eat or drink with Jews; nor admit them to feasts, nor cohabit with them, nor bathe with them. Christians shall not allow Jews to hold civil honors over Christians, or to exercise public offices in the State. Jews cannot be merchants, Tax Collectors, or agents in the buying and selling of the produce and goods of Christians, nor their procurators, computers or lawyers in matrimonial matters, nor obstetricians; nor can they have association or partnership with Christians. No Christian can leave or bequeath anything in his last will and testament to Jews or their congregations. Jews are prohibited from erecting new synagogues. They are obliged to pay annually a tenth part of their goods and holdings. Against them Christians can testify, but the testimony of Jews against Christians in no case is of any value. All and every single Jew, of whatever sex and age, must everywhere wear the distinct dress and known marks by which they can be evidently distinguished from Christians. They cannot live among Christians, but in a certain street, separated and segregated from Christians, and outside which they cannot under any pretext have houses.”

Nicholas V
Pope Nicholas V adopted many restrictions on Jews from his predecessor, Pope Eugenius IV. Nicholas in 1451 barred Jews from all “honorable walks of life.”

Julius III
In a decree in 1553, Pope Julius III ordered for all copies of the Talmud to be confiscated and burned. He allowed the Franciscan Cornelio de Montalcino, who converted to Judaism, to be burned at the stake in Rome.

Paul IV
Pope Paul IV’s 1555 bull, “Cum nimis absurdum”, placed more restrictions on the Jewish people. Its name comes from the bull's first words: “Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery ...” The bull renewed many prior canonical restrictions against the Jews. Among the bull's orders are restricting Jews in their commercial conduct, forbidding them to have only one synagogue in any city, enforcing the wearing of the Jewish hat, forbidding Jews to be titled “signor”, and ordering Jews to live in a ghetto. Paul had ordered over 20 Jews who had converted to Christianity and were suspected of secretly practicing Judaism to be burned at the stake in Ancona. In 1559, the pope placed the Talmud on the list of banned books.

Pius V
Pope Pius V renewed the anti-Jewish edicts of Pope Paul IV in the bull “Romanus Pontifex” in 1566. The two bulls “Cum nos nuper” in 1567 and “Hebraeorum gens” issued in 1569, both by Pius, ordered Jews to sell all their property in the Papal States and ordered the removal of the Jews from his territory in 90 days. He also sanctioned race laws based on the Jews' “mala sangre” (bad blood).

Statement by Pius in his bull “Hebraeorum gens”: “The Jewish people fell from the heights because of their faithlessness and condemned their redeemer to a shameful death. Their godlessness has assumed such forms that, for the salvation of our own people, it becomes necessary to prevent their disease.

Besides usury, through which Jews everywhere have sucked dry the property of impoverished Christians, they are accomplices of thieves and robbers; and the most damaging aspect of the matter is that they allure the unsuspecting through magical incantations, superstition, and witchcraft to the synagogue of Satan and boast of being able to predict the future. We have carefully investigated how this revolting sect abuses the name of Christ and how harmful they are to those whose life is threatened by their deceit.

On account of these and other serious matters, and because of the gravity of their crimes which increase day to day more and more, We order that, within 90 days, all Jews in our entire earthly realm of justice - in all towns, districts, and places - must depart these regions.

After this time limit shall all at the present or in the future, who dwell or wander into that city or other already mentioned, be affected, their property confiscated and handed over to the Siscus, and they shall become slaves of the Roman Church, live in perpetual servitude and the Roman Church shall have the same rights over them as the remaining [worldly] lords over slaves and property.”

Gregory XIII
Pope Gregory XIII issued the bull “Antiqua iudaeorum improbitas” in 1581, which gave jurisdiction over the Jews of Rome to the Inquisition in cases of blasphemy, protection of heretics, possession of forbidden works, and employment of Christian servants. In the same year, he issued the bull “Alias piae memoriae” that prohibited Jewish physicians from attending to Christians. His other bull, “Sancta mater ecclesia”, issued in 1584, ordered Jews to listen to conversionist sermons weekly.

Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V (1585–1591) sanctioned race laws based on the Jews' “mala sangre” (bad blood).

Clement VIII
In 1592, Pope Clement VIII issued the bull “Cum saepe accidere”, which forbade the Jewish community of the Comtat Venaissin of Avignon to sell new commodities. Statement by Clement: “All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people, and the very poor.” He expelled Jews from most of the Papal States in 1593 with the bull “Caeca et obdurata”. With the issuing of the bull "Cum hebraeorum malitia”, he put a ban on the Talmud. He also sanctioned race laws based on the Jews' “mala sangre” (bad blood).

Urban VIII
Pope Urban VIII ordered the Jewish community to pay Leonardo Masserano, a convert to Christianity, annually for five years until 1634. He also had two Roman Jewish boys forcefully baptized into Christianity in 1639 and increased Jewish taxes in 1641.

Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV wrote in support of antisemitic blood libels in his 1755 bull, “Beatus Andreas”:

“... The Blessed Andreas from the region of the village of Rinn in the Diocese of Brixen, was butchered in the cruelest fashion before the completion of the third year of life in the year 1462 by Jews out of hatred toward the Christian faith.

... From the Bollandists for the date 24 March, we are told -- aside from what has been mentioned concerning the blessed boy Simon of Trent -- that in the Diocese of Cologne, a boy Johannchen is venerated, who was killed by the Hebrews out of hatred against the [Christian] faith.

Baillet reports for the same 24th of March, that in Paris a certain boy Richard is venerated as a martyr.

And likewise, in England another boy with the name William is honored. This boy was murdered by the Jews out of hatred against the [Christian] faith.

In the 18th volume of the work of Father Theophile Raynaud, and in particular in the work that is entitled De Martyrio per pestem, in Part 2, Chapter 2, Nr. 7, one reads that in the time of King Ferdinand in Spain a three-year-old boy was killed by Jews out of hatred against Christ in the district of Guardia near Toledo, that veneration is shown him and that he is called the innocent child of Guardia for obvious reasons.

And the same is attested of two other two-year-old twin boys in Sardinia, who bore the names Cessilius and Camerinus.

And further, in the aforementioned apologetic treatise concerning the martyrdom of the Blessed Simon of Trent, there is mentioned on page 242, a little three-year-old girl by the name of Ursula who was murdered in the cruelest manner by Jews out of hatred of Christ, approximately in the year 1442 in Lienz, a small but old town in the County of Tyrol, located in the Pustertal [Puster Valley] toward Kärnten. In the year 1609, an older monument at the church of this place was replaced by a new one. This was chiseled after the older one and one can read, inscribed on the same, the story of that horrible atrocity.

And on page 264, etc., is mentioned a boy Laurentius, whom the Jews killed in 1485 when he was 5 years of age, out of hatred toward the [Christian] faith, and this boy has been regarded and venerated as a martyr since his martyrdom and up to the present day in Marostica in the region of Vicenza and in areas not far from there. ...”

Pius VI
Pope Pius VI issued an anti-Jewish proclamation restoring anti-Jewish legislation in 1775 called “Editto sopra gli ebrei” (Edict over the Hebrew). Some of the 24 clauses in the legislation state that Jews are condemned to death if they spend the night outside a ghetto, are required to wear yellow badges, and that studying the Talmud is forbidden.

Pius VII
After Napoleon's rule ended and Pope Pius VII was restored to power in the mid-1810s, the pope reinstated the Roman ghetto for the confinement of Jews. He also demanded the removal of Jews from public offices.

Leo XII
In 1823, Pope Leo XII ordered the Jews of Rome to live in Rome's ghetto. He also forced Jews to attend and pay for Christian sermons.

Pius IX
After the fall of the Roman Republic of 1849 and the pope's restoration to power, Pope Pius IX forced the Jewish people of Rome into the ghetto in 1850. The pope took custody of a six-year-old boy named Edgardo Mortara from his Jewish parents, refused to return him to them, and had the child brought up as a Christian. The police of the Papal States in 1858 forcibly took the boy from his parents after a Christian servant girl reportedly baptized him. This made the child legally a Christian convert, and the law of the Papal States prohibited Jews from raising Christians. In 1864, another Jewish child, Giuseppe Coen, was forcibly taken from his parents in Rome's ghetto and baptized under the pope. Pius described Jews as dogs that were “barking up and down Rome's street” after the Papal States were annexed by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870 and the ghetto was dismantled.

Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII approved of the antisemitic Austrian Christian Social Party and permitted the Vatican's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano and the Jesuits' periodical La Civiltà Cattolica to print antisemitic articles.