A recent alleged antisemitic incident involving a Swiss Guard watchman at the Vatican seems to have featured a “disagreement over a photograph at the service post,” a Holy See official said Tuesday.
The Vatican News quoted Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, as saying that this conclusion emerged from an internal investigation by his office of claims that a Pontifical Swiss Guard soldier was overheard speaking about Jews at an event and made a spitting gesture at a Jewish woman who confronted him about it.
The woman, Michal Govrin, told the Austrian publication Kathpress that the guard said “the Jews” in French, and when another woman confronted him on it, he denied having mentioned Jews and made a spitting gesture at the direction of both women.
According to Govrin, a writer from Israel, the incident happened on Oct. 29 at a side entrance to St. Peter’s Square, on the anniversary of the Nosta Aetate, the 1965 declaration that reshaped Catholic-Jewish relations. Govrin and the other woman, Vivian Liska, the director of the Institute of Jewish Studies in Antwerp, were part of a delegation invited to attend an event marking the anniversary.
The incident was “a blatant expression of Jew-hatred, in stark contrast to the Pope’s words the previous evening,” said Govrin.
According to a Vatican statement, “the Swiss Guard reiterates its commitment to ensuring that its mission is always carried out with respect for the dignity of every person and the principles of equality and non-discrimination.”
The review of the soldier’s conduct is ongoing.
On Oct. 28, Pope Leo spoke at an event at the Vatican to celebrate Nosta Aetate, saying that Jews, Christians and others “share a sacred responsibility: to help our people to break free from the chains of prejudice, anger and hatred; to help them rise above egoism and self-centeredness; to help them overcome the greed that destroys both the human spirit and the earth.”
The Nosta Aetate proclamation of 1965 specifically rejected the historical accusation that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Christ, condemned antisemitism and affirmed the spiritual bond between Judaism and Christianity.
