This is great for Catholic / Jewish relations but there's just one problem... they are guilty. Actually, both of them are guilty. Actually, WE ARE ALL GUILTY of His crucifixion!
This is not to further the divide of Jewish/Christian relations, but to point out that so long as there is a scripture that says, "for all have sinned and fall short of His glorious standard," (Romans 3:23) that we ALL have blood guilt upon us. Paul wrote that scripture... talk about blood guilt. He was responsible for the persecution of Jesus' followers, so he knew a thing or two about blood guilt and sin. Paul also was able to say, "We've wronged no man..." (2 Corinthians 7:2).
It is true that there was a conspiracy to have Jesus of Nazareth killed. It is also true that many Jews followed the teaching of Christ and became known as "Christian" for following the teachings of Christ. The Pope's teachings are from good intentions, but let's be clear about this: so long as there is sin in humanity, we will forever be guilty of having Christ die on the cross. He loves us so much that He isn't willing that we should die in our sins, separated from Him. God also knew and preordained that the blood of bulls and lambs would not do the trick and be sufficient to eradicate our sin nature. Therefore, He sent Jesus who and lived perfectly, following the will of the Father perfectly... and gave Himself as the perfect, spotless sacrifice so that we -- the ones whom He loves so much -- could be forever free from our sin nature. Now we no longer have a guilty conscience by faith and can stand before God clean and righteous and guilt free.
Let us not forget that our myriad sins drove Christ to the cross. He alone can exonerate us for His death and our sins so that we can have eternal life with the Father!
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