Boston cleric stirs storm over Israel, October 29, 2010 

A Boston archbishop from the Greek Melkite Catholic Church ignited a controversy between the Catholic and Jewish communities when he told a Vatican press conference that the “concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians.”

Cyril Salim Bustros spoke last weekend at the end of a two-week Vatican synod addressing the status of Christians in the Middle East. It was attended mostly by bishops from the Middle East.

Bustros said that “sacred scripture should not be used to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestine,” and went on to say that that the Jewish covenant with G-d “was nullified by Christ” and that “there is no longer a chosen people.”

His remarks angered Israeli officials and many in the American Jewish community.

"We express our disappointment that this important synod has become a forum for political attacks against Israel, in the best tradition of Arab propaganda,” said Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon in a statement released by the ministry.

The Anti-Defamation League was one of several Jewish organizations that called on the Vatican to denounce Bustros’ statement. In a letter Monday addressed to Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch, the president of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, the ADL called Bustros’ statements “the worst kind of anti-Judaism, bordering on anti-Semitism.”

“This kind of anti-Judaism is very troubling because it ignores and seems to reject church teaching about Jews,” said Rabbi Eric Greenberg, director of interfaith affairs at the ADL.

The rejection of G-d’s covenant with the Jewish people goes against the policies enacted with Vatican II, according to Rob Leikind, director of the American Jewish Committee Boston.

Although Vatican II did not directly address the state of Israel, it “does confirm the continuing validity of G-d’s covenant with the Jews, that it will not be revoked,” said Rev. James Weiss, a theology professor at Boston College.

The Vatican released a statement on Monday saying that Bustros’ statements are not part of the official synod report.

“If one wants a summary of the synod’s position, attention must currently be paid to the ‘Message,’ which is the only written text approved by the synod in the last few days,” said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi in Monday’s statement.

The “Message” also drew fire from the Jewish community.

In addition to asserting that the Catholic Church rejects “anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism,” the document calls for an end of “Israeli occupation” of Palestine.

Greenberg called the report biased because it specifically details Palestinian suffering while offering only generalities about that of Israelis.

“We don’t agree with several points made by the document, but unfortunately this is nothing we haven’t heard before,” Greenberg said.

Leadership in the ADL is scheduled to meet with the pope and other Vatican officials next week. Greenberg said that Bustros’ statement would be on the agenda.

Pope John Paul II appointed the Lebanese-born Bustros as archbishop in 2004. The Greek Melkite church is part of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church, which is separate from the Greek Orthodox tradition.

Bustros is known as the archbishop of the Eparch of Newton and presides over all the Melkite churches in the country. The only Melkite church in the area is the Annunciation Melkite Cathedral in Roslindale, which has 750 families, according to Father Robert Rabbat of the Annunciation Cathedral.

While the Greek Melkite church is under the umbrella of the Vatican, Bustros reports to a patriarch headquartered in Syria, who is second only to the Pope in the Melkite hierarchy.