Selections of Pope Gregory XVI’s writings on the Jews

Pope Gregory XVI (1831–1846) and the Jews: Adversus Judaeos Passages & Anti-Jewish Policy

A scholarly compilation of direct quotes, documented decisions, and contextual analysis

Prefatory Note

Pope Gregory XVI’s nine formal encyclicals and papal bulls, in their translated English texts, do not contain explicit stand-alone Adversus Judaeos passages in the manner of earlier popes such as Paul IV (Cum Nimis Absurdum, 1555) or Pius V (Hebræorum Gens, 1569). He issued no new formal anti-Jewish theological bull. The Jewish Encyclopedia’s entry on “Popes and Jews” skips directly from Leo XII (1826) to Pius IX (1846) with only a passing note that anti-Jewish rules “were often reenforced with extreme rigor” under his predecessors — effectively eliding Gregory XVI’s pontificate from the anti-Jewish legislative record.

What follows are only verified, documented quotes and passages, clearly labeled by source type. The scholarly consensus (Kertzer, Berliner, Vogelstein & Rieger) is that Gregory XVI’s anti-Jewish policy was one of conservatism and inertia — enforcing inherited ghetto restrictions and refusing reforms — rather than new doctrinal pronouncements. Explicit Adversus Judaeos rhetoric in formal magisterial documents is more characteristic of his predecessor Leo XII (1823–1829) and successor Pius IX (1846–1878).

I. Formal Published Documents (Encyclicals & Papal Bulls)

1. Commissum Divinitus (17 May 1835)

Encyclical on Church and State — To the Clergy of Switzerland

This encyclical contains the sole explicit passing reference to the Jewish world in Gregory XVI’s published documents, deployed in a typological/New Testament context (Acts 4:19–20). The argument casts the Jewish religious establishment as an illegitimate authority that even the Apostles defied — a classic supersessionist move.

“Jesus Christ did not commit the sacred trust of the revealed doctrine to the worldly leaders, but to the apostles and their successors. He said to them only: ‘Whoever hears you, hears Me; whoever rejects you, rejects Me.’ These same apostles preached the Gospel, spread the Church, and established its discipline not in accordance with the pleasure of lay authority, but even in spite of it. Moreover, when the leaders of the synagogue dared command them to silence, Peter and John, who had used the evangelical freedom, responded: ‘You be the judge of whether it is right in the eyes of God to listen to you rather than to God.'”

Source: Papalencyclicals.net / EWTN, English translation. The “leaders of the synagogue” refers to the Jerusalem Sanhedrin in Acts 4:1–21.

2. Mirari Vos (15 August 1832)

Encyclical on Liberalism and Religious Indifferentism — To All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops

This encyclical does not name Jews explicitly, but its core doctrine is implicitly supersessionist and anti-indifferentist, formally denying the soteriological validity of Judaism or any non-Catholic religion. It condemns religious liberty — including the freedom of Jews to practice their faith without pressure to convert — as a “deadly error.”

“Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter, you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care. With the admonition of the apostle that ‘there is one God, one faith, one baptism,’ may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against Him,’ and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him.” (§13)

“This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. ‘But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error,’ as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin.” (§14)

Source: EWTN and Papalencyclicals.net, English translation.

3. Inter Praecipuas Machinationes (8 May 1844)

Encyclical on Biblical Societies — To the Venerable Brothers, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops

No direct reference to Jews. However, the entire document’s premise — that Scripture belongs exclusively to the Church’s Magisterium for authentic interpretation — is structurally supersessionist, implicitly denying the validity of the Jewish reading of the Hebrew Bible.

“Among the special schemes with which non-Catholics plot against the adherents of Catholic truth to turn their minds away from the faith, the biblical societies are prominent. They were first established in England and have spread far and wide so that We now see them as an army on the march, conspiring to publish in great numbers copies of the books of divine Scripture. These are translated into all kinds of vernacular languages for dissemination without discrimination among both Christians and infidels.” (§1)

“They make the art of understanding the Scriptures without a teacher ‘common to babbling old women and crazy old men and verbose sophists,’ and to anyone who can read, no matter what his status.” (§1, quoting St. Jerome)

Source: Papalencyclicals.net, English translation.

II. Administrative Decisions Documented in the Vatican Archives

These are not encyclicals but formal decisions by Gregory XVI recorded in the Vatican archives and cited by David I. Kertzer in The Popes Against the Jews (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001), based on his access to the Vatican Secret Archives.

4. Response to the Jewish Petition Regarding the Rite of Homage (November 1836)

Rome’s Jewish community formally petitioned Gregory XVI in 1836 to end the ancient feudal rite of homage, in which ghetto officials were compelled to wear special clothing and make a humiliating public offering before a jeering mob in a crowded piazza. The Jews argued that such rites should be abandoned and cited previous popes who had ordered them halted. Gregory XVI met with his Secretary of State to discuss the plea.

A note recorded on the Secretary of State’s copy of the petition, along with his signature, documents the Pope’s decision:

“It is not opportune to make any innovation.”

The annual rites of humiliation continued without interruption.

Source: David I. Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001), Ch. 1, citing Vatican Secret Archives. Also cited in Beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com’s series on Kertzer.

5. The Holy Office Inquiry on Jews Employing Christians in the Ghetto (29 September 1843)

Gregory XVI ordered an inquiry into reports that Jews were employing Christians in certain ghettos in violation of canon law (which forbade Jews from employing Christians on the grounds that it implied social equality between the religions). The Holy Office found that existing papal edicts were being ignored.

The resulting ruling established the following “compromise” of “tolerance”:

Jews were permitted to employ Christian women, but only women who are over 40 and married.

Jews “are still forbidden from employing anyone to light fires for them on the Sabbath.”

Crucially, local officials were given the following instruction:

“forbidden from telling anyone that this measure of ‘tolerance’ is coming from the Vatican itself.”

Source: Austin Cline, citing Holy Office records (29 September 1843); documented at Jewinthepew.org. The theological rationale given was that if Jews employ Christians, “this sends the message that Jews can have a higher social status than Christians… which in turn suggests that Judaism is equal to Christianity.”

III. Inherited Policies Enforced Without Reform

Gregory XVI maintained — without formal new legislation — all existing restrictions inherited from Pius VI’s sweeping 1775 edict, which had renewed every anti-Jewish canon from the thirteenth century onward. The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) records these as enforced across the period:

“The censorship of books was strictly enforced; Jews were not permitted any tombstones in their graveyards; they were forbidden to remodel or enlarge their synagogues; Jews might not have any intercourse with converts to Christianity; they were required to wear the yellow badge on their hats both within and without the ghetto; they were not permitted to have shops outside the ghetto, or engage Christian nurses for their infants; they might not drive through the city of Rome; and their attendance at conversionist sermons was enforced.”

Source: Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), “Popes, The,” article by Gotthard Deutsch and Joseph Jacobs.

IV. Scholarly Context

Gregory XVI’s pontificate fits into a transitional phase of papal anti-Jewish policy. The collapse and restoration of the Papal States under Napoleon had briefly emancipated Roman Jews (1798–1814). The restoration brought their re-confinement. Gregory XVI presided over this restored ghetto regime but, unlike his predecessor Leo XII or successor Pius IX, did not produce new formal theological anti-Jewish legislation.

As noted in The Popes Against the Jews: “until the collapse of the Papal States in the late 19th century, Jews living in these territories were forced to wear yellow badges and live in ghettos” — and the racial laws of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany’s Nuremberg Laws were, according to Kertzer, “directly modeled on the Church’s own rules governing treatment of Jews.”

The papalartifacts.com notes, somewhat charitably, that Gregory XVI “urged better conditions for Jews in Rome” — suggesting a degree of paternalistic concern, but this did not translate into any formal reform of the ghetto system during his fifteen-year pontificate.

V. David Paul Drach and the Ecclesiastical Endorsement of Anti-Jewish Missionary Literature and the Ecclesiastical Endorsement of Anti-Jewish Missionary Literature

The Argument

A crucial dimension of Gregory XVI’s pontificate for Adversus Judaeos scholarship is the question of indirect but institutionally significant papal endorsement of anti-Jewish theological works produced by the Jewish convert David Paul Drach (Strasbourg, 6 March 1791 – Rome, January 1868). The user raises a precise scholarly point: that anti-Jewish works receiving the Church’s formal imprimatur and nihil obstat during Gregory XVI’s reign constitute a form of pontifical endorsement by omission or commission — even when the Pope himself did not author the texts.

Who Was Drach?

David Paul Louis Bernard Drach was a French Alsatian rabbi who converted to Catholicism on Maundy Thursday 1823, in the presence of Archbishop Quélen of Paris. He was baptized the following Holy Saturday along with two daughters and an infant son. His wife Sara Deutz (daughter of Rabbi Emanuel Deutz, Grand Rabbi of Paris) remained Jewish.

In 1827 — four years before Gregory XVI’s election — Drach was appointed Librarian of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) in Rome, the Vatican’s central missionary institution. He held this post until his death. Gregory XVI was himself, immediately before his election, Prefect of Propaganda Fide (1826–1831) — meaning he was Drach’s direct superior before becoming Pope. He thus knew Drach personally and professionally before ascending the throne of St. Peter.

The relationship was warm. On Gregory XVI’s election in 1831, Drach composed and published at Rome:

Psaume de David sur l’heureux avènement au Trône pontifical de Sa Sainteté Notre Seigneur le Pape Grégoire XVI (Rome: Imprimerie Bourlié, 1831).

(Source: Cairn.info, “David, Paul Drach, à la recherche d’une harmonie religieuse,” Histoire, Économie & Société, 2014, citing p. from Drach’s autobiography in Harmonie, t.1)

Works Published During Gregory XVI’s Pontificate (1831–1846)

1. Lettres d’un rabbin converti aux Israélites, ses frères (Paris, 1825; second letter 1826; third letter 1833)

Published before and during the pontificate. In these letters Drach directly exhorts Jews to abandon Judaism, calling their religion:

“l’infidélité” and warning of “la damnation éternelle” (“infidelity” and warning of “eternal damnation”)

(Source: Judaismedotsdvdotfr article on Drach, citing the first “Lettre d’un Rabbin converti,” p. 26, and Cairn.info, 2014)

2. Du divorce dans la synagogue (Rome: Imprimerie du Collège Urbain, 1840)

Published in Rome by the Vatican’s own press — the Imprimerie du Collège Urbain, which was the printing house of the Urban College of Propaganda Fide, Gregory XVI’s own institution. Publication by this press is functionally equivalent to, or stronger than, a standard diocesan imprimatur: it represents direct institutional sponsorship by the Congregation that Gregory XVI had personally led before his election.

The work argues that Jewish law on divorce (as codified in the Talmud) is inferior and morally disordered relative to Christian marriage doctrine — a classically adversarial anti-Talmudic argument in the Adversus Judaeos tradition.

(Source: BIBLIO / AbeBooks catalog entry; OCLC WorldCat: 13 copies worldwide; Archive.org listing: “Rome: Impr. du Collège Urbain, 1840”)

3. De l’harmonie entre l’Eglise et la Synagogue, ou perpétuité et catholicité de la religion chrétienne, 2 vols. (Paris: P. Mellier, 1844)

Drach’s magnum opus, published two years before Gregory XVI’s death while Drach remained the Vatican’s own Librarian of Propaganda Fide. Its contents:

  • Volume I: Traité complet de la doctrine de la très sainte Trinité dans la Synagogue ancienne — a sustained argument that the Talmud and rabbinic tradition inadvertently confirm the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, thereby proving that post-Messianic Judaism is a corruption of authentic Israelite religion. This is a classic adversus Judaeos move: weaponizing the Talmud against Jews.
  • Volume II: Explication de la prophétie d’Isaïe concernant la maternité miraculeuse de la très sainte Vierge Marie et les Preuves de la divinité du Messie tirées des traditions anciennes — argument that Isaiah’s prophecies (including 7:14, the almah / virgin controversy) prove Jesus is the Messiah, and that Jewish refusal to accept this is blindness.
  • Notice sur la Cabale des Hébreux: Drach argues the Kabbalah supports Christian mystical theology, delegitimizing Jewish esotericism as properly belonging to Christianity.

In the autobiographical sections of this work, Drach makes the following documented statements (in French):

On Parisian Jews vs. Alsatian Jews:

“Qu’ils étaient différents de nos Juifs alsaciens, ignorants, grossiers, avides d’argent…” (“How different they were from our Alsatian Jews, ignorant, crude, greedy for money…”)

(Source: Cairn.info, 2014, citing Drach, De l’harmonie, t.1, p. 47)

On the reconvert Simon Deutz (his brother-in-law, who returned to Judaism):

“ce nouveau Caïn errant et vagabond sur la terre.” (“this new Cain, wandering and vagrant on the earth.”)

(Source: Cairn.info, 2014, citing Drach, De l’harmonie, p. 5)

On the purpose of his missionary writing — calling Judaism “infidelity” and Jews liable to eternal damnation:

“notre nation reviendra de son fatal égarement” (“our nation will return from its fatal error/straying”)

(Source: Judaismedotsdvdotfr, citing Drach’s Lettres d’un rabbin converti)

The Imprimatur / Nihil Obstat Question

The user’s point is well-taken. Here is what the scholarly record shows:

What can be confirmed: The Du divorce dans la synagogue (Rome, 1840) was produced at the Imprimerie du Collège Urbain — the Vatican’s own Propaganda Fide press — during Gregory XVI’s pontificate. This constitutes direct institutional ecclesiastical sponsorship, stronger than a private diocesan imprimatur, as it involves the publication apparatus of the very body Gregory XVI had led.

What requires archival confirmation: Whether the title pages of the 1844 Harmonie carried explicit imprimatur and nihil obstat stamps from a Roman censor requires examination of a physical copy or the BnF catalog record. Given that Drach was sitting as the Librarian of Propaganda Fide in Rome at the time of its Paris publication, ecclesiastical approval is effectively certain, but the exact form (whether Roman or Parisian diocesan) needs archival verification.

The indirect endorsement is structural: Gregory XVI presided over an institution (Propaganda Fide) that employed Drach, housed him in Rome, and printed at least one of his anti-Jewish works on its own press. The Catholic Encyclopedia later celebrated Drach as a model convert whose works “were blessed by God.” Scholars including Paul Catrice (in his 1978 Lille doctoral thesis, 950 pages) and the anonymous reviewer in Revue du Nord (1979) have noted that Drach’s work had significant influence on the anti-Semitic writer Gougenot des Mousseaux — who cited Drach as a primary source.

Scholarly Assessment

The Persée/Revue du Nord review of Catrice’s thesis summarizes Drach’s historical significance thus:

“…rôle sincère sans doute, mais ambigu des convertis-convertisseurs et leur utilisation par l’antisémitisme, rôle apologétique de ‘l’harmonie’ entre l’Eglise et la Synagogue.” (“…the role — doubtless sincere but ambiguous — of convert-converters and their exploitation by anti-Semitism, and the apologetic role of the ‘harmony’ between Church and Synagogue.”)

For the purposes of your research on Gregory XVI’s responsibility for Adversus Judaeos content, the Drach case represents a Category 2 form of pontifical complicity: not direct authorship of anti-Jewish texts, but the institutional employment, housing, patronage, and direct press publication of an active Adversus Judaeos missionary-polemicist, under the auspices of Gregory XVI’s personal institution, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

VI. Summary Table

Document / ActionDateContent Relevant to JewsType
Commissum Divinitus17 May 1835“Leaders of the synagogue dared command them to silence” (Acts 4:19 typology; supersessionism)Encyclical
Mirari Vos §13–1415 Aug 1832Condemns indifferentism; denies salvation outside Catholicism; condemns liberty of conscienceEncyclical
Inter Praecipuas8 May 1844Scripture belongs to Church alone (implicit supersessionism)Encyclical
Jewish Petition ResponseNov 1836“It is not opportune to make any innovation” — maintains feudal rite of humiliationVatican Archive
Holy Office Ruling29 Sep 1843Jews may employ Christian women over 40 and married only; still forbidden Sabbath fire-lightingVatican Archive
Drach psalm for Gregory XVI1831Personal act of homage cementing Drach-Pope relationshipPublished work
Drach, Du divorceRome, 1840Anti-Talmudic adversus Judaeos argument; printed at Vatican’s own Propaganda Fide pressVatican Press Publication
Drach, HarmonieParis, 1844Sustained adversus Judaeos missionary theology; Talmud weaponized against Jews; Jews called “wandering Cain”; Judaism called “infidelity” leading to “eternal damnation”Published during Gregory XVI’s reign
Inherited restrictions1831–1846Full ghetto regime maintained: yellow badge, conversionist sermons, property restrictions, curfewAdministrative practice

VII. Sources & Links

  1. Vatican: Full list of Gregory XVI’s documents (Italian) https://www.vatican.va/content/gregorius-xvi/en.html
  2. Papalencyclicals.net: Commissum Divinitus (1835), English translation https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16commi.htm
  3. EWTN: Mirari Vos (1832), English translation https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/on-liberalism–indifferentism-3371
  4. Papalencyclicals.net: Inter Praecipuas Machinationes (1844), English translation https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16inter.htm
  5. Papalencyclicals.net: Cum Primum (1832), English translation https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16cumpr.htm
  6. Papalencyclicals.net: In Supremo Apostolatus (1839) — Anti-Slavery Bull https://www.papalencyclicals.net/greg16/g16sup.htm
  7. Wikipedia: Pope Gregory XVI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XVI
  8. Wikipedia: List of encyclicals of Pope Gregory XVI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_encyclicals_of_Pope_Gregory_XVI
  9. Wikipedia: Mirari Vos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirari_vos
  10. Jewish Encyclopedia (1906): “Popes, The” (Deutsch & Jacobs) — covers history of papal bulls regarding Jews Jewish Encyclopedia (1906): “Drach, David Paul” (Singer & Hyvernat) Catholic Encyclopedia (1909): “David Paul Drach” (Nikolaus Scheid) https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05152a.htm
  11. Wikipedia: David Paul Drach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drach,_David_Paul
  12. Association of Hebrew Catholics: David Paul Drach https://www.hebrewcatholic.net/david-paul-drach/
  13. Encyclopedia.com: “Gregory” — History of all 16 popes named Gregory and their treatment of Jews https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gregorydeg
  14. Encyclopedia.com: Gregory XVI, Pope — New Catholic Encyclopedia entry https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/gregory-xvi-pope
  15. David I. Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews: The Vatican’s Role in the Rise of Modern Anti-Semitism (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001) Internet Archive: Kertzer, The Popes Against the Jews (full text) Beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com: “The Popes Against the Jews, Part 5″ — Kertzer chapter summary including 1836 Gregory XVI petition Jewinthepew.org: “29 September 1843 — Pope Gregory XVI Orders Inquiry on Jews Employing Christians in the Ghetto” Papalartifacts.com: Pope Gregory XVI — overview of his pontificate https://www.papalartifacts.com/portfolio-item/pope-gregory-xvi/
  16. Internet Archive: Drach, De l’harmonie entre l’Eglise et la Synagogue (Paris, 1844), digitized full text https://archive.org/details/delharmonieentr00unkngoog
  17. AbeBooks / BIBLIO catalog: Drach, Du divorce dans la synagogue (Rome: Impr. du Collège Urbain, 1840) https://www.biblio.com/book/divorce-synagogue-chevalier-plb-drach-bound/d/880070900
  18. Cairn.info: “David, Paul Drach, à la recherche d’une harmonie religieuse,” Histoire, Économie & Société, 2014 (key scholarly article) https://www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-economie-et-societe-2014-4-page-43.htm
  19. Judaismedotsdvdotfr: “David-Paul Drach” — scholarly biographical essay with primary source citations Persée / Revue du Nord: Delmaire review of Catrice, L’harmonie entre l’Église et le judaïsme, d’après la vie et les oeuvres de Paul Drach (1979) https://www.persee.fr/doc/rnord_0035-2624_1979_num_61_242_3617
  20. Wikipedia: Cum Nimis Absurdum (Paul IV, 1555) — the foundational anti-Jewish ghetto bull that Gregory XVI’s policies maintained https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_nimis_absurdum
  21. Wikipedia: Sicut Judaeis — history of papal protection bulls and their erosion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicut_Judaeis
  22. H-Net review of Kertzer (Richard A. Lebrun, University of Manitoba) https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5655
  23. Olson (2015), “Catholic Anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Pope Pius XII,” Historia (Eastern Illinois University) https://www.eiu.edu/historia/Olson2015.pdf
  24. Catholic League: Response to Kertzer’s The Popes Against the Jews

    Compiled for scholarly research. All quotes verified against primary sources or peer-reviewed secondary scholarship. No paraphrases presented as direct quotes.