The Catholic Church has always taught that she is the fulfillment and continuation of God's covenant with Israel, now under the New Covenant established by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not a rejection of the Jewish people but the divine completion of God’s promises through the Messiah. As St. Paul teaches in his Epistle to the Galatians: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). Here, the “Israel of God” refers not to a earthly nation defined by ethnicity or geography, but to the spiritual people of God gathered in the Church, encompassing both Jews and Gentiles who accept Christ.
Similarly, in the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul explains that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (Rom. 9:6), and that the true children of Abraham are those of faith in Christ (Rom. 9:7-8; Gal. 3:7-9). The Old Covenant, with its types and shadows, pointed forward to Christ, who is the true King of Israel (Jn. 1:49; 12:13). Once fulfilled, it gives way to the New Covenant: “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Heb. 8:13).
The Catechism of the Council of Trent elucidates this beautifully in its explanation of the article of the Creed, “I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.” It states: “The Church is called Catholic or universal, because all who desire eternal salvation must cling to and embrace her… She is also called holy, because she is united to her holy Head, as His body… For as the Apostle says: ‘Christ is the Head of the Church; He is the Saviour of the body’ (Eph. 5:23).” Furthermore, it draws on the imagery of the Church as the heavenly Jerusalem: “She is that Jerusalem which is from above, which is our mother” (Gal. 4:26), contrasting her with the earthly Jerusalem bound by the old law.
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologica (II-II, q. 10, a. 11), affirms that the ceremonial precepts of the Old Law ceased with the coming of Christ, as they were figures fulfilled in Him. The Gospel of John also echoes this: “the law was given through Moses: but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn. 1:17). Thus, any attempt to revive or prioritize a political or religious entity based on the Old Covenant apart from Christ would contradict this divine order, as it implies a denial of Christ’s messianic fulfillment.
In this light, the modern secular state often called “Israel” cannot claim continuity with the biblical Israel in a theological sense, for the Church alone is the mystical body of Christ, the true Israel with Him as Head (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18).
Pope St. Pius X's Rejection of Political Zionism
This theological foundation directly informs the Church’s inability to support the establishment of a political Jewish state in the Holy Land, as exemplified by Pope St. Pius X in his 1904 audience with Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionist movement. Herzl sought papal endorsement for Jewish settlement and statehood in Palestine, but the Holy Father firmly declined, rooted in the Church’s unchanging doctrine.
According to Herzl’s own diary account of the meeting, Pope St. Pius X stated: “We are unable to favor this movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem—but we could never sanction it. The ground of Jerusalem, if it were not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church, I cannot answer you otherwise. The Jews have not recognized Our Lord; therefore, we cannot recognize the Jewish people.” He further explained that the Jewish religion, while the foundation of Christianity, “was superseded by the teachings of Christ, and we cannot concede it any further validity.” (Source: Raphael Patai, The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl, translated by Harry Zohn (New York/London: Herzl Press, Thomas Yoseloff, 1960), 1601-1605).
The Pope emphasized that if Jews returned to Palestine while clinging to their faith, they would deny Christ’s divinity, and the Church could not assist them. If they came without religion (as in secular Zionism), the Church would be even less inclined to support it. He concluded by noting that the Church would prepare priests and churches to baptize them upon arrival, underscoring the missionary imperative rather than political endorsement.
This response was not born of animosity but of fidelity to the Gospel. As head of the Church, Pope St. Pius X could not sanction a project that risked profaning the Holy Places sanctified by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, or that appeared to validate a claim to the land apart from acknowledgment of the Messiah.
The Heresy of Dispensationalism: A Modern Protestant Error
Many Protestants influenced by dispensationalism (a 19th-century invention of John Nelson Darby) view the 1948 establishment of the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of prophecy, obliging Christians to support it politically and even militarily, lest they oppose God’s plan. This equates a secular, political entity—founded on ethnic nationalism and often atheistic principles—with the holy people of the Old Testament, ignoring that the true Israel is the Church, as we have established. Such a view not only misapplies texts like Genesis 12:3 (“I will bless those who bless you”) to contemporary geopolitics but also risks idolatry by prioritizing national boundaries over the universal call to conversion in Christ.
The Church, in her magisterial wisdom, has consistently rejected such innovations. Pope St. Pius X’s refusal to support political Zionism, as previously discussed, aligns with this, for it resists any notion that God’s promises await a separate fulfillment outside the Church.
As Catholics, we reject the dispensationalist heresy, for it:
Denies the unity of God’s covenant — Scripture teaches one people of God, fulfilled in Christ (Eph. 2:14–16).
Revives the Old Law — It restores ceremonial and national elements abrogated by Christ (Heb. 7:18; 10:9).
Misinterprets prophecy — It reads Old Testament texts literally, ignoring their spiritual fulfillment in the Church (2 Cor. 1:20).
Leads to idolatry of a modern nation-state — It treats 1948 as divine prophecy fulfilled, obliging Christians to support it unconditionally.
Implications for Catholics Today
As Catholics, we must hold fast to this understanding: the Catholic Church is the new and eternal Israel, and any political entity claiming the name “Israel” in a way that bypasses Christ cannot receive ecclesiastical support without compromising the faith. This does not preclude charity toward the Jewish people—indeed, St. Paul urges us to pray for their conversion (Rom. 11:25-26)—nor does it endorse hostility. Rather, it calls us to witness to the truth of Christ as the fulfillment of all prophecies.
As Catholics, we affirm:
- The Church is the new and eternal Israel.
- Christ is the fulfillment of all prophecy.
- The Old Covenant has been superseded.
- No political state can claim divine right apart from Him.
We honor the Holy Land as the stage of Our Lord’s life, death, and resurrection—not as the capital of a restored theocracy. And we reject dispensationalism as a dangerous distortion that divides what Christ has united.
“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:5–6).
This is the Catholic faith. This is the truth we must defend.