Portugal approves citizenship plan for Sephardic Jews persecuted by the Inquisition
Barry Hatton
LISBON,
Portugal (AP) — Five centuries after burning thousands of Jews at the stake,
forcing them to convert to Catholicism or expelling them, Portugal is granting
citizenship rights to their descendants as part of an attempt to make amends.
Like
Spain, Portugal says its sole reason for granting citizenship is to redress a
historic wrong.
"There
is no possibility to amend what was done," Portuguese Justice Minister
Paula Teixeira da Cruz said. "I would say it is the attribution of a
right."
The
measure is the latest step in Portugal's modern efforts to atone for its past
harsh treatment of Jews, whose ranks once numbered in the tens of thousands,
but have been reduced to only about 1,000 today.
In
1988, then-president Mario Soares met with members of Portugal's Jewish
community and formally apologized for the Inquisition. In 2000, the leader of
Portugal's Roman Catholics publicly apologized for the suffering imposed on
Jews by the Catholic Church, and in 2008 a monument to the dead was erected
outside the Sao Domingos church where the massacre of thousands of Jews began
at Easter in 1506.
Jose
Ribeiro e Castro, a lawmaker who was involved in drafting the legislation, sees
the persecution of Sephardic Jews as a "stain" on Portuguese history.
"We
wish it had never happened," Ribeiro e Castro said. "Given that it
did happen, and that it can be put right, we thought we ought to do so."
"We
regard it as an act of justice," Michael Rothwell, a delegate of the
Committee of the Jewish Community of Oporto, said of the new law. He described
it as "another important step toward reconciliation with the past."
The
Portuguese Inquisition, established in 1536, could be more cruel than its
Spanish counterpart. It persecuted, tortured and burned at the stake tens of
thousands of Jews.
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