"Christ-killer"--the long shadow of a blood libel.

After centuries of prejudice and hostility, culminating in the murder of European Jewry, the prospect has tantalizingly appeared of a day when anti-Semitism will no longer hold a place in Christian hearts.... [T]he arrival of that day depends not only on repentance ... but, ultimately, on an honest reckoning with the past.

--Robert Wistrich (1999)

In the wake of Vatican II, people of decency everywhere began to hope for an end to the surreal era when Jewish children in school or at play were targeted with the incredible taunt of" Christ-killer." These hopes