Vatican Reaffirms That Jews Can Go to Heaven (Source slate.com) The Vatican released a document Thursday addressing relations between Catholics and Jews. Some outlets have reported that the statement includes an “unprecedented” finding that Jews can achieve “salvation” without being converted to belief in Jesus. Is this really a groundbreaking doctrinal change for the church? And can Jews (according to Catholics) really go to heaven? Not quite and yes, says James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large of America magazine. The new statement, Martin says, is a “refinement of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s great document on relations with non-Christian religions, which revolutionized the Vatican’s relationship with the Jewish people.” Nostra Aetate, released in 1965, was a landmark statement of reconciliation.