The relations between Pope Clement VIII and Judaism were rather bad, since Pope Clement had no qualms in making the usual link between Jews and usury:
All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then as now Jews have to be reminded intermittently anew that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.</ref>
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Clement VIII's approach towards the Jews had more specific targets. In Cum saepe accidere (February 28, 1592) he forbade the long-established Jewish community of the papal enclave of Avignon to sell new goods, putting them at a disadvantage and fostering the cliché of the Jew as a dealer in secondhand goods.
With Caeca et Obdurata (February 25, 1593), he confirmed the bull of Pope Paul IV that established a ghetto for the ancient community of Jews in Rome, and reiterated the ban on Jews, who had otherwise been formally expelled from the Papal States by Pope Pius V (1566–72) (in Hebraeorum gens) February 26, 1569 dwelling outside of the ghettos of Rome, Ancona, and Avignon, thus ensuring that they remained city-dwellers. Beyond Papal reach, east of Poland, by contrast, farming communities of Jews remained a familiar feature of the landscape.
With Cum Hebraeorum malitia a few days later, (February 28) he even forbade the reading of the Talmud.[1] It is alleged that Clement VIII's reference to the "blind (Latin: caeca) obstinacy" of the Jews gave rise to the religious slur "kike", though many etymologies dispute this.