Wednesday, February 06, 2008
TRIDENTINE GOOD FRIDAY PRAYER REVISED
Vatican City, Feb 5, 2008 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Today the Vatican's Secretary of State issued the anticipated changes to the prayer for the Jews used in the Good Friday Liturgy celebrated according to the Roman Missal of 1962.
This new prayer, which is to be used this Lent, is a simple prayer for the Jewish people, that they may discover the salvation brought by Jesus. The previous version was regarded as offensive by some Jewish organizations. ...
The version in force until today did not contain the reference to the Jewish people as "perfidious" because it was suppressed by Blessed Pope John XXIII. However, the prayer found in the Roman Missal approved by Pope St. Pius V, still requested that God take "that people away... from their darkness" and liberate them from "their blindness," a text inspired by one of the letters of St. Paul.
The new formula announced today by the Secretary of State reads:
Let us also pray for the Jews that God our Lord should illuminate their hearts, so that they will recognize Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men.
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Many are not happy.
From ChristianNewsWire:
"In a very disturbing acquiescence to "political correctness," Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the approval of non-Christians and unbelievers over the truth of Christ," said Dr. Gary L. Cass, Chairman and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. "Because Christians are commanded by Christ to demonstrate love, they must pray for the conversion of non-Christians which Christians believe are lost. Christians single out the Jews for prayer out of a genuine concern for their souls."
From Reuters:
Jewish leaders have reacted with disappointment to the Vatican's new version of a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews and said it could set back inter-religious relations by decades. ...
"While we appreciate that some of the deprecatory language has been removed ... we are deeply troubled and disappointed that the framework and intention to petition God for Jews to accept Jesus as Lord was kept intact," said Abraham Foxman, U.S. national director of the Anti-Defamation League.
Foxman denounced the changes as "cosmetic revisions" while Rome's chief Rabbi Riccardo Segni called them "a serious step backwards". ...
Foxman said the changes were a "major departure" from the teachings of Pope John Paul, who died in 2005. He revolutionised relations with Jews, called them "our beloved elder brothers," and was the first pope to visit a synagogue or Nazi death camps.
Segni spoke of "a serious step backwards that poses a fundamental obstacle" to Catholic-Jewish relations and which had put "decades of progress into doubt".
David Rosen, an Israel-based rabbi with decades of experience with the Vatican, expressed "deep regret and disappointment".
Rosen, chair of The International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which groups 12 major Jewish organisations, called the new prayer a "regression".
