Italian newspaper says pope to change Tridentine prayer for Jews

Published: 2008-01-18

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has decided to reformulate a Good Friday prayer in the 1962 Roman Missal that was offensive to Jews, according to an Italian newspaper. The new prayer will drop all reference to the "blindness" of the Jews in refusing Christ as savior, the newspaper, Il Giornale, reported Jan. 18. The Vatican did not officially confirm the report, but sources said privately that a rewriting of the prayer was likely and could be made public soon. The issue arose last year when the pope liberalized use of the 1962 missal, known popularly as the Tridentine rite. The missal contains a prayer for the conversion of Jews, recited on Good Friday. While the prayer would not be recited in most parishes, particular Catholic communities devoted to the old rite could use it in Good Friday liturgies.

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