Rabbinical group asks Vatican for clarification on Good Friday prayer

Published: 2008-02-18

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism has asked for clarification from the Vatican as to whether a revised Good Friday prayer for the Jews in Latin calls for the conversion of Jews. The new prayer replaces the one contained in the 1962 Roman Missal, sometimes called the Tridentine rite, which is no longer generally used by Catholics but which may be used by some church communities under recently revised norms. Pope Benedict XVI has reformulated the Good Friday prayer for the Jews, removing language about the "blindness" of the Jews, but it asks for prayers for the Jews and that "all Israel may be saved." Some Jewish leaders criticized the phrasing as a call for Jews to accept Christianity. A Feb. 14 resolution by the Rabbinical Assembly said that it "is dismayed and deeply disturbed to learn of reports that Pope Benedict XVI has revised the 1962 text of the Latin liturgy." It said, "Be it resolved that the Rabbinical Assembly seek clarification from the Vatican of the meaning and status of the new text for the Latin liturgy."

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