In the new version, the request that God may “deliver [them] from their darkness” and “their blindness” has been removed. The reformed prayer is formulated as follows: “that God our Lord should illuminate their hearts, so that they will recognize Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men.” It also asks that God “grant that when the fullness of peoples enters your Church all of Israel will be saved.” The text will be used, beginning this year, in all the Liturgical celebrations of Good Friday with the Roman Missal, specified the note dated February 4, 2008, and addressed to all the celebrants considered as “qualified [to use it]” by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007.

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In the new version, the request that God may “deliver [them] from their darkness” and “their blindness” has been removed. The reformed prayer is formulated as follows: “that God our Lord should illuminate their hearts, so that they will recognize Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men.” It also asks that God “grant that when the fullness of peoples enters your Church all of Israel will be saved.” The text will be used, beginning this year, in all the Liturgical celebrations of Good Friday with the Roman Missal, specified the note dated February 4, 2008, and addressed to all the celebrants considered as “qualified [to use it]” by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007.

At the time of the publication of the Motu Proprio liberalizing the use of the pre-Vatican II liturgical books, several personalities of the Jewish world voiced their concern to see the ancient prayer for the Jews re-introduced into the Roman rite, even the prayer reformed by John XXIII who had caused the adjective “perfidis” (unfaithful), and the word “perfidiam” (faithlessness) to be removed. The great rabbis of Israel had even written to Benedict XVI to ask him to modify again the Good Friday prayer. Prelates involved in the dialogue with the Jews had made similar appeals to the Sovereign Pontiff and his close collaborators.

However, this modification displeased the great rabbi of Rome Riccardo Di Segni, who, on the very next day, February 6, declared during an interview granted to the Corriere della Sera, that the fact that the new formula maintained an “explicit” request for the conversion of the Jews “was undermining decades of progress” in the dialogue between Jews and Christians.

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On February 7, in answer to this reaction, Cardinal Walter Kasper stated: “We think that reasonably this prayer cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church and, furthermore, Jews have prayers in their liturgical texts that we Catholics don’t like. This must be accepted and respected in diversity.” Speaking of the conversion of the Jews for which the modified prayer is asking, the president of the Pontifical Commission for Relationship with Judaism explained that it was a reference to a text of St. Paul the Apostle which “expresses the eschatological hope -- i.e. with reference to the last days, the end of history -- that the people of Israel would als...

On February 7, in answer to this reaction, Cardinal Walter Kasper stated: “We think that reasonably this prayer cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church and, furthermore, Jews have prayers in their liturgical texts that we Catholics don’t like. This must be accepted and respected in diversity.” Speaking of the conversion of the Jews for which the modified prayer is asking, the president of the Pontifical Commission for Relationship with Judaism explained that it was a reference to a text of St. Paul the Apostle which “expresses the eschatological hope -- i.e. with reference to the last days, the end of history -- that the people of Israel would also enter the Church when all the other nations do.” The German prelate meant to be reassuring when he specified: “I mean that this expresses a final hope and not a proposal to start a mission among them (the Jews),” and he added: “I must say that I don’t understand why the Jews cannot accept that we can make use of our freedom to formulate our prayers.” “Very bad things occurred when we wanted to force conversion upon the Jews. We understand they keep bad memories of facts for which we have made repentance. But this makes it even more difficult to understand why they cannot accept that we bear witness to our faith, when this is done with full respect for the faith of others,” he declared.

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That same day, on the airwaves of Radio Vatican, Cardinal Kasper wished to add the following precisions: “If the prayer speaks of the ‘conversion’ of the Jews, this does not mean we are embarking on a ‘mission’. As a matter of fact, the pope is quoting St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. In chapter 11, St. Paul tells us that we hope that when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come into the Church all Israel also shall be saved. It is an eschatological hope. This does not mean we are embarking on a mission: we must give witness to our faith, this is clear. But, I want to say this: in the past, such a language was often fraught with contempt, as Jules Isaac, a well-know Jew, rightly said....

That same day, on the airwaves of Radio Vatican, Cardinal Kasper wished to add the following precisions: “If the prayer speaks of the ‘conversion’ of the Jews, this does not mean we are embarking on a ‘mission’. As a matter of fact, the pope is quoting St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. In chapter 11, St. Paul tells us that we hope that when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come into the Church all Israel also shall be saved. It is an eschatological hope. This does not mean we are embarking on a mission: we must give witness to our faith, this is clear. But, I want to say this: in the past, such a language was often fraught with contempt, as Jules Isaac, a well-know Jew, rightly said. But, today, there is respect in the diversity which exists between us. Now there is respect and no longer contempt.

“Dialogue,” he continued, “always supposes respect for the other’s position. We respect the identity of the Jews; they must respect ours which we cannot hide. Dialogue is precisely based on this diversity: upon what we have in common as well as upon our differences. I do not see this as an obstacle but rather as a challenge for a true theological dialogue.”

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On February 14, in the Osservatore Romano, Bishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture returned to the subject to give new reassurance to the Jews: “We repeat it: this is the Christian vision, and the hope of the praying Church. It is not a proposal for a theoretical adhesion nor a missionary strategy for conversion.” “It is the characteristic attitude of supplicant invocation by which we hope -- on behalf of persons which we consider as close, dear and important to us -- for a reality which we consider as precious and saving.” “Of course, this must always be done in the respect of the liberty and of the various paths that the other may choose,” added Bis...

On February 14, in the Osservatore Romano, Bishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture returned to the subject to give new reassurance to the Jews: “We repeat it: this is the Christian vision, and the hope of the praying Church. It is not a proposal for a theoretical adhesion nor a missionary strategy for conversion.” “It is the characteristic attitude of supplicant invocation by which we hope -- on behalf of persons which we consider as close, dear and important to us -- for a reality which we consider as precious and saving.” “Of course, this must always be done in the respect of the liberty and of the various paths that the other may choose,” added Bishop Ravasi. “But it is a sign of affection to wish for your brother what you consider as a horizon of light and life.”

For the Roman prelate, “in this perspective, the prayer in question, within the limits of its use and in its specificity, can and must confirm our bond and our dialogue” with the Jews. And he quoted the Good Friday prayer according to the liturgy of the Paul VI Missal: the common and ultimate hope is that “the Jews to whom God spoke first (…) may progress in the love of His Name and in fidelity to His Covenant.”"

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Preceding a delegation of the Great Rabbis of Jerusalem to the Vatican, Israel’s Great Rabbi Yona Metzger, on March 9, in Trieste (Italy) declared that he was expecting Benedict XVI’s answer to his letter concerning the fact that the prayer for the conversion of the Jews recently “rehabilitated” in the Tridentine Missal has been maintained, something which “surprised” the Jewish community.

[...]

On March 8, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and in charge of the Roman commission for relationship with Judaism, had declared on German channel ARD that the pope was going “to leave the prayer as it is. From our viewpoint, it is absolutely cor...

Preceding a delegation of the Great Rabbis of Jerusalem to the Vatican, Israel’s Great Rabbi Yona Metzger, on March 9, in Trieste (Italy) declared that he was expecting Benedict XVI’s answer to his letter concerning the fact that the prayer for the conversion of the Jews recently “rehabilitated” in the Tridentine Missal has been maintained, something which “surprised” the Jewish community.

[...]

On March 8, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and in charge of the Roman commission for relationship with Judaism, had declared on German channel ARD that the pope was going “to leave the prayer as it is. From our viewpoint, it is absolutely correct theologically speaking. It is just difficult for the Jews to accept it.” Some days earlier, the cardinal had announced that “the delegation from Jerusalem would take part in meetings at the Vatican, in particular with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,” who would make a declaration on the issue. “After the declaration from Cardinal Bertone, I hope that the matter will be clearer, not solved, but clearer; and I think that we will be able to overcome the irritation of the Jewish world.”

[...]

The Great Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, responded that the Jews had never demanded that others change their religions. He asked that there be a dialogue between the two religions, which respect the other’s identity, yet he thought that the prayer was “an obstacle to the continuation of a dialogue between Jews and Christians,” as it questioned decades of progress.
(Sources: Apic/ANSA/Imedia/AFP)

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