Italian newspaper says pope to change Tridentine prayer for Jєωs

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has decided to reformulate a Good Friday prayer in the 1962 Roman Missal that was offensive to Jєωs, according to an Italian newspaper.

The new prayer will drop all reference to the "blindness" of the Jєωs 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 Jєωs, 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.

The prayer for Jєωs in the 1962 missal is part of a series of prayers for the conversion of non-Christians. It reads:

"Let us pray also for the Jєωs that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, you do not refuse your mercy even to the Jєωs; hear the prayers which we offer for the blindness of that people so that they may acknowledge the light of your truth, which is Christ, and be delivered from their darkness."

Although the 1962 missal no longer contains a reference to "perfidious Jєωs," which was dropped in 1959, the text of the Good Friday prayer and the possibility of its wider use brought objections from Jєωιѕн leaders.

The chief rabbis of Israel sent a letter of concern about the prayer to the pope, and Abraham H. Foxman, U.S. director of the Anti-Defamation League, said it was disappointing and offensive to see "anti-Jєωιѕн language" return to the liturgy after its removal nearly 40 years ago.

Even as the pope issued his docuмent on the Tridentine Mass, Vatican officials were suggesting that the Good Friday prayer could be revised.

Later, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said the problem might be resolved by simply substituting the current missal's version of the prayer. That text describes the Jєωιѕн people as "the first to hear the word of God" and prays that they "may arrive at the fullness of redemption."

But Pope Benedict, according to the Italian newspaper report, opted to completely reformulate the prayer for the 1962 missal.

That is sad news. And there was such hope when he said parts of the Novus Ordo with his back to the  people at times. Everyone pointed this out to me that I was wrong about the Pope. Now, they can explain this to me and how I am wrong to be disappointed yet again in Benedict XVI. It seems to me that this evil setback would far outweigh any crumbs of Tradition thrown to us. And we shall wait to see how those who cheered for the "liberation of the '62 Bugnini Mass" will react to this betrayal.

For pity sake even my protestant friends know to pray for Jєωs, Infidels and Pagans.

I don't know about most Protestants wanting to convert others, Pravoslavni. Ecuмenism of today seems to show a different attitude on the part of many Protestants, although I think some of them would just not care about conversion and just stay in their sect. As for the Jєωs, that is cowardice if the Pope is for sure going to change the Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jєωs in 1962 edition of the TLM. It seems so impossible for the Church to be restored at this point, but maybe it will to be another pope who does what is right by our Lord if it will not be Pope Benedict XVI. The thing is I'm concerned about who could elected after him if things still continue the way they do through his death.