I’m a fan of the Holy Father. He’s done some great things. But sometimes I get the feeling that while he knows what the right thing is to do, he’s very uncomfortable standing up for it. When I read this story, I felt very much confirmed in this suspicion:
LONDON - Jewish leaders have welcomed Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to reformulate the Catholic Church’s traditional Good Friday prayers.
The removal of references to the “darkness” and “blindness” of the Jews for their refusal to recognize Jesus as the messiah was a sign the pope was “deeply committed to advancing the relationship with the Jewish Community,” Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, told The Jerusalem Post.
The new text will drop all reference to the “blindness” of the Jews, Milan’s Il Giornale newspaper reported on January 18. The pope has prepared a draft version of the new prayer, which will be released in time for Holy Week celebrations in March, the report said.
In July, Benedict issued a “Motu Proprio” edict permitting the use of the 1962 Latin Tridentine missal during prayers.
The Latin prayers for Good Friday ask Catholics to “pray also for the Jews that the Lord our God may take the veil from their hearts and that they also may acknowledge Our Lord Jesus Christ,” and ask God not to “refuse your mercy even to the Jews; 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.”
I’ll reserve making any rash, opinionated statements until I see the way the prayer has been changed. I firmly believe, however, that any change that diminishes a liturgical expression of our desire for the conversion of the Jews, or any other people not of the True Faith, is a change that deviates from our mandate to evangelize.
When can we learn that praying for the conversion of someone of another faith is an act of love, not an act of hubris? If we acquiesce, how cant that be characterized as anything less than cowardly in light of the mission with which Christ has entrusted to His Church?
I don’t see Saint Paul making a change like this. Do you?
Update (2/4/08; 4:30PM): Fr. Z has his doubts about the veracity of this story. Perhaps it should be taken with a grain of salt?
