Pope Benedict about to venerate the Cross on Good Friday
The Bishops of England and Wales met at Hinsley Hall, Leeds, for their autumn plenary meeting from 16-19 November 2015 and surprisingly, in the sense, it had not previously been indicated they discussed the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews contained in the 1962 Roman Missal used in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
The post meeting information release states:
“The Bishops' Conference requests that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED) review the prayer Pro Conversione Iudaeorum, in the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, in the light of the understanding in Nostra Aetate of the relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism.”
A controversy well documented at the time of the promulgation of the 2007 moto proprio Summorum Pontificum was the prayer for the Jews contained in the pre-conciliar edition of the Missal.
And so, Pope Benedict XVI decided to modify the prayer and in the new version, the request that God may “deliver [them] from their darkness” and “their blindness” was removed. The reformed prayer is formulated as follows:
“that God our Lord should illuminate their hearts, so that they will recognize Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all men.”
It also asks that God “grant that when the fullness of peoples enters your Church all of Israel will be saved.”
It became a directive of the Holy See that the revision (dated 4 February 2008) be used forthwith in place of the original, except the 1962 prayer was not the actually the original.
This first revision by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1959 caused the adjective “perfidus” (unfaithful), and the word “perfidiam” (faithlessness) to be removed.
These words were (and one can understand this) simply unacceptable to the Jewish people. Indeed the polemics over the matter had gone on for years.
Pius XII had sought to give some contextual explanation as he explained, perfidus in this context has nothing to do with being "faithless" in the sense of "shifty" or "untrustworthy". It means "faith-less" in the sense that they don’t have Christ faith, they do not believe, they are unbelieving.
(Note also in 1959, Pope John eliminated from the rite of baptism the phrase used for Jewish catechumens: Horresce Iudaicam perfidiam, respue Hebraicam superstitionem … Dread Jewish unbelief, spurn Hebrew superstition)
However, back to 2008 and the prayer written by Pope Benedict. This modification displeased the great rabbi of Rome, who declared during an interview 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.
The Benedictine revision surely cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church by affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour of all mankind, the Church is simply giving witness to the Catholic faith. Why anyone should be surprised that Catholics continue to pray that all may worship Jesus is baffling.
After all, given that we Catholics believe that not to be believe in Christ puts you in danger of hell, it must be a good thing to pray for all these different groups, including Catholic themselves and also the Jews.
Additionally, the conversion of the Jews for which the modified prayer is asking, is a reference to a text of St. Paul the Apostle which expresses the 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.
This is a reference to Romans 11:25-26:
For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in. And so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
The post meeting information release states:
“The Bishops' Conference requests that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (PCED) review the prayer Pro Conversione Iudaeorum, in the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, in the light of the understanding in Nostra Aetate of the relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism.”
A controversy well documented at the time of the promulgation of the 2007 moto proprio Summorum Pontificum was the prayer for the Jews contained in the pre-conciliar edition of the Missal.
And so, Pope Benedict XVI decided to modify the prayer and in the new version, the request that God may “deliver [them] from their darkness” and “their blindness” was removed. The reformed prayer is formulated as follows:
“that God our Lord should illuminate their hearts, so that they will recognize Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all men.”
It also asks that God “grant that when the fullness of peoples enters your Church all of Israel will be saved.”
It became a directive of the Holy See that the revision (dated 4 February 2008) be used forthwith in place of the original, except the 1962 prayer was not the actually the original.
This first revision by Pope Saint John XXIII in 1959 caused the adjective “perfidus” (unfaithful), and the word “perfidiam” (faithlessness) to be removed.
These words were (and one can understand this) simply unacceptable to the Jewish people. Indeed the polemics over the matter had gone on for years.
Pius XII had sought to give some contextual explanation as he explained, perfidus in this context has nothing to do with being "faithless" in the sense of "shifty" or "untrustworthy". It means "faith-less" in the sense that they don’t have Christ faith, they do not believe, they are unbelieving.
(Note also in 1959, Pope John eliminated from the rite of baptism the phrase used for Jewish catechumens: Horresce Iudaicam perfidiam, respue Hebraicam superstitionem … Dread Jewish unbelief, spurn Hebrew superstition)
However, back to 2008 and the prayer written by Pope Benedict. This modification displeased the great rabbi of Rome, who declared during an interview 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.
The Benedictine revision surely cannot be an obstacle to dialogue because it reflects the faith of the Church by affirming that Jesus Christ is Lord and Saviour of all mankind, the Church is simply giving witness to the Catholic faith. Why anyone should be surprised that Catholics continue to pray that all may worship Jesus is baffling.
After all, given that we Catholics believe that not to be believe in Christ puts you in danger of hell, it must be a good thing to pray for all these different groups, including Catholic themselves and also the Jews.
Additionally, the conversion of the Jews for which the modified prayer is asking, is a reference to a text of St. Paul the Apostle which expresses the 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.
This is a reference to Romans 11:25-26:
For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery (lest you should be wise in your own conceits) that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in. And so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
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