Vatican: Prayer offensive to Jews could be dropped

Prayer in recently revived Latin Mass that has drawn protests from Jewish groups could be dropped from rite, Vatican's No. 2 official says
Associated Press

A prayer in the recently revived Latin Mass that has drawn protests from Jewish groups could be dropped from the rite, the Vatican's No. 2 official said Wednesday.

"The problem can be resolved," Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, told a news conference.

Catholic Church

Jewish groups protest Pope's decision to revive old Latin mass / Associated Press

Pope Benedict's decision to remove restrictions on mass containing prayer for conversion of Jews angers Jewish organizations, prompts concern among liberal Catholics that Church is becoming more fundamentalist

Full story

Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI removed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass, reviving a rite that was all but swept away by the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Jewish organizations expressed dismay that the rite retains a prayer on Good Friday calling for the conversions of the Jews.

Bertone, meeting with reporters in the Italian Dolomite mountains where the pope is vacationing, was asked whether the prayer went against Pope John Paul II's assertion that the Jews were "older brothers in the faith" to Catholics. He suggested there was no intention to go against that spirit.

Bertone did not elaborate on possible changes, but the pope asked all bishops to report back to the Vatican in three years on their experiences in using the revived rite, and suggested changes could be made.