The Vatican has issued a clarification of its revision of the old Good Friday prayer that was re-authorized by Pope Benedict as part of his effort to re-introduce the old Latin Mass. Confused? You’re not alone. The Vatican today tried to assuage Jewish concern over just what the Pope meant with the redacted text, which struck language about the ‘blindness” of the Jews but seemed to retain a call to convert Jews–a call that in centuries past helped foment all manner of abuses and tragedies by Christians against Jews. The Vatica said today the new/old prayer doesn’t undo the work of the Second Vatican Council and Nostra Aetate, and Jewish leaders seemed pleased enough, but a bit concerned that the Vatican’s precisazione itself needed some exegesis:
Rabbi David Rosen, director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee, told Catholic News Service April 4 that the Vatican statement was “an important clarification.”
“I think it contains a very important implicit statement — which I would have been happier to see made explicit — that if one accepts (the Vatican II document) ‘Nostra Aetate,’ then they must demonstrate esteem for Judaism, which precludes proselytism,” Rabbi Rosen said.
The rabbi said the April 4 statement does not contain all of the elements he had been told in early March would be included in a clarification from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state.
The Vatican statement comes amid a flurry of efforts to smooth a rather bumpy road between Benedict and the Jewish community ahead of his highly anticipated visit to Washington and New York. Yesterday, the Vatican announced that Benedict would make a private visit to a New York synagogue and would meet separately with Jewish leaders after an interreligious event in Washington.