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No. 6337

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January 25, 2008 £1 (Republic of Ireland €1.50)

Pope to strike out ‘offensive’ Good Friday prayers for Jews

BYEDWEST

POPE BENEDICT XVI is to rewrite the Good Friday prayer from the traditional Latin Missal, removing references to the “blindness” and “darkness” of the Jews in refusing Christ as saviour, according to sources in Rome. The Italian newspaper Il Giornale has reported that the Pontiff will strike out passages in the Holy Week liturgy that the Jewish community finds offensive, thus removing a major objection to the reintroduction of the classical form of the Roman Rite. Last July’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, in which the Pope authorised the virtually unrestricted use of the 1962 (Tridentine) Missal, led to unhappiness that parishes that used the older ceremonies during Holy Week would recite the Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of the Jews. The prayer reads: “Almighty and everlasting God, you do not 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.” Although an earlier reference to “perfidious Jews” was dropped in 1959, the use of the 1962 version is still seen as objectionable to many Jews. After the Motu Proprio, the chief rabbis of Israel sent a letter to the Pope expressing their concern at the language of the old form of Mass, while Abraham Foxman, US director of the AntiDefamation League, said the

return of “anti-Jewish language” to the liturgy was offensive. Last month the ADL included the prayer on a list of “Top Ten Issues Affecting Jews in 2007”, calling it “a theological setback to the reforms of Vatican II, and a challenge to CatholicJewish relations”. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, addressed Jewish concerns before the Motu Proprio. He said that they might resolve the problem by using the current (1969) Missal’s version of the prayer in Latin. That text describes the Jewish people as “the first to hear the word of God” and prays that they “may arrive at the fullness of redemption”. However, Pope Benedict has chosen to completely rewrite the 1962 prayer, according to the Italian newspaper. Any change will have to be ready in time for Good Friday, which falls on March 21 this year. Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornalesaid the new version would be released by the Congregation for Divine Worship within “a matter of days” and would removed any reference to their “blindness” –although the prayer for their conversion would be retained. Despite the potential diplomatic fall out over the wording, Catholics around the world have been using the 1962 version for the last 25 years, after John Paul II authorised the worldwide use of the pre-Vatican rite for parishes with the local bishop’s permission. But the timing is especially sensitive because of the Pope’s visit to the United

States in April, where he is expected to meet with religious leaders including chief rabbis. During the Pope’s last visit to New York, as Cardinal Ratzinger in 1988, a group of rabbis refused to meet him in protest over comments he allegedly made about Christianity being the “fulfilment” of Judaism. One of Reform Judaism’s leading British figures, Rabbi Jonathan Romain, said the Pope’s move was positive. “That will be a welcome development, because it was a combination of being patronising and being religiously targeting that sent out a message from a previous era, before the age of interfaith dialogue. It’s good for all faiths that their liturgy reflects the new era of mutual respect across the board, so that there isn’t anything that can be taken as a form of religious one-upmanship. “It gives a clear signal that the Church of today is not the same as the Church of previous centuries. It shows that the Church, like we all have, has entered a new era of religious respect.” Some commentators fear that the alteration could lead to demands for the alteration of further parts of the Good Friday Prayer, which also prays for the conversion of heretics (Protestants), schismatics (Orthodox Christians) and pagans (non-Christians). John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter said: “Creating a precedent for selective editing of the old rite, in other words, could open the door to death by a thousand cuts.”

Editorial comment: Page 11

Pope Benedict XVI prays before a cross during a Good Friday service at the Colosseum in Rome

Photo: CNS

NEWS

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Fr Adolfo Nicolas to build bridges with the East p4

FEATURES

Poles apart

Archbishop Wesoly on the dangers of ʻintegrationʼ p8

ARTS

Judith Weir Igor Toronyi finds rapture behind the smirk p12

NEWS

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FEATURES 7-9 COMMENT 10-11 ARTS 12 CHARTERHOUSE 16

LOURDES – the 150th Anniversary

A Lourdes Prayer Book

To mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions in Lourdes, Family Publications has produced a beautiful colour prayer book. This booklet, illustrated with pictures taken at Lourdes, brings together many of the most popular Marian prayers of the Church, as

well as the prayers and devotions most associated with Lourdes and St Bernadette. The booklet thus provides a handy collection of prayers to Our Lady which will inspire and support prayer. Its format makes it the ideal companion for use at home, in church, or on pilgrimage.

Paperback 64 pages £4.50

For your copy of A Lourdes Prayer Book please send a cheque to: Family Publications 6a King Street, Oxford OX2 6DF or phone 0845 0500 879 or e-mail sales@familypublications.co.uk or online www.familypublications.co.uk Credit cards accepted (except Amex) Postage: 1 book – add £1.50. 2 books or more – add £3.

Former Vatican liturgist persuaded to cancel tour

Archbishop condemns Lords votes

BYMARKGREAVESAND EDWARDPENTININROME

THE VATICAN’S most senior cardinal has persuaded Archbishop Piero Marini to cancel his book tour of America, it has been claimed. Archbishop Marini, who served for two decades as the papal Master of Ceremonies, was due to tour major US cities next month to promote his study of the post-Vatican II Mass –seen by some commentators as a coded criticism of Benedict XVI’s liturgical reforms. But the trip has been postponed, ostensibly because of concerns that it would clash with the run-up to the Pope’s own American tour two months later. However, one source said that Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, had asked Archbishop Marini to cancel the visit. Another source in the Vatican told The Catholic Heraldthat he “wouldn’t be surprised if there was an intervention from the top”. The book, entitled A Challenging Reform: Realising the Vision of the Liturgical Renewal, was launched in Britain at a

Archbishop Piero Marini

grandiose event hosted by Cardinal Cormac MurphyO’Connor and attended by a number of prominent liturgical figures. Among the 100 people gathered for the event were Archbishop Fausto Sainz Muññoz, the papal nuncio, Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, chairman of the International Committee for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), and Mgr Bruce Harbert, ICEL’s executive secretary. The book charts the struggles of the Consilium, a body set up to introduce liturgical changes in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. It argues that the Roman Curia has “for years” been characterised by a “preconciliar mindset”, and warns that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council “seem to be increasingly questioned”. The Archbishop also

Photo: CNS

caused offence when, in an interview with America’s National Catholic Reporterin December, he compared “nostalgia” for the preVatican II Mass with the longing that some Israelites felt for the “onions and melons” of Egypt after they had been freed from slavery. Last year Benedict XVI replaced Archbishop Marini as papal Master of Ceremonies and moved him to the lesser position of president of the Pontifical Committee for Eucharistic Congresses. The archbishop’s removal was welcomed by traditionalists who had long been dismayed by his enthusiasm for liturgical innovation. A canonisation Mass in Mexico City several years ago notoriously included a troupe of indigenous dancers and a shaman who performed an exorcism on John Paul II.

BYSIMONCALDWELL

THEDEFEATof an attempt by peers to stop late-term abortions for minor disabilities has been condemned by Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff. The Archbishop, chairman of the English and Welsh bishops’ Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship, also criticised the rejection of an amendment to uphold the obligation of fertility doctors to consider a child’s need for a father. Archbishop Smith said: “Both amendments sought to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Their rejection by the House of Lords once again raises profound issues about the way we as a society treat human life. “However, this Bill has yet to go to the House of Commons and I think we would all do well to write to MPs expressing our deep concerns about these issues. “The Catholic community has already been fully informed on these important issues in the briefing sent out from the Bishops’ Conference to parishes in England and Wales.” Both issues were subject to votes during a debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which has entered its final stages in the House of Lords before it transfers to the Commons next month.

Full reports: Page 3

Pakistan: Don’tforgetthemnow Livingintheshadowofphysicaland verbalattacks,Pakistan’sChristiansare underthreatfromthegrowingunrestand extremism.Despitesignsofhopewith inter-faithmeetings,the faithfulstruggle forfreedom.

Onepriesttold AidtotheChurch inNeed:“Evenin thistimeof persecution,our churchesarefull. Yoursupport is helpingChristians tosurvivehere.”

Pleasedon’t forgetthemnow.

SUFFERING:Sister Nasemandfriendsata Church-runhomeless centre, animportant inter-faithinitiative.

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