NEW YORK (EJP)---The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the Vatican’s changes to the Latin Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews "cosmetic revisions."
It said the prayer remains "deeply troubling" because it calls for Jews to "acknowledge Jesus Christ as the savior of all men."
In a statement, Abraham Foxman, ADL National Director, said: “While we appreciate that some of the deprecatory language has been removed from a new version of the Good Friday prayer for the Conversion of Jews in the 1962 Roman Missal, we are deeply troubled and disappointed that the framework and intention to petition God for Jews to accept Jesus as Lord was kept intact.”
“Alterations of language without change to the 1962 prayer's conversionary intent amount to cosmetic revisions, while retaining the most troubling aspect for Jews, namely the desire to end the distinctive Jewish way of life,” he added.
Stressing that it is still named the “Prayer for Conversion of the Jews,” Foxman considers it is “a major departure from the teachings and actions of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II, and numerous authoritative Catholic documents, including Nostra Aetate.”
In a letter to Pope Benedict XVI on January 22, Foxman had expressed concern that a revised Good Friday prayer that Jews abandon their own religious identity, “would be devastating to the deepening relationship and dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people.”
The New-York based ADL is fighting anti-Semitism worldwide.