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A papal decree said priests should now meet requests by the faithful to hold mass in the traditional Church language, which had widely been dropped after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s."In parishes where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their request to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman Missal published in 1962...," said the decree.The virtual abandonment of the Tridentine mass afte
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VATICAN CITY/PARIS/NEW YORK (EJP)---Jewish groups have criticised a decision by Pope Benedict XVI allowing greater use of the old Latin mass, as it included a prayer for the conversion of Jews.
In a statement, the Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre asked the head of the Roman Catholic Church "to declare this text contrary to the current teaching of the Church, in accordance with the Second Vatican Council".
In its statement, it noted that the so-called John XXIII
missal of 1962 which outlines celebrations of the mass in Latin includes a Good Friday prayer calling for the conversion of Jews.
Before 1962 Catholics prayed for the conversion of the "perfidious Jews" in Good Friday prayers marking the death of Jesus Christ.
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Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, chairman of the French bishops' conference, said in November that differences with followers of Lefebvre were not only liturgical, but also theological, dealing with religious freedom, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue and politics.
He warned Saturday that the pope's "real motivations may not be well understood" by the public and the priests, but he did not expect many requests for traditional mass.
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The qualification was dropped in 1962 but worshippers then prayed that God may withdraw the veil from the Jews’ hearts and free them from the obscurity into which they had been plunged.
In the 1970 missal of Paul VI, which is currently used, the prayer for the conversion of Jews was replaced by a positive prayer recognizing the Jews’ eternal covenant with God, a principle to which Pope John Paul II was deeply committed.
'Theological setback'
The New York-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called the Vatican’s move “a theological setback in the religious life of Catholics and a body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations, after 40 years of progress between the Church and the Jewish people.”
Abraham Foxman, ADL's director, who is in Rome for meetings with Vatican officials, said in a statement: "We are extremely disappointed and deeply offended that nearly 40 years after the Vatican rightly removed insulting anti-Jewish language from the Good Friday Mass, that it would now permit Catholics to utter such hurtful and insulting words by praying for Jews to be converted."
"It appears the Vatican has chosen to satisfy a right-wing faction in the Church that rejects change and reconciliation," he added.
On Saturday the Vatican made clear that the prayer of the Latin missal concerning the Jews will be that of 1962, which includes the reference to their conversion.
The earlier Easter Week liturgy with the reference to the "perfidious Jews" therefore remains banned.