Witha tip of the biretta o{]:¬) to Rorate we read a press release from the SSPX about the Pope Benedict’s new Good Friday prayers for Jews:
we read a press release from the SSPX about the Pope Benedict’s new Good Friday prayers for Jews:
The SSPX have a comment (my translation):
Subsequent to pressure from outside the Catholic Church, the Pope believed himself obliged to change the very venerable Prayer for the Jews which is an integrating part of the Good Friday liturgy. This prayer is one of the most ancient; it goes back to around the 3rd century, and has consequently been recited through the whole history of the Church as the full expression of the Catholic faith.
It must be noted that the commentaries of Cardinal Kasper – which one can consider authoritative – give to this amputation the appearance of a genuine transformation, expressing a new theology of relations with the Jewish people. It is in with the liturgical disruption which is the characteristic mark of the Council and of the reforms deriving from it.
Although the necessity of accepting the Messiah in order to be saved has been preserved, one cannot but profoundly regret this change.
I respond saying
1) … that Cardinals can speak their minds part from official statements of the Holy See. Card. Kasper is not the same as the Magisterium in this regard, though his observations must be listened to (and parsed) carefully, given his mandate.
Also,
2) I cannot square with reality the notion that the old prayer for the Jews is "the full expression of the Catholic faith". That seems somewhat overwrought. I also cannot quite make the leap to the idea that prayers cannot sometime be improved upon. The older prayer didn’t say everything there was to say about Jesus, the Church, and the Jews. Nor does the newer prayer. However poetic, ancient and clear that older prayer is, it is not the be all and end all of Christian/Jewish relations, much less the "the full expression of the Catholic faith".
And,
3) Is it not possible for the Church to shift positions occasionally, given the circumstances of the Church and the world, concerning relations with and aspirations for some non-Christians? I think so.
Finally,
4) The SSPX says "the necessity of accepting the Messiah in order to be saved has been preserved". Isn’t that much closer to being the ""the full expression of the Catholic faith"?
