Who knew the Catholic Church had field trips? As the Jewish Telegraph Agency reports, on January 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI will visit a Roman synagogue on the 21st annual Catholic “Day of Judaism†that sponsors dialogue between the two communities. For that matter, I didn’t know there was a “Day of Judaism,†let alone that it was annual. The JTA reports that this day “usually features lectures and other programs held in cooperation with rabbis and other Jewish leaders.†Yet some are boycotting the talks. Why?
First of all, Pope Benedict has to become realistic. If he wants to sponsor talks between Jews and Catholics, which I agree is a wonderful idea, the Church might not want to do things like reintroducing a “Latin prayer that appeared to call for the conversion of the Jews†to the Church canon. If he wants to be cordial in Judeo-Catholic relationships not just for one day, but all year long, the Church should not bring back such prayers that clearly could sabotage relations. Even if someone claimed that prayer was a part of Church canon and was important to Christianity, take out the conversion reference. You can still glorify Jesus without necessitating Jewish conversion.
I decided to look into different reports on what happened when that prayer was reintroduced. After all, the JTA is blatantly biased, as it is a Jewish news source. An article on a Catholic news site states that the controversial verse is one that says Jesus Christ is the savior of all men, all Israel, which would presumably necessitate Jewish conversion. That same source quotes the Venetian rabbi Elia Enrico Richetti as writing in a Jesuit journal that it is “clear that we are moving toward the cancellation of 50 years of Church history†of Jewish-Christian reconciliation.
Is it possible that Rabbi Richetti is taking this too seriously? Albeit, as a Jew, I do not like the idea of any prayer saying that all people should be put under one faith and should recognize the Christian god to be saved. At the same time, this prayer is but one of many in the Catholic Church that says the same thing. Its reintroduction is nothing untraditional as far as Catholic prayers are concerned; many Catholic prayers say that Jesus is the savior of all mankind. Now, I don’t think that that claim is valid or should be propagated extensively, but it would require an extensive revision of all Catholic prayers and even the New Testament to take out every reference to Christ being the savior of all mankind and Israel to correct this error.
If Rabbi Richetti wants to promote positive relations between Judaism and Catholicism, he should realize this fact and take the reintroduction of one prayer into the canon as a small matter. Perhaps this prayer should be amended specifically to show Catholic goodwill. Indeed, it might not be necessary to reintroduce this prayer back into the canon and it might be a good idea for it to be revoked. But there is no reason why that similar reference should be expunged from all Catholic canon. It would take too much work and a revision of everything the Church has in texts and prayers, which is impractical and something to which the Pope would never agree. For both sides to promote harmonious relations, an agreement should be reached. Indeed, Italian rabbis dropped their boycott of the event in September. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco emphasized that “it is not the intention of the Catholic Church to work actively for the conversion of the Jews.†Well done.
