Pope Benedict XVI's Terrible Prayer

So far Pope Benedict's trip to the United States has gone rather well.  His meeting with the Boston victims of the sexual abuse scandal was unexpected and no doubt helped to restore the Church's standing with American Catholics.  Der Spiegel even seemed to detect some veiled criticisms of President Bush in his remarks at the White House. They quote Benedict:

"Die Kirche ist überzeugt,… , dass Demokratie nur blühen kann, wenn die politischen Führer sich von der Wahrheit leiten lassen und ihre Weisheit auf moralische Grundsätze aufbauen." Die verlogene Begründung des Irak-Kriegs - Vizepräsident Dick Cheney und Außenministerin Condoleezza Rice sitzen unter den Ehrengästen in der ersten Reihe - kann damit nicht gemeint sein. ("The Church is convinced that Democracy can only blossom when the political leaders are guided by the truth and base their wisdom on moral principles."  He could not have been referring to the dishonest reasons for starting the Iraq War.  Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza RIce were among the guests of honor in the front row.)

But Benedict will have other wounds to heal on the rest of his stay when he visits a synagogue on Friday and meets with Jewish leaders in Washington DC and New York City.  With just two Latin sentences in his Good Friday prayer Benedict has dealt an enormous setback to Church relations with Jews:

Oremus et pro Iudaeis: Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant Iesum Christum salvatorem omnium hominum. (Oremus. Flectamus genua. Levate.) Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui vis ut omnes homines salvi fiant et ad agnitionem veritatis veniant, concede propitius, ut plenitudine gentium in Ecclesiam Tuam intrante omnis Israel salvus fiat. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

(Let us also pray for the Jews: That our God and Lord may illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men. (Let us pray. Kneel. Rise.) Almighty and eternal God, who want that all men be saved and come to the recognition of the truth, propitiously grant that even as the fulness of the peoples enters Thy Church, all Israel be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.)

Now I have nothing against any religion asserting its own primacy and ownership of the truth.  And anyone who is in possession of the Truth obviously wants to share the Good News with others and convince them of the superiority of their viewpoint.  Conversions and proselytizing are a necessary feature of any religious organization that doesn't wish extinction. But it is incomprehensible to me that Benedict would single out the Jews for conversion - especially in a Good Friday prayer when for centuries Catholics blamed all Jews for the crucifixion of Christ. Why not extend the prayer of conversion to all non-Catholics - including Protestants, Muslims, Atheists, etc?

Can there be any question as to why Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, chooses to sever all ties and discontinue dialogue with the Vatican and the Catholic Church?

"As long as Pope Benedict does not return to the previous wording, I assume that there will not be any further dialogue [such as we had] in the past," said Knobloch.

The best book about the shameful history of the Catholic Church's relationship with the Jews through the centuries is James Carroll's Constantine's Sword: The Chuch and the Jews  - a History. Carroll is a former Catholic priest, and his account is intensely personal even as he examines a legacy that goes back to the early church and the crusades. 

"There is no apology for Holy Week preaching that prompted pogroms until Holy Week liturgies, sermons, and readings have been purged of the anti-Jewish slanders that sent the mobs rushing out of church.... Forgiveness for the sin of anti-Semitism presumes a promise to dismantle all that makes it possible." (James Carroll - Constantine's Sword)

UPDATE: James Carroll on Benedict and the Holocaust.

Comments

[Cliff]

Chances are, singling-out Judaism is a sop, intended to deflect the Israel Lobby's criticism of Benedict's [relatively even-handed] approach to the Israel question.

-Cliff

[Alexander]

I agree with you that this is not very nice towards other religions. And I think that anyone who feels insulted or dominated by this attitude should object loudly and strongly. But this pope for decades has been the head of the Holy Inquisition's successor, the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. There he had proclaimed that e.g. the Protestant Curches are no churches at all, just some kind of herectic gatherings and thus has brought the oecumenic dialog between the churches nearly to an end (at least in germany). What should one expect of the Holy Inquisistion's Chief after he became pope? We can just be glad that he can't have anyone burnt anymore for the rescue of their souls.