Rabbis may vote to denounce prayer backed by Pope

Conservative rabbis could vote this week on a resolution warning that a Latin prayer backed by Pope Benedict XVI, urging Jews to embrace Christ, could endanger strengthening Jewish-Catholic ties.

"We fear that the new Latin text ... may cast a harsh shadow over the spirit of mutual respect and collaboration that has marked these past four decades, making it more difficult for Jews to engage constructively in dialogue with Catholics," a draft of the resolution reads.

The draft could go to a vote as early as Monday, when 400 members of the Rabbinical Assembly, representing Judaism's conservative movement, will be in Washington for their annual meeting, assembly officials said.

For many Jews, the issue jeopardises the rapprochement that has occurred since the 1960s, when the Vatican moved to clear Jews of blame in Christ's death and condemned anti-Semitism.

Believers are likely to keep a close watch on Pope Benedict and his leadership of the Catholic Church after the late Pope John Paul II, who was known for reaching out to Jewish leaders over the Holocaust.

The resolution by the rabbis reflects deep unhappiness over Pope Benedict's decision to revive a Latin prayer, to be heard by a small minority of Catholics during Good Friday services, which says that Jews should recognise Jesus Christ as the saviour of all humanity.

Controversy erupted over the prayer after Pope Benedict moved last year to revive the old-style Latin Mass, along with a missal, or prayer book, that had been phased out in reforms of the 1960s.

"This appears to be a step backward from issues that have long ago been dealt with between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people," said Rabbi Joel H Meyers, the assembly's executive vice president.

Last week, the Vatican announced Pope Benedict had ordered changes to the prayer, deleting a reference to Jews' "blindness" over Christ and removing a phrase that asked God to "remove the veil from their hearts".

According to an unofficial translation from Latin, the new prayer says in part: "Let us also pray for the Jews. So that God our Lord enlightens their hearts so that they recognise Jesus Christ saviour of all men."

Even in its altered version, the prayer remains problematic for some Jewish groups.

"It's hard to dictate to the Vatican," Meyers said. "One would hope that they would take another look at this."

Following the prayer's revision, the Vatican's top cardinal on relations with Jews said the prayer should not be an obstacle to interfaith dialogue.

"This does not mean we are embarking on a mission (to convert Jews). We are giving witness to our faith," Cardinal Walter Kasper said in an interview last week.

The vast majority of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics hear mass in their local languages, and only several hundred thousand traditionalists would hear the Latin prayer on Good Friday, celebrated this year on March 21.

The Jewish assembly, which represents some conservative rabbis around the world, began its meeting on Sunday.