The Vatican has just issued a change to the Good Friday prayer for the Jews in the 1962 missal, at the behest of the enemies of Christ. (http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/2008/index_en.htm) This disgraceful act is acknowledgement that our sacred traditions are subject to political considerations. And in the final analysis, the judiazers even failed to please Abe Foxman and the ADL.
While the new prayer is not heretical, it is a far cry from the original prayer of the missal of St. Pius V:
(pre-1950) Let us pray also for the unfaithful Jews, that our God and Lord would remove the veil from their hearts; that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, Who drivest not even the faithless Jews away from Thy mercy, hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people, that, acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ, they may be rescued from their darkness. Through the same Lord, etc. Amen
(2008) Let us pray, and for the Jews. May our God and Lord enlighten their hearts, so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, saviour of all men.
Let us pray.
Let us kneel.
Arise.
Almighty and everlasting God, who desirest that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of truth, mercifully grant that, the fullness of the Gentiles having entered into Thy Church, all Israel may be saved. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
St. Stephen, pray for Pope Benedict.
(Acts 7:51-59, St. Stephen to the Jews) 51 You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you also. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One: of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers. 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.
54 Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart: and they gnashed with their teeth at him. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 56 And they, crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and with one accord ran violently upon him. 57 And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul. 58 And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 59 And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge: And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death.
I like Christopher Ferrara's take on the new prayer. Link:
http://remnantnewspaper.com/Archives/archive-2008-a_papal_masterstroke.htm
Ferrara has gone bonkers, I think. A masterstroke? His Holiness further derogates a traditional prayer in response to political pressures, and ends up upsetting both Jews and traditional Catholics.
Maybe the next masterstroke would be to hack the Holy Rosary because it reminds Muslims of their drubbing at Lepanto.
I think it ill behooves us to second guess and vet every one of his actions and to sit in judgment of their orthodoxy.
Question: How many trads does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer: Change??
(Thanks to S.G. for that one.) It's not about second-guessing the pope. It's about change, about novelty. Isn't that why we're in the catacombs in the first place, because we rejected the changes of the last 40 years?
This change is of particular import, because it sets a precedent for further changes in the old missal. The old M.O. was to put the ancient Mass in the closet and hand out rocks and serpents (Matt. 7:9-10). Now they're playing with the beautiful Mass.