Vatican fence-mending campaign with Jews picks up steam
Efforts to mute criticism of a Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews in the old Latin liturgy of the Catholic Church, which have escalated ever since Pope Benedict XVI announced last July the revival of the Latin Mass, intensified this week.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced two additions to the program of Pope Benedict while he?s in the United States in mid-April, both directed at Jews. After a general April 17 session with 200 leaders of other faiths in Washington, D.C., the pope will also meet briefly in private with the Jewish delegation. On April 18, Benedict will make a stop at New York?s Park East Synagogue, located near the Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.