The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum relaxed restrictions on the use of the pre-Vatican II Roman Missal of 1962, the most recent form of the Tridentine Rite of the Mass. After its promulgation on July 7, 2007, questions were raised about the acceptability of the "prayer for the conversion of the Jews" used on Good Friday in that Rite. That prayer read as follows:

Let us pray also for the Jews:
that almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts;
so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, who doest not exclude from thy mercy even the Jews:
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 delivered from their darkness.

This prayer is very different from the prayer used in the 1970 post-Vatican Council II Good Friday service:

Let us pray for the Jewish people, the first to hear the Word of God, that they may continue to grow in the love of his name and in faithfulness to his covenant. Almighty and eternal God, long ago you gave your promise to Abraham and his posterity. Listen to your church as we pray that the people you first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption.

In response to these concerns, Pope Benedict composed a new version of the prayer and required its use on Good Friday when the Tridentine Rite was used. A footnote accompanying the new text indicated that the Latin title "For the conversion of the Jews" was retained. The new text, translated from the Latin, follows:.