New Catholic Tridentine Rite Good Friday Prayer

On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued instructions to relax existing restrictions on the celebration of the Catholic Mass according to the Rite of the Council of Trent (the Tridentine rite). This would make it easier for existing Catholic groups that preferred that Rite, for some because it is conducted in Latin, to celebrate the Mass according to its rubrics. This raised questions relevant to Catholic-Jewish relations, especially about the status of the General Intercession for the Jewish people that is prayed on Good Friday. The last version of that prayer, from 1962, was quite different in tone and content from the 1970 version in the ordinary rite, prayed by the vast majority of Catholics around the world. In response to these questions, the Pope composed a new prayer for use only in the extraordinary Tridentine rite. He offered no interpretation of the prayer, sparking considerable debate about its meaning and implications.