Vatican responds to critics of prayer

VATICAN CITY, April 4 (UPI) -- A prayer in the Latin version of the Good Friday liturgy is not anti-Semitic or a call for the Catholic Church to convert Jews, the Vatican said Friday.

A new text of the prayer endorsed by Pope Benedict XVI was released in February.

The Vatican put out a statement responding to a call from Rabbi David Rosen, head of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, to change or drop the prayer, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. In the statement, the church said that the prayer is used only on one day and only by the small number of Catholics who still use the traditional Latin liturgy.

Benedict dropped part of the prayer that condemns the "hardness" of Jews' hearts and talks of a "veil" over their eyes. Rosen said that he should also have removed a portion that asks God to "illuminate their hearts, that they acknowledge Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men.''

Rosen said that a group of rabbis have delayed a planned visit to the Vatican in protest.