(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) Today, February 12, 2008, the international Rabbinical Assembly, representing some 1,600 conservative rabbis worldwide, issued a "resolution" declaring that it is "dismayed and deeply disturbed" over Pope Benedict's reiteration of Catholic doctrine on salvation in the recently revised Good Friday Prayer. This same Assembly voted to formally pressure the Vatican to "clarify the text's meaning." However, the text is perfectly clear, and the Pope is not obliged to alter or "clarify" Church teaching in response to "resolutions" adopted by non-Catholic organizations. Besides, the Pope's magnanimous decision to revise the Prayer in the first place has already addressed any possible concerns the Rabbinical Assembly might profess to have. We are deeply concerned that such public relations tactics could become a precedent for interference in the affairs of the Church by pressure groups that do not share her beliefs.

In response to the attempt by the Assembly and others to use the mass media to manipulate the Supreme Pontiff in this matter over the past several days, a number of Catholic priests, newspaper editors, journalists, and attorneys have signed the following Declaration in support of Pope Benedict and his sacred right and duty to preach the Gospel and defend the dogmas of the Catholic Church. We ask visitors to this website to send the Holy Father a note of support and a promise of prayer during this ordeal. Over the next several days, a number of additional signatories—Catholic and non-Catholic—will join in this Declaration, which will be dispatched by special courier to the Vatican at week's end. MJM
 

International Declaration in Support of

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI PP
Apostolic Palace
Via Del Pellegrino
Citta Del Vaticano 00120
Vatican City State

February 11, 2008

Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Your Holiness:

With respect to the revised Solemn Prayer for the conversion of the Jewish people to be used in the Good Friday liturgy according to the Roman Missal of 1962, we the undersigned hasten to voice our support for Your Holiness as you face widespread criticism by persons and groups who complain that even the revised prayer is unacceptable.

Acting in good faith to address what was being exploited as an objection to the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass to its rightful place in the Church, Your Holiness has succeeded in restating in a most charitable way the infallible teaching of the Magisterium that salvation is possible only through Jesus Christ. The Church and the world will be graced by your courageous decision to retain in the revised prayer the Church’s unwavering intention for the Jewish people, whom you love:  “May our God and Lord enlighten their hearts, so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, saviour of all men.” The new prayer also nobly and charitably expresses the perennial hope of the Catholic faithful, first voiced by Saint Paul himself in his Epistle to the Romans, that “as the fullness of the Gentiles [the nations] enters into Thy Church, all Israel may be saved.”

By reformulating the traditional prayer without compromising its doctrinal integrity, Your Holiness has reminded the world that the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an infinite ocean of love, contains all peoples, especially that people from which Our Lord Himself is descended. As Saint Paul declares in the eleventh chapter of Romans, which the new prayer clearly invokes: “I say then: Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew.” Catholics know that God casts no one away, and that souls can only cast themselves away by resisting the grace that Christ won for all humanity on the Cross.

The action taken by Your Holiness means it can no longer be said that the traditional Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jewish people is but an heirloom of an outmoded theology. With only a few words Your Holiness has demonstrated that the Magisterium cannot and does not reverse itself on matters of salvation, that now, as always, all men are saved by Christ, that all are called to be one in Him and only in Him, and that this unity in Him is to be found only in the Mystical Body of His Church, wherein, as Saint Paul teaches, “There is neither Jew nor Greek: there is neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)

To abandon, for the sake of human respect, the Church’s prayer for the salvation of any people would be the greatest sin against charity. But Your Holiness has forthrightly resisted the pressure for such a capitulation, exerted by people who do not yet understand what the Church is and who her Founder is. We are privileged to stand with Your Holiness as you suffer the protestations of those who would presume to call upon the Vicar of Christ to compromise the Faith to suit “modern” sensibilities.

We must say that the controversy over the Good Friday prayer seems to us symptomatic of a situation in which it is becoming ever more perilous to defend the integrity of the Faith before what Your Holiness calls a “dictatorship of relativism,” which some would call Liberty.  Know, Holy Father, that we would be willing, should God give us the grace, to sacrifice our very lives for the defense of your person, your office, and your sovereign right to teach all nations the Gospel of Our Saviour Jesus Christ and to defend the prerogatives of His Holy Church.

When you began your pontificate, Holy Father, you made this plea to the faithful, as if you could see the great trials you would soon have to undergo: “Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”  You have our prayers, Holy Father!  And you have also our vow before God to remain your loyal subjects, united to our Pope in Christ the King, Lord of the Universe, Lord of History.

Humbly submitted,

Michael J. Matt

Editor, The Remnant

U.S.A.

John Blewett

Editor-in-Chief, The Latin Mass Magazine

U.S.A.

Pieter Vree

Deputy Editor, New Oxford Review

U.S.A.

Rod Pead

Editor, Christian Order

London, England

R. J. Stove
Executive Editor
ORIENS Magazine

Melbourne, Australia

Howard Walsh

President, Keep the Faith, Inc.

U.S.A.

Fr. Brian W. Harrison, O.S., S.T.D.

Professor Emeritus of Theology

Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico

Fr. John Paul Echert, S.S.L.

Pastor, St. Augustine Church, Holy Trinity Church

U.S.A.

Rev. Fr. Paul J. McDonald

Curé,

Diocese of Saint Catharines

Canada

John Rao, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of History

St. Johns University

Director, Roman Forum

Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq.

President and Chief Counsel

American Catholic Lawyers Association, Inc.

Scott A. Jones

Director

League of St. Michael , Inc.

Our Lady of Victory School 

Albert and Bonnie Huntz

President/Secretary

Una Voce-Buffalo

Brian C. Mershon

Journalist, Dallas, Texas

Mark Alessio

Journalist, New York

Brian McCall, Esq.

Associate Professor

University of Oklahoma College of Law

Timothy J. Cullen

Journalist, Argentina

M. Eric Frankovitch, Esq.

USA

Gary Scarrabelotti

Chairman

Oriens Foundation

Canberra, ACT

Australia

Michael R. Hirsh, Esq.

Georgia Litigation Counsel

Catholic Defense Bureau

James Bogle Esq

Barrister-at-law

Inner Temple

London, England

Vice Chairman, the Catholic Union of Great Britain

Thomas F. Portelli, Esq

Vice President and Associate Counsel

American Catholic Lawyers Association, Inc.

David L. Sonnier, LTC (Ret)
Associate Professor of Comptuer Science
Lyon College