Good Friday prayer rewritten

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI has reformulated a Good Friday prayer, removing language about the "blindness" of the Jews but preserving a call for their conversion, The new prayer replaces the one contained in the 1962 Roman Missal, sometimes called the Tridentine rite or Latin Mass. Benedict reauthorized use of this rite last year.

The new formulation was published Feb. 5 on the front page of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. The text, made available only in Latin, begins: "Let us pray for the Jews. May the Lord Our God enlighten their hearts so that they may acknowledge Jesus Christ, the savior of all men."

The new wording removes language some Jewish leaders and groups found offensive, including appeals that Jews "be delivered from their darkness."

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