The thorny question of a call to conversion in a Roman Catholic prayer re-emerged Tuesday when the head of Italy's Jewish community reiterated a request to remove it as a goodwill gesture for interfaith dialogue.
Renzo Gattegna said getting rid of the optional piece of a Good Friday prayer would be "a useful, necessary and certainly appreciated gesture".
Writing in Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, Gattegna said the move "would be an open declaration of renunciation on the part of the Church of any intention of converting Jews".
The issue last hit the news in April 2008 when the Vatican made a fresh effort to justify it by saying that the conversion plea was only contained in a Latin prayer used by a minority of Catholics, which Pope Benedict XVI 're-authorised' in 2007 to the dismay of the world's Jews.
In 2008, the Rome Jewish community said an attempt to reassure Jews had essentially dodged the key point in the prayer which, though watered down, still called for conversion, Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said.
''It's a very nice declaration which renews feelings of regard and friendship but changes nothing on the substance of the question,'' Di Segni said at the time.
On Tuesday, Gattegna said it would help "initiatives aimed at mutual understanding and friendship" if the Vatican made it clear that it had no intention of converting Jews.
Relations between Catholics and Jews have seesawed in recent years and Benedict's December elevation of controversial wartime pope Pius XII to the status of "venerable'", two steps away from sainthood, has not helped matters, observers say.
Renzo Gattegna said getting rid of the optional piece of a Good Friday prayer would be "a useful, necessary and certainly appreciated gesture".
Writing in Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano, Gattegna said the move "would be an open declaration of renunciation on the part of the Church of any intention of converting Jews".
The issue last hit the news in April 2008 when the Vatican made a fresh effort to justify it by saying that the conversion plea was only contained in a Latin prayer used by a minority of Catholics, which Pope Benedict XVI 're-authorised' in 2007 to the dismay of the world's Jews.
In 2008, the Rome Jewish community said an attempt to reassure Jews had essentially dodged the key point in the prayer which, though watered down, still called for conversion, Rome's Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said.
''It's a very nice declaration which renews feelings of regard and friendship but changes nothing on the substance of the question,'' Di Segni said at the time.
On Tuesday, Gattegna said it would help "initiatives aimed at mutual understanding and friendship" if the Vatican made it clear that it had no intention of converting Jews.
Relations between Catholics and Jews have seesawed in recent years and Benedict's December elevation of controversial wartime pope Pius XII to the status of "venerable'", two steps away from sainthood, has not helped matters, observers say.
SIC: TMN/INT'L
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