According to Haaretz, “The Vatican is expected to issue a statement next week in which the Catholic Church will make it clear that the resumption of the use of an old Latin prayer by Pope Benedict XVI during mass on Easter Sunday last month is not an attempt to call on Jews to convert, or a sign that the church intends to initiate missionary efforts among Jews.”
Whether or not the Israeli paper’s forecast is accurate, we take the occasion to remind readers that the call for conversion is something the Church cannot abandon:
- Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)
- For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. (Romans 11:29)
- Brethren, the will of my heart, indeed, and my prayer to God, is for them [Israel] unto salvation. (Romans 10:1)
- And immediately he [Saint Paul] preached Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. (Acts 9:20)
