'Jews should chill out'

Jewish organizations, like the ADL and AJC, were on edge last year after the pope announced he was softening restrictions on the Tridentine Mass, which before the Second Vatican Council had called for the conversion of "perfidious Jews." This op-ed in The Forward calls for an end to the "Tridentine Mass hysteria."

In this day and age, Jews should not be overreacting to Pope Benedict XVI’s revision of the Good Friday prayer calling for our people “to acknowledge Jesus Christ the Savior of all men.” A very small minority of Catholics saying these words in 2008 is very different in its threat to Jews than every Catholic saying these words in 1668.

Of course, it would have been wise and surely more comforting to Jews — not to mention educative to Catholics — if the pope, in permitting this prayer and rewriting it, had also recalled the historical violence that such prayers and attitudes evoked throughout history. But Jews should chill out rather than turn this into one more drama of how the world hates us.