Quote:

Msgr. Annibale Bugnini

In the ecumenical climate of the Second Vatican Council, it has been noted in many quarters that some expressions of the Orationes Solemnes of Good Friday sound pretty bad [or "rather off"] today. It has therefore been persistently asked whether it would be possible to attenuate [or "tone down"] some of the phrases.

It is always regrettable to have to touch venerable texts, which have nurtured, so effectively, Christian piety, and which still retain the spiritual fragrance of the early Christian ages of the Church. Above all, it is difficult to retouch literary masterpieces of unsurpassed form and conceptuality. Nevertheless, it was deemed necessary to undertake the work, so that no one would experience spiritual discomfort in the prayer of the Church.

The revisions were limited to what was absolutely necessary... The seventh prayer bears the title: "For the unity of Christians" (not "of the Church," which has always been one). We no longer speak of "heretics" and "schimatics," but of "all brothers who believe in Christ." The complete text says: [he provides some of the new texts, the new prayers V, VI and VII mentioned above]

Scholars will consider and highlight the biblical and liturgical sources from which the new texts, carefully crafted by the Consilium Study Groups, derive or draw inspiration. And let us also note that the work has often proceeded "with fear and trembling," having to sacrifice much-loved expressions and concepts, now long familiar.

How could we not regret, for example, the "ad sanctam matrem Ecclesiam catolicam atque apostolicam revocare dignetur" ["and recall them to our holy mother the Catholic and Apostolic Church"] of the seventh prayer? And yet, love for souls and the desire to facilitate in every way the path of union with our separated brothers, removing every stone that might even remotely constitute a stumbling block or cause for discomfort, have led the Church even to these painful sacrifices."

(L'Osservatore Romano, March 19, 1965, p.6)