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Most of Asia’s bishops’ conferences have asked one of their Rome representatives why liturgical translations cannot be done at conference level.
This request was put to Cardinal Oswald Gracias from India, who is a member of the so-called C8 council which is advising Pope Francis on reform of the Roman Curia.
Cardinal Gracias and Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, who heads the C8, were interviewed by Jesuit Fr Thomas Reese, last month.
This was before the latest C8 meeting at the Vatican early this month.
Part of C8 members’ work thus far has been to collect suggestions from around the world, Fr Reese wrote.
Most of the bishops’ conferences in Asia asked Cardinal Gracias why liturgical translations could not be done at the conference level, especially for languages in which Rome has no expertise, Fr Reese noted.
This is ironic, since Cardinal Gracias is a member of the Vox Clara group appointed by the Vatican to oversee the latest English translations.
“I know about this issue,” Cardinal Gracias told Fr Reese. “I think they have a point.”
“But I also worry about a bad translation leading to misunderstanding and dogmatic error 50, 100 years from now. So there has to be a balance.”
He also noted, “Some conferences are too small to do the work”.
“On the other hand, maybe the conferences would do a better job if they thought they would be responsible. Now they know that someone in Rome will check it. I am not sure on this.”
Cardinal Ridriguez also hinted that chairs of liturgical committees in bishops’ conferences could be members of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
This is how CELAM, the Latin American bishops’ council, operates, Cardinal Rodriguez said.
Fr Reese noted that the C8 has set a December deadline for proposing reforms.
Reforms could include limiting service in the Vatican to five years, bringing more laity into the Curia, not making Vatican officials bishops or cardinals, and appointing more diocesan bishops with expertise to serve on congregations and councils, Fr Reese continued.
“These would be earth-shaking reforms for the Vatican,” he said.
Among the topics the C8 discussed in July was procedures for the appointment of bishops, but no decisions were made.
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