One of the surprises to come out of the Synod on Synodality was a call for better liturgy. The final report of the October 2023 session of the synod referred to “the widely reported need to make liturgical language more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures.” The English-speaking church Read more
The Catholic Church in New Zealand is setting its sights on introducing an inclusive lectionary for Mass. Improved translations for the opening and post-Communion prayers are also under consideration. The initiative was confirmed by Bishop Stephen Lowe, president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference and the bishops’ representative on the International Commission on English Read more
Life is full of ironies. And life in the Church is no different. In fact, this past week we just witnessed a bit of irony that stretched right across the Atlantic Ocean, though most people seem to have missed it. On October 4, as English Archbishop Arthur Roche had just finished giving his first major Read more
The Italian bishops’ conference says a revised translation of the missal for Italy has been approved. Conference president Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti says Pope Francis authorised the publication of the revised translation of the third edition of the Messale Romano, which the bishops had approved last November. It will be some months before the books are Read more
Although Pope Francis has handed control of translating the liturgy to bishops’ conferences, Cardinal Robert Sarah says the Vatican will still need to approve the translations. Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, says the Vatican will continue to safeguard any changes and any new Read more
The German bishops appear to have abandoned a controversial new German translation of the Missal that was based on Liturgiam authenticam, the Congregation for Divine Worship’s 2001 document. Liturgiam authenticam insisted on greater fidelity to the Latin original in liturgy translations. The conference president Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called Liturgiam authenticam, a “dead end”. Read Read more
The New Zealand bishops agree that translations of liturgical texts should be 100 per cent accurate. But they are concerned that the existing rules for translating the texts, contained in Liturgiam Authenticam, produced texts that impose latin syntax on contemporary english. “We believe that some modification to the principles of liturgical translation as imposed by Liturgiam Authenticam could produce liturgical translations that could speak more easily Read more
There are reports that Pope Francis has set up a commission to review of Liturgiam Authenticam. This decree provided the principles that guided the recent translations of liturgical texts. The report in America Magazine states the commission will also examine what level of decentralisation is desirable in the church on matters such as this. But Read more
Most United States Catholic parish leaders who responded to a liturgy survey find the new English translation of the Mass “awkward and distracting”. Half of the 539 parishes who responded to questions from Georgetown’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) agreed that the translation “urgently needs to be revised”. The translation went into Read more