Translating the Our Father

Over the last several days there has been a certain level of media coverage alleging that the Pope is ordering a specific change in translation of the Our Father.

I find it interesting that even though I realize just how bad media coverage regarding the Pope from secular and even Catholic sources is how easy it is to respond to a headline. My first thought was “Wait didn’t he recently give local bishops more responsibility regarding translations (“Magnum Principium”
) and here he is suggesting his own”. Like most hot takes my first thought was wrong.

As Jimmy Akin explains today No, Pope Francis Is Not Changing the Lord’s Prayer. Beyond showing how this false story got advanced, I also enjoyed his approach in looking at the translation and what it would mean if it was changed. As usual his balanced approach brings out some interesting points.

Msgr. Charles Pope recently wrote Why I Oppose Changing the English Translation of the Our Father where he acknowledges that reports regarding this are incorrect. I basically agree with the subtitle of his article “we should teach, explain and root ourselves more deeply in it.” Still I think Jimmy Akin answers some of his points better.

There are no perfect translations and there will always be some ambiguity and confusion. There are well known translations that often get asked about on Catholic radio such as the line “he descended into hell.” in the Nicene Creed. It would probably be better to translate this using the Hebrew word sheol for the place of the dead. But that wouldn’t end the confusion regarding this. It is not really negative that we have to ask questions about what we don’t understand or that we have to study more to understand something.