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Saturday, November 18, 2006
Arinze’s pro multis letter
I have obtained a copy of the letter sent by Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, to the heads of all the national episcopal conferences regarding the pro multis translation:
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[To their Eminences /Excellencies,
Presidents of the National Episcopal Conferences]
CONGREGATIO DE CULTU DIVINO
ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM
Prot. n. 467/05/L
Rome, 17 October 2006
Your Eminence / Your Excellency,
In July 2005 this Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote to all Presidents of Conferences of Bishops to ask their considered opinion regarding the translation into the various vernaculars of the expression pro multis in the formula for the consecration of the Precious Blood during the celebration of Holy Mass (ref. Prot. n. 467/05/L of 9 July 2005).
The replies received from the Bishops’ Conferences were studied by the two Congregations and a report was made to the Holy Father. At his direction, this Congregation now writes to Your Eminence / Your Excellency in the following terms:
1. A text corresponding to the words pro multis, handed down by the Church, constitutes the formula that has been in use in the Roman Rite in Latin from the earliest centuries. In the past 30 years or so, some approved vernacular texts have carried the interpretive translation “for all”, “per tutti”, or equivalents.
2. There is no doubt whatsoever regarding the validity of Masses celebrated with the use of a duly approved formula containing a formula equivalent to “for all”, as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has already declared (cf. Sacra Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, Declaratio de sensu tribuendo adprobationi versionum formularum sacramentalium, 25 Ianuarii 1974, AAS 66 [1974], 661). Indeed, the formula “for all” would undoubtedly correspond to a correct interpretation of the Lord’s intention expressed in the text. It is a dogma of faith that Christ died on the Cross for all men and women (cf. John 11:52; 2 Corinthians 5,14-15; Titus 2,11; 1 John 2,2).
3. There are, however, many arguments in favour of a more precise rendering of the traditional formula pro multis:
a. The Synoptic Gospels (Mt 26,28; Mk 14,24) make specific reference to “many” ([Greek word transliterated as polloin])) for whom the Lord is offering the Sacrifice, and this wording has been emphasized by some biblical scholars in connection with the words of the prophet Isaiah (53, 11-12). It would have been entirely possible in the Gospel texts to have said “for all” (for example, cf. Luke 12,41); instead, the formula given in the institution narrative is “for many”, and the words have been faithfully translated thus in most modern biblical versions.
b. The Roman Rite in Latin has always said pro multis and never pro omnibus in the consecration of the chalice.
c. The anaphoras of the various Oriental Rites, whether in Greek, Syriac, Armenian, the Slavic languages, etc., contain the verbal equivalent of the Latin pro multis in their respective languages.
d. “For many” is a faithful translation of pro multis, whereas “for all” is rather an explanation of the sort that belongs properly to catechesis.
e. The expression “for many”, while remaining open to the inclusion of each human person, is reflective also of the fact that this salvation is not brought about in some mechanistic way, without one’s willing or participation; rather, the believer is invited to accept in faith the gift that is being offered and to receive the supernatural life that is given to those who participate in this mystery, living it out in their lives as well so as to be numbered among the “many” to whom the text refers.
f. In line with the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, effort should be made to be more faithful to the Latin texts in the typical editions.
4. The Bishops’ Conferences of those countries where the formula “for all” or its equivalent is currently in use are therefore requested to undertake the necessary catechesis of the faithful on this matter in the next one or two years to prepare them for the introduction of a precise vernacular translation of the formula pro multis (e.g, “for many”, “per molti”, etc.) in the next translation of the Roman Missal that the Bishops and the Holy See will approve for use in their country.
With the expression of my high esteem and respect, I remain, Your Eminence/Your Excellency,
Devotedly Yours in Christ,
Francis Card. Arinze
Prefect
Technorati Tags:Catholic, Latin, liturgy, Mass, pro multis, Vatican
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“For many” it is; “For all” it is no longer
Catholic World News is reporting that the Vatican has officially decided that the Latin phrase pro multis in the Eucharistic Prayer should be rendered in English as “for many”. Current translations render it as “for all”:
(You can read the current Latin and English side-by-side at CatholicLiturgy.com.)...this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven.
Some of you are undoubtedly asking what the big deal is. The difference between the two versions is the difference between all people being saved, regardless of their relationship to Christ and His Church, and only those who are saved because of that relationship. As CWN summarizes:
The more natural translation, “for many,” more accurately suggests that while Christ’s redemptive suffering makes salvation available to all, it does not follow that all men are saved.
The debate over the translation has also been one of the arguments used by some Traditionalists in pointing out the deficiencies of the Novus Ordo. Could this be the first of many steps in reconciliation and reform? I hope so.
Technorati Tags:Catholic, Latin, liturgy, Mass, pro multis, Traditionalist
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Making fun of the Pope and the Church
Italian comedians on radio and TV are making fun of the Catholic Church, the Pope, and other Catholic leaders. Catholics have responded by issuing orders to burn Italian radio and TV stations, holding riots in the streets, and demanding the death of the comedians.... Oh wait, no they didn’t.
It’s so nice and safe to make fun of the Church because she’s an easy target. Of course, it would be really daring for the same comedians to make fun of Mohammed and Islam, but we know how that would turn out. Yet was that the goal all along, to see if Catholics were hypocrites?
They also struck a nerve with L’Avvenire, a newspaper owned by the Italian Bishops’ Conference, which accused the comedians of “satirical fundamentalism.”
In a front-page editorial on Friday, the paper complained that the jokes had been unwarranted. “Perhaps there is the secret intention to see if the church will respond like some Muslims responded to the satirical cartoons or to articles that criticize Islam, to then scream scandal,” wrote Carlo Cardia, an author who writes about the Catholic Church and a professor of ecclesiastical law at the University of Rome. The Catholic newspaper has said that it does not want to engage in polemics about whether it is acceptable to poke fun at the pope.
Aimed primarily at Pope Benedict?
Technorati Tags:Catholic, comedians, comedy, Italy, jokes, Pope, pope benedict xvi, Vatican
Read the rest of the blog entry...
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New Catholic search engine searches 1,000 Catholic web sites
St. Blog’s Catholic version of Google is Tim Harrison of Sacred Heart Media, who has given us such wonderful tools as the Catholic blog search engine at CatholicBlogs.com, the personalized Catholic news portal, myCatholic.com, the job search site, CatholicJobs.com, and the very helpful CatholicContent.com, has yet another new service for the online Catholic community: CatholicSearch.net (Tim also helped me with a recent re-design of my blog.)
The description of the new service is at Tim’s blog. What makes CatholicSearch different from CatholicBlogs is that while the latter is limited to just blogs, CatholicSearch will search over 1,000 Catholic web sites and only Catholic web sites. How many times have you gone to Google looking for something information on, say, Joan of Arc and ended up with all kinds of other irrelevant links cluttering up the results? With CatholicSearch you can just search Catholic sites.
Or, if you prefer to include the whole web, you can have it do a regular Google search of the whole Internet, while pushing the results from Catholic web sites to the top.
This is pretty cool. I know other people like to use ProLifeSearch.com, because they provide financial support to pro-life causes, but when you need to do a specialized search of just Catholic sites, and you need to find that information quickly, CatholicSearch may be just the ticket.
You don’t have one tool in your toolbox, so it makes sense to use different search engines for different purposes.
Technorati Tags:Catholic, Internet, search engine, web sites
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Hospital CEO attacks “antigay” Romney with hypocritical argument
The CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston runs a blog in which he usually discusses topics related to running such an institution. However, he recently strayed into left-wing, pro-gay politics when he said he couldn’t wait for Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to leave office for his “nasty and distressing” anti-gay positions. The CEO, Paul Levy, makes a unintentionally amusing case for his point of view.
Beth Israel Hospital was established in 1916 because of discrimination against Jewish doctors and Jewish patients. Open access was therefore a deeply held belief at that hospital, and it is a belief that persists with the new BIDMC. We welcome all ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups, and we do our best to treat everyone the same, i.e, as though they were members of our own family. This includes people of all sexual orientations: heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, and transgender. This is not only a matter of social justice. It is a matter of life and death. To discriminate on any basis whatsoever is to say that some people are entitled to better care than others. We just do not accept this.
I see. Well, this is great news. Since Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital does not discriminate “on any basis whatsoever” I would like free health care.
Hey, I can’t afford it. I’m unemployed and health insurance is expensive so I want Paul Levy to live up to his bluster and give me and my family free care at Beth Israel. Oh, and I don’t want that “charity” health care they usually give out, the minimal “free clinic” stuff. I want the same level of care that Levy gets.
Isn’t refusing that same level of health care to someone who can’t pay discrimination? And Levy did say that there was no basis whatsoever for discrimination.
Yeah, I thought so. Typical liberal double standard.
Technorati Tags:Beth Israel Deaconess, Boston, homosexuality, hospital, Massachusetts, politics, Romney
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