Pope Francis has promulgated new instructions for the approval of liturgical texts, re-balancing the relationship between the Vatican and local bishops’ conferences in favor of greater local control.
The Pope's order, issued in a motu propio titled Magnum Principium, reverses the trend in recent years toward greater Vatican control over the texts used in the Mass.
“In order that the renewal of the whole liturgical life might continue,” Francis wrote, “it seemed opportune that some principles handed on since the time of the [Second Vatican] Council should be more clearly reaffirmed and put into practice.”
Pope Francis has stated with magisterial authority: the Vatican II liturgical reform is ‘irreversible’!
Let Cardinals Sarah and Burke, and all those so-called conservative and like-minded reactionaries finally take note: the language of the Liturgy should be easily understandable and comfortable for the Priest to use and the people to enjoy.
Vatican II was not a meaningless gathering of the Bishops of the world. And while the two Pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI did everything they could to stifle the reform of the Sacred Liturgy, finally the Church-- in the person of the present Vicar of Christ -- has spoken and definitively so.
Earlier this year, Pope Francis had ordered a review of “Liturgiam Authenticam”, which set out the principles governing liturgical translation. The result was a disaster for English speaking peoples of the world.
That translation presently in use is horrific.
If I were a Latin teacher and my students translated the Vatican II Mass Prayers into English as they appear in the present translation, I would flunk them.
If I were an English teacher and students presented these Mass Prayers as examples of their language skills, I would flunk them as well.
The fact is the present translation is awkward and completely devoid of any relationship with contemporary language. It lacks proper grammar and syntax. It is clinical, not prayerful.
Archbishop Arthur Roche, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacrament and president of the commission reviewing “Liturgiam Authenticam,” has written a “key to reading” the newly issued motu propio.
In this key, he explains that “the object of the changes is to define better the roles of the Apostolic See and the Conferences of Bishops in respect to their proper competencies which are different yet remain complementary. They are called to work in a spirit of dialogue regarding the translation of the typical Latin books as well as for any eventual adaptations that could touch on rites and texts.”
I don’t know what any future translations will look like, but any third-grader could have written Mass texts in a style much more understandable and pleasant to hear than what we have been given since Liturgicam authenticam!
One of my many prayers has been answered!
Thanks, Lord! Thanks, Pope Francis!
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