Last month, Pope Francis issued the motu proprio, Magnum Principium, which changes the rules for liturgical translation into vernacular languages in the Roman Rite. This document transfers the power of initiative in making such translations from the Congregation for Divine Worship in Rome to Episcopal Conferences but leaves ambiguous how extensive Rome’s power of review may remain.
Over the last month Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has sought to prevent the Pope’s new rules delegating translation to Bishops’ Conferences from taking effect.
Sarah has referred to 2001 document Liturgiam authenticam which required that vernacular translations of the liturgy actually be exact translations of the Latin text without regard for idiomatic nuances and syntax of the vernacular texts.
Cardinal Sarah has insisted that Liturgiam authenticam remain the basis for new translations proposed by Bishops’ Conferences.
Most recently, Pope Francis corrected the Cardinal for his misinterpretation of the new instruction.
The public correction of Cardinal Sarah comes after Cardinal Reinhard Marx, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, welcomed Magnum Principium, and implied that it was a clear break with the 2001 document Liturgiam authenticam, which he called a “dead end.”
The Pope’s public rebuke of the Cardinal comes after Sarah issued a commentary note in the French Catholic journal L’Homme Nouveau, stating that Pope Francis’ new motu proprio does not substantially alter the authority of the Holy See over liturgical translations.
Pope Francis instead makes clear to Sarah that key provisions of John Paul II’s Liturgiam authenticam have been “abrogated” establishing the new instruction that translations no longer must conform on all points to the norms of Liturgiam authenticam as was done in the past.
The Pope also plainly states he is shifting responsibility for judging a translation’s fidelity to the Latin away from Rome to the local Bishops’ Conferences. “Judgement of the fidelity to the Latin and any needed corrections was the task of the Dicastery,” he writes, “while now the norm grants to the Episcopal Conferences the faculty of judging the quality and consistency of each in the translations from the original, although in dialogue with the Holy See.”
Cardinal Sarah has reveled in cloaking himself in the mantle of “defender of the liturgy” which the neo-conservative reactionaries within the Church have been eager to drape upon his shoulders.
Sarah has been very public in his defensive reactions to many of Pope Francis’ pastoral initiatives and reforms.
With this rare and public Papal rebuke of Sarah’s attitudes and tactics, it is time for His Eminence to offer the right and ethical response to the Holy Father and resign the Office of Prefect of the Congregation.
Cardinal Sarah and other high-ranking neo-conservative Prelates have embarrassed themselves and dishonored the Sacred Petrine Office by their constant laments and criticisms.
It’s time for Sarah to go. May he have the personal dignity and honesty to do so quickly and quietly.
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