The Bishops of England and Wales have announced that the current translation of the Roman Missal will be retained for use, in spite of Pope Francis’ motu proprio restoring responsibility for liturgical translations to local churches.
Magnum Principium amends canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law, giving back to bishops the responsibility for liturgical translations that they lost after the Second Vatican Council. But the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said after their meeting in Leeds last week that they were “grateful” for guidance that they have received from the Congregation for Divine Wor-ship that the motu proprio “concerns future liturgical translations and cannot be applied retroactively.”
The bishops’ statement appears to put paid to hopes that the highly-praised 1998 trans-lation of the Roman Missal that had been approved by 11 confe-rences of English-speaking bishops might be authorised for use in England and Wales. This translation was ultimately rejected by Rome for being insufficiently true to the Latin original.
Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith, vice-president of the bishops’ conference, said that the aim of Pope Francis from the start of his papacy has been to devolve power back to the bishops’ conferences.
