Bishops give guarded response to wording change for the Lord's Prayer
Bishops have given a guarded response when asked if they plan to follow their Italian counterparts and change the wording of the Lord's Prayer.
Pope Francis risked angering Catholic traditionalists by approving a change to the wording of the Our Father, which is said at every Mass.
Instead of saying “lead us not into temptation, it will say “do not let us fall into temptation.”
It is part of a revised translation of the Roman Missal for Italy and the change is one that the Pope has called for in the past.
Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnois, Francis Duffy, said the bishops would look at the implications for both the Irish and English Translations of this “much loved and universal prayer.” Bishop Duffy is chairperson of the Council for Liturgy of the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference.
“In consultation with bishops from other English-speaking countries the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference will give close attention to the reported change to the Lord's Prayer,” he stated.
The Catholic church in England and Wales has no immediate plans to change the wording.
“The Lord's Prayer has been changed in the Italian language – there are no plans at present for it to change in English,” a spokesperson said.
“Each language will be studied to see the specific meaning and understanding of the language. I am sure there will be some consultation with the English-speaking nations.”
During an interview in December 2017, the Pope said the line “Lead us not into temptation” in the Lord's Prayer was not a good translation and suggested “do not let us fall into temptation” as an alternative.
“I'm the one who falls. But it's not Him (God) who pushes me into temptation to see how I fall. No, a father does not do this. A father helps us up immediately.," he said.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) June 6, 2019
Prof of theology at Trinity College Dublin, Siobhán Garrigan, speaking on RTÉ radio, believed the Pope understood that people of faith today needed a language that reflected their understanding of love as they perceived it.
