The current leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has changed a line in the Lord’s Prayer, also known as “Our Father.”
The Pope has changed the words “lead us not into temptation” to “do not abandon us to temptation…”
The change so far only applies to the Italian translation of the ‘Our Father” which was given final approval by Italy’s bishops of the church, in consultation with the Holy See.
Some background to the change as reported in The Economist:
In 2017, Pope Francis told an Italian TV channel that he was unhappy with the standard translations of one particular line in the prayer which Christ proposed. That line is “lead us not into temptation” or in Italian “non indurci in tentazione”.
He explained: “It is not a good translation because it speaks of a God who induces temptation… I am the one who falls. It is not Him pushing me into temptation to then see how far I have fallen. A father doesn’t do that, a father helps you to get up immediately. It is Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.”
In the wake of that papal bomb-shell, it was left up to national bishops’ conferences, responsible for translation into their respective languages, to decide how to respond.
The latest development, prompting the recent headlines, is that Italy’s bishops, in consultation with the Holy See, have given final approval to an Italian version which reflects the pontiff’s thinking and will be used in a forthcoming Missal or prayer-book. The new rendering is “non abbandonarci alla tentazione…” meaning something like “do not abandon us to temptation…”
More: The Economist (paywall)
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