New Missal in Italy. What’s Changing and What’s Not

I'm convinced they keep 'retranslating' things and changing their meaning so that the average, badly catechised Catholic has no idea what he's supposed to believe!

From Settimo Cielo

By Sandro Magister

On August 28 Pope Francis received the first copy of the new missal of the Italian Church, which will become mandatory starting Easter Sunday of 2021.

This new missal naturally concerns Italy in the first place, but it doesn’t stop there. The previous edition of 1983, in fact, was viewed by other national episcopates as a model to follow on account of the variety and richness of the Eucharistic prayers, the approximately two hundred new prayers for the beginning of Mass, each inspired by the Sunday Gospel, and the communion antiphons, also linked to the Gospel of the day.

But what are the new features of this missal, approved by the Italian episcopal conference in November 2018 with 195 “placet” and 5 “non placet” and definitively confirmed by Pope Francis on May 16 2019?

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The most striking new feature, but also the most controversial, is the modification in the “Pater noster” of the translation of the petition: “et ne nos inducas in tentationem.”

The translation “e non ci indurre in tentazione” used in Italy until now - like the English version in use in the United States: “and lead us not into temptation” - is a precise reproduction of the Latin words, which in turn strictly follow the Greek original: “kai me eisenénkes hemás eis peirasmón.”

But Pope Francis has never liked this translation. On several occasions he has said it is the devil who “tempts,” not God, and that therefore it was better to opt for the translation already present in the official version of the Bible published by the CEI in 2008: “e non abbandonarci alla tentazione,” similar to the petition in France and other French-speaking countries: “et ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation,” or in various Spanish-speaking countries, including Argentina: “e no nos dejes caer en la tentación”.

It is true that, in terms of logic, if God cannot “lead” us into temptation it is not clear why he should be allowed to “abandon us” to it. For two millennia the Church has never dreamed of changing this difficult passage of the Gospel, but rather of interpreting it according to its authentic meaning. As one of the most authoritative biblical scholars, the Jesuit Pietro Bovati, also did in “La Civiltà Cattolica” of February 3 2018, in an erudite article that cannot have escaped the pope in which he explained that “putting to the test is in the whole Bible what God does with man, in various moments and sometimes unfathomable ways, and it is what Jesus experienced to the highest degree in the Garden of Olives before the passion, when he prayed with the words: 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me!'”

The fact is that when the CEI came to vote on the new missal, in November of that same 2018, those who asked to keep the “non ci indurre in tentazione” were informed by the chair that the old translation was to be abandoned no matter what, because “it had been so decided.” And everyone's thoughts, in the assembly, went to Pope Francis.

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Also in the “Pater noster,” the faithful in Italy will moreover be called to a second change, for greater fidelity to both the Greek original and the Latin version. They will have to insert an “also” in this other petition: “E rimetti a noi i nostri debiti come anche noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori.”

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Another substantial change will be introduced into the “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” Instead of “e pace in terra agli uomini di buona volontà” - which follows the Latin “et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis” - one will say: “e pace in terra agli uomini amati dal Signore,” with a formula considered more faithful to the original Greek of the Gospel, where “eudokía” is not the “good will” of men but God’s “benevolence” toward them.

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Immediately before the “Gloria” the classical invocations in Greek “Kyrie eleison” and “Christe eleison” will also be used again, leaving in place the possibility of continuing to say: “Signore pietà” and “Cristo pietà.”

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In the “Confiteor” at the beginning of Mass, “sisters” will be added to “brothers” out of deference to contemporary linguistic imperatives: “Confesso a Dio onnipotente e a voi, fratelli e sorelle, che ho molto peccato....” And the same will be done wherever the standard Latin edition of the missal uses the word “fratres.”

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At communion, immediately after the “Agnus Dei,” a much more fitting translation will be given to the formula in the   Latin missal that says:

“Ecce Agnus Dei,
ecce qui tollit peccata mundi.
Beati qui ad cenam Agni vocati sunt.”

Currently the translation in use in Italy is the following:

“Beati gli invitati alla cena del Signore.
Ecco l’Agnello di Dio,
che toglie i peccati del mondo.”

From Easter Sunday 2021 one will instead say:

“Ecco l’Agnello di Dio,
ecco colui che toglie i peccati del mondo.
Beati gli invitati alla cena dell’Agnello.”

As can be seen, in the new formulation the celebrant, in the act of presenting the consecrated bread and wine to the faithful, will reconnect with the triple “Agnus Dei” sung or recited immediately before, adding to it - with a double “behold” - the words of John the Baptist in the fourth Gospel, and also the blessing of Revelation 19:9: “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” unfortunately with the omission of the reference to the eschatological wedding - also deleted in the Latin text -  opportunely present instead in the latest edition of the French missal: “Heureux les invités au repas des noces de l'Agneau.”

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Finally, among the other principal changes, there are three of them in Eucharistic Prayer II, the most widely used of all the anaphoras of the Italian missal.

The first change is in the opening words, those that are linked to the singing of the “Sanctus” and currently read “Padre veramente santo....” From next Easter Sunday they will become, more in keeping with the “Vere sanctus” of the ancient Latin anaphora: “Veramente santo sei tu o Padre, fonte di ogni santità. Ti preghiamo: santifica questi doni....”

The second change comes right after. The formula that until now says: “santifica questi doni con l’effusione del tuo Spirito” will be enriched with the evocative image present in the Latin expression “Spiritus tui rore sanctifica,” and will become: “santifica questi doni con la rugiada del tuo Spirito.”

The third change is at the beginning of the account of the institution of the Eucharist. Where it currently says: “Egli, offrendosi liberamente alla sua passione...” it will say: “Egli, consegnandosi volontariamente alla passione...” with greater fidelity to the biblical and liturgical meaning of the verb “tradere” and the adverb “voluntarie” of the Latin text.

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On the other hand, no changes are foreseen regarding the “pro multis” in the words of consecration of the chalice “qui pro vobis et pro multis effundetur in remissionem peccatorum,” which in Italian will continue to be translated not with “per molti” but with “per tutti.”

Joseph Ratzinger, as pope, had tried to bring all the missals in use around the world in the various languages ​​back to a faithful and uniform translation of the original “pro multis” of the Roman canon, in turn taken verbatim from the words of Jesus in the New Testament.

In 2006 through the congregation for divine worship and then in 2012 with his personal letter to the German bishops, Benedict XVI essentially ordered all the episcopal conferences to standardize their respective missals on this point, explaining the reasons for it:

> “For many” or “for all"? The right answer is the first. A letter of Benedict XVI

But when a year later Pope Benedict resigned, some episcopal conferences, including the Italian, still had not fallen in with the guideline and kept in their missals the term “for all,” which came into use after the Council.

With the advent of Francis, the idea has spread that this expression is more in keeping with the universal extension of “mercy” ceaselessly preached by the new pope.

And so on the question, as serious as it may be, the curtain fell.