What did the Vox Clara letter say?
On 2 May 2002 I wrote about the Pope's letter to the Vox Clara committee of 20 April 2002. According to a version of the letter I found on www.adoremus.org he wrote:
"... In a special way, I wish to commend to the Pastors of the Church the important task of making available to the faithful, as quickly as possible, the vernacular translations of the editio tertia of the Missale Romanum, the publication of which I authorized last year. ..."
I saw this as significant because the Pope was saying he authorized the new Roman Missal in 2001.
This is version can also be found at www.vatican.va.
But the September edition of Notitiae (page 439) has two versions of the letter. In English it has:
"... the publication of which I authorized on 10 April 2000."
In Italian it has:
"... pubblicazione ho autorizzato lo scorso anno."
According to an Italian dictionary I have, "scorso" means "last, past" and "anno" means "year".
So there seem to be two versions of the one letter.
Both seem to have been published by L'Osservatore Romano. The English edition of 17-24 April 2002 has "authorized on 10 April 2000". According to Notitiae the Italian edition of 22-23 April 2002 had "scorso anno".
On one level its ironical that there could be this translation confusion in a letter to Vox Clara, a committee to promote accurate translations.
On a more serious level, what is John Paul II saying? Did he approve the changes made to the General Instruction to the Roman Missal, after its publication in 2000 (ISBN 88-209-7012-0)?
At present the Vatican seems to be publishing documents saying one thing in English and another in Italian. One thing on the internet and another in printed publications.
By J.R. Lilburne, 21 October 2002. Updated 29 October 2002, 30 October 2002. I give what I have written on this page to the public domain.
Other Sites:
With "authorized last year"
Vox Clara letter at vatican.va
Vox Clara letter at adoremus.org
With "authorized 10 April 2000"
USCCB BCL Newsletter June 2002 - near end of the Newsletter.