Dear friends and co-workers!

I hope the beginning of this New Year has been amazing. Today I want to talk to you about the Pope as a translation critic. Pope Francis complained about the sixth line of the Our Father in several languages and demanded it be changed in, among others places, France. According to the Pontiff “Bring us not into temptation” is not a good translation and should be read as “Do not let us fall into temptation”, because who leads into temptation is Satan, not God. A Father does not lead us into temptation; he helps us so we won’t fall into it. France’s bishops have already responded by having the line changed and other countries will follow. This is not a new demand, as it had already been proposed by some theologians in the 20th century. It goes to show how hard translation options are and that they can change mentalities throughout the centuries.

Yours,

Ester Ramos

The Gutenberg Bible