You’ve been saying it wrong all these years.
If you weren’t already in awe at Pope Francis’ ability to move next year’s All-Ireland Football finals forward a week, then get ready, because he is set to change another part of the world we take for granted.
Speaking on Italian Television, the Argentinian Pope has suggested updating one detail in ‘Our Father’, which he does not appreciate much. Specifically, he is unhappy with the line, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, since it implies that God “induces temptation.”
“It is not a good translation”, he said.
Although, given that it was translated from a 4th-Century Latin version of the Bible, which had been translated from ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic, it is no surprise that something went wrong along the way.
It’s just like a really bad game of Chinese whispers that happened to seep into the Irish Primary School curriculum by total accident.
Elaborating a little more, the Pope made his case by saying, “I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen. A father doesn’t do that. A father helps you to get up immediately. It’s Satan who leads us into temptation. That’s his department.”
Instead, he suggested trying a line comparable to the French translation, which says “do not let us fall into temptation”, although that still sound strikingly similar, if not the exact same.
Putting aside the verbs he wishes to add or alter for a moment, nevertheless, what is probably going to create more havoc in English-language churches the world over is the inevitable stumble towards the prayers climax. It was drilled into most of us as kids, so expect a few grand errors. The “Amen” sign-off is going to be all over the place. Follow that up with the fact that the All Ireland’s will be a little further off and there’s little solace.
If it’s any consolation though, at least we won’t all need to re-learn ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ too.
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