Pope: Deliver Us From Bad Translation of Lord's Prayer

Francis wants to reword 'lead us not into temptation' line
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 8, 2017 8:39 AM CST
Pope: Deliver Us From Bad Translation of Lord's Prayer
Pope Francis talks during a news conference on a flight to return to Rome on Saturday after a seven-day trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh.   (Vincenzo Pinto/Pool via AP)

The concept of temptation, and avoiding it, is something all Roman Catholics are made to confront throughout their liturgical lives. But Pope Francis is now saying if you feel that irresistible pull toward that which you shouldn't do, don't blame God for it. Specifically, per Reuters, the pontiff is taking issue with one line in the Lord's Prayer, aka the "Our Father"—the part in which worshipers implore God to "lead us not into temptation." "It is not a good translation, because it speaks of a God who induces temptation," the 80-year-old Francis told Italian broadcaster TV2000 on Wednesday, per the Guardian. "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," he continued, blaming Satan instead for any transgressions.

It's entirely possible something was lost in translation somewhere along the prayer's evolutionary timeline, as Reuters points out the original Aramaic was translated to ancient Greek, then to Latin, and finally to English. And the Telegraph notes translation errors and plain old typos have occurred over the years in related religious documents, such as the Bible (one famous one: leaving the word "not" out of the Seventh Commandment, leading it to read "Thou shalt commit adultery"). Francis pointed out that the Catholic Church in France has been using an alternative phrase in the Lord's Prayer, and it's one he's pushing for: "Do not let us fall into temptation." (More Pope Francis stories.)

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