In?brief

Implementation of the new translation of the German Missal has been postponed for an indefinite period, the German ­bishops’ conference announced. The translators had fulfilled their task “according to their understanding of the Latin text and their feeling for the German language”, the bishops said. As numerous queries regarding the translation had come in, it had been decided not to send the new translation to Rome for approval yet. This means that in the German-speaking Church only the approved Missal of 1975 is valid. 

 

The new Australian Government’s decision to challenge an attempt to legalise same-sex marriage in the Australian Capital Territory has been welcomed by the leader of Sydney’s Catholic agency for marriage and family. Chris Meney, director of the archdiocese’s Life, Marriage and Family Centre, told Catholic Communications in Sydney: “I firmly believe it is in Australia’s interest that important laws regarding social institutions such as marriage are consistent across the nation.”

 

The French bishops have approved a new edition of the Bible that will include a revised wording of one line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation”. The existing French version reads, “Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation”, which translates as “Do not submit us to temptation”. Because of the possibility of this seeming to suggest God could make us succumb to the temptation of sin, the revised wording, in Bibles to be published next month, will read “Et ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation” or “Let us not enter into temptation”. The Vatican authorised the change.

 

Campaigners have protested at the decision of Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas of San Salvador to close the Human Rights Office, known as Tutela Legal, on 30 September. The Catholic charity Cafod, which has supported the body since 1981, stated it was “shocked and bewildered” at the closure of Tutela Legal, founded by Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1977.

 

Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309), a wealthy Italian woman who was converted by St Francis of Assisi to become one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages, has been declared a saint. On 9 October, Pope Francis bypassed the need for a second miracle and said he wanted to “extend her cult” to the universal Church.