(28 Apr 10 – RV) Pope Benedict XVI held lunch today in the Casina Pio IV with "Vox
Clara" Committee members The Vox Clara Committee is a group of English-speaking bishops
who advise the Vatican on English translations of the Celebration of the Roman Rite,
and works in collaboration with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments. Below we publish the full text of Pope Benedict’s address to them:Dear
Cardinals, Dear Brother Bishops and Priests, Members and Consultors of the Vox
Clara Committee, I thank you for the work that Vox Clara has done over the last
eight years, assisting and advising the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments in fulfilling its responsibilities with regard to the English translations
of liturgical texts. This has been a truly collegial enterprise. Not only are all
five continents represented in the membership of the Committee, but you have been
assiduous in drawing together contributions from Bishops’ Conferences in English-speaking
territories all over the world. I thank you for the great labour you have expended
in your study of the translations and in processing the results of the many consultations
that have been conducted. I thank the expert assistants for offering the fruits of
their scholarship in order to render a service to the universal Church. And I thank
the Superiors and Officials of the Congregation for their daily, painstaking work
of overseeing the preparation and translation of texts that proclaim the truth of
our redemption in Christ, the Incarnate Word of God. Saint Augustine spoke beautifully
of the relation between John the Baptist, the vox clara that resounded on the banks
of the Jordan, and the Word that he spoke. A voice, he said, serves to share with
the listener the message that is already in the speaker’s heart. Once the word has
been spoken, it is present in the hearts of both, and so the voice, its task having
been completed, can fade away (cf. Sermon 293). I welcome the news that the English
translation of the Roman Missal will soon be ready for publication, so that the texts
you have worked so hard to prepare may be proclaimed in the liturgy that is celebrated
across the anglophone world. Through these sacred texts and the actions that accompany
them, Christ will be made present and active in the midst of his people. The voice
that helped bring these words to birth will have completed its task. A new task
will then present itself, one which falls outside the direct competence of Vox Clara,
but which in one way or another will involve all of you – the task of preparing for
the reception of the new translation by clergy and lay faithful. Many will find it
hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the
previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity,
and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped.
I pray that in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment will be averted, and
the change will serve instead as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic
devotion all over the English-speaking world. Dear Brother Bishops, Reverend Fathers,
Friends, I want you to know how much I appreciate the great collaborative endeavour
to which you have contributed. Soon the fruits of your labours will be made available
to English-speaking congregations everywhere. As the prayers of God’s people rise
before him like incense (cf. Psalm 140:2), may the Lord’s blessing come down upon
all who have contributed their time and expertise to crafting the texts in which those
prayers are expressed. Thank you, and may you be abundantly rewarded for your generous
service to God’s people.