Pius XII … er um… Homer… er um… someone nodded

Homer nods all over the place.  He can nod at times even in papal documents… or at least the online versions of papal documents on the Vatican website.

A reader caught this blooper, which given the recent climate of hostility being created by the New York Times I thought especially amusing.

From the reader:

This, in the following link to Pius XII’s encyclical on St. Bernard from 1953:
 

The "Doctor Mellifluus," "the last of the Fathers, but certainly not inferior to the earlier ones,"[1] was remarkable for such qualities of nature and of mind, and so enriched by God with heavenly gifts, that in the changing and often stormy Times New Roman in which he lived, he seemed to dominate by his holiness, wisdom, and most prudent counsel. Wherefore, he has been highly praised, not only by the sovereign Pontiffs and writers of the Catholic Church, but also, and not infrequently, by heretics.
 
(I kid you not — it’s right there!)

Seeing is believing, they say… so I sought and I found:

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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11 Comments

  1. Jillian says:

    I wonder if it’s a conspiracy?

    I found the same error in the English translation of Pope Pius XII’s encyclical “Mediator Dei”
    “90. First of all the more extrinsic explanations are these: it frequently happens that the faithful assisting at Mass join their prayers alternately with those of the priest, and someTimes New Roman – a more frequent occurrence in ancient Times New Roman – they offer to the ministers at the altar bread and wine to be changed into the body and blood of Christ, and, finally, by their alms they get the priest to offer the divine victim for their intentions.”

  2. Roland de Chanson says:

    This is indeed the Font of All Evil.

  3. pfhawkins says:

    Based on the fact that this shows up multiple times, it appears that at some point in the document preparation process someone accidentally search and replaced “time” with “Times New Roman”. It is much more likely computer error than human error.

  4. Andrew says:

    The Latin version of the same website is also neat: the ending sentence of the same paragraph reads as follows:

    “… in mc rtali vita perfruens.”

  5. chonak says:

    _Pace_ Roland, the real Font of All Evil is Comic Sans.

  6. chironomo says:

    Yes…it looks like someone accidently selected “Find/Replace” when meaning to change the document font. Thank God the selected font wasn’t either “Las Vegas” or “Berlin”….

  7. Vatican website. Don’t EVEN get me started.

  8. Martial Artist says:

    Well, you know what they say: “Spell Czech is hear two stay!”

    It is, therefore, always advisable, when proofreading to actually read, rather than using an automated tool.

    Pax et bonum,
    Keith Töpfer

  9. DominiSumus says:

    I particularly like #34. “A certain restlessness, anxiety and fear have invaded the minds of men. It is indeed to be greatly feared that if the light of the Gospel gradually fades and wanes in the minds of many, or if – what is even worse, – they utterly reject it, the very foundations of civil and domestic society will collapse, and more evil Times New Roman will unhappily result.”

    Perhaps Pope Benedict will write an encyclical on Comic Sans. http://bancomicsans.com/about.html

  10. Hieronymus Illinensis says:

    Times New Roman : Windows :: Times : Mac.

    Remember the rumor that was running around in the mid ’90s that Microsoft had bought the Vatican?

    The best answer at that time (which I hope someone used, because I wasn’t online yet) would have been that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church.

    Now… is it a sign of the Times New Roman?

  11. Magpie says:

    See this is what happens when you use MS Office. I hate the new Word. I use openoffice.

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