Because I continue to get question in my email about bizarre things that priests do to the FORM OF ABSOLUTION, it is good to remind everyone that in 2023 the Novus Ordo form of absolution in English is to change. There has been an official tweak of the English translation of the Latin.
In 2021 the US Bishops voted for the new translation. Rome approved it in April 2022. It goes into effect in 2023.
I can foresee an ACTION ITEM by lay people. Make sure that priests who are doing dodgy things with the form of absolution are informed about the correct form precisely because this change is going into effect.
It is an OPPORTUNITY to help some priests stop screwing about with the form of absolution. If the priests resist, get authorities involved if they keep up their shenanigans.
New translation of the prayer of absolution incoming next year.
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and poured out [Latin: effudit] the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God grant [Latin: tribuat] you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
And here’s what the prayer was before:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins
in the name of the Father, [sign of the cross] and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Use Latin and there is ZERO question of validity.
The Latin for the post-Conciliar form:
Deus, Pater misericordiarum, qui per mortem et resurrectionem Filii Sui mundum Sibi reconciliavit et Spiritum Sanctum effudit in remissionem peccatorum, per ministerium Ecclesiae indulgentiam tibi tribuat et pacem. Et ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
Priests of the Latin Church should know this Latin form of absolution by heart… yes, in Latin.
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I prefer the original version, Latin, which includes in remissionem peccatorum.
The new translation it’s the one I learned (english it’s not my first language). Could it be that it was already in use in the U.K?
Well ,Father Z, This is as subtle as a bulldozer. God “gives” us the absolution, it is a gift, a present towards our salvation.
Now, the Church may “grant” it to us. Allow us, which means they can say no.
You can’t take back a gift from God.
[Give it a little more thought?]
The more I attend the classical form of the Roman Rite (I am lucky in that it is available in both locations within easy distance of my homes in PA and MA), the more JARRING it is to hear the prayers of our Rite in the vernacular. Luckily, my confessor knows how much it comforts my soul to hear the absolution in the language of our forefathers…that even though the confession is in the vernacular…somehow hearing it in Latin links it into the constancy of the Faith handed down through the ages.
The New sounds like what I’ve heard in the “box” in the average Parish or Chapel for some years now down here in Australia.
As an aside, when visiting the USA years ago, I was astonished at the translation used in Mass for the readings. It didn’t line up at all with what was in my St Paul’s Sunday Missal.
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