Pope Francis approves change to Lord's Prayer

Pope Francis has officially approved a revised translation of the missal for Italy which includes a change to the Lord's Prayer that replaces "lead us not into temptation" with "do not let us fall into temptation".

According to La Croix International the Pope believes the new version is more appropriate because the first translation implies that God leads people into temptation, an action that is against his nature as a good and holy God.

"A father doesn't do that, a father helps you to get up immediately," Pope Francis said of the line in question. "It's Satan who leads us into temptation, that's his department."

The Gloria will also be revised. "Peace on earth to people of good will" will become "Peace on Earth to people beloved by God." According to CBN News, Christians have long wrestled with the meaning behind “lead us not”.

The late theologian Charles Spurgeon explained during a sermon in 1863 that the word "temptation" in Matthew 6:13 actually holds two meanings, both the temptation toward sin and the facing of trials and tribulations. While Spurgeon agrees that God does not tempt us, he does argue that God will send us into trials and situations in which temptation toward sin is ever-present.

"God tempts no man," Spurgeon said. "For God to tempt in the sense of enticing to sin (is) inconsistent with his nature, and altogether contrary to his known character; but for God to lead us into those conflicts with evil which we call temptations, is not only possible but usual."

Pope Francis in 2017 issued Magnum principium that called for translations which are both faithful to Latin and respectful of the local language. It is this second quality which was seen to suffer in the overly literalist translations.

Francis had also restored authority over translations to bishops' conferences, as the Second Vatican Council had decreed, rolling back the tendency of previous decades at centralism.

The Holy See no longer gives a recognitio by which it approves vernacular translations; it now gives a confirmatio that confirms decisions made by the bishops' conferences.

Follow mnnews.today on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.