Sunday, May 27, 2012

Vatican translates Latin document - 34 years later

Perhaps the only thing longer than the title of a Vatican document issued in English on Wednesday was the time it took for an official translation of the Latin to appear - 34 years.

The document, called "Norms Regarding the Manner of Proceeding in the Discernment of Presumed Apparitions or Revelations," was approved by Pope Paul VI in 1978.

It was published only in Latin and sent to bishops around the world.

But, presumably because fewer and fewer bishops spoke Latin, a plethora of unofficial translations sprung up without the permission of the Vatican's doctrinal department, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

So, the Congregation decided to issue an official translation of "Normae de modo procedendi in diudicandis praesumptis apparitionibus ac revelationibus". 

The three-page document now has a new, two-page preface - in English.

Three popes have been elected since the first publication of the document, which offers guidance to bishops on how to distinguish a bona fide apparition from a bogus one.