Fr. Martin Linnenborn, director of the German Liturgical Institute, gave an interview to katholisch.de regarding the planned revision of the Missal for Holy Mass in the German-speaking world.
When Linneborn was asked whether “gender equity” and “inclusive language” will be considered in the new translation of the missal, Linneborn said, “Of course, wherever the text currently says only ‘brothers,’ we’ll also include ‘sisters.’ In general, the language should be as inclusive as possible. We’ll be mindful of images of God that are heavily masculine as well.”
The liturgist also addressed whether the Latin words of consecration over the chalice (pro multos) during the Eucharistic prayer would be translated as “für viele” (for many) or “für alle” (for all) in the new missal.
“In connection with the approval of their missal, the Italian bishops had voted in a separate ballot to retain the phrase ‘per tutti’ in the words over the chalice, and Pope Francis ultimately approved the Italian missal with ‘per tutti,’ meaning ‘for all.’ I suspect that a vote among the bishops of the German-speaking region would yield a similar result,” Linneborn said.
The question is controversial since many vernacular translations after the Second Vatican Council started using the translation “for all,” even though the Latin “pro multos,” which is a direct quotation of Jesus Christ taken from the Scriptures, clearly means “for many.”
In 2006, Cardinal Francis Arinze, then-prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, sent a letter to the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences in which he said that future translations should use “for many” to retain fidelity to Scripture and the original Latin.
However, he also said that Masses using “for all” were valid, but he suggested returning to the literal translation. Pope Benedict XVI affirmed this view in a letter to Archbishop Robert Zollitsch in 2012.
While the Vatican had greater oversight of vernacular translations under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Pope Francis changed Canon Law in 2017 with his motu proprio Magnum principium, which gave local episcopal conferences greater freedom to prepare and approve translations of liturgical books.
The revision of the German-language Missal began in 2024.
The episcopal conference of the German-speaking countries, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, as well as the bishops of Luxembourg, Vaduz, and Bolzano-Bressanone, set up four working groups to revise the liturgical books.
The process will go through several phases.
Linneborn said that the current timeline puts the project on track to finish in 2033.