Pope Francis has called for the Italian translation of the Lord’s Prayer to be changed as it implies God leads people into temptation.
The line, which is traditionally translated into English as “And lead us not into temptation”, was recently changed in French to say “do not let us enter into temptation.”
Currently, the Italian translation is rendered in the same way as the English, implying a change in the English version may also be coming.
Asked about the change on French TV, the Pope said the traditional phrasing is “not a good translation”.
“I am the one who falls. It’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen,” he said. “A father doesn’t do that, a father helps you to get up immediately. It’s Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.”
In the Roman Missal, the line, which is also known as the Sixth Petition, is rendered in Latin “et ne nos inducas in tentationem”. However, the word “tentationem” and its Greek equivalent “πειρασμόν” have been translated in various ways over the centuries.
Some say it better translates as “trial” or “testing”, and could refer either to the Last Judgment or to trials described elsewhere in Scripture, such as the ones suffered by Job.
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