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Pope Francis calls for a change to ‘Our Father’ prayer

Pope Francis calls for a change to ‘Our Father’ prayer
Pope Francis makes the sign of the Cross at the 25th anniversary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church at the Vatican Oct. 11. CNS photo/Paul Haring

By Mike Simpson

December 8, 2017

Pope Francis is calling for a new translation of one of the lines from the world’s most famous prayer, the Our Father.

The Pope says the line “lead us not into temptation” is “not a good translation.”

"It speaks of a God who induces temptation,” he told Italian broadcasters Dec. 6 on the TV2000 channel. 

“I am the one who falls; it’s not him pushing me into temptation to then see how I have fallen,” he said, according a report in The Guardian. “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.”

The Pope noted that the phrase has already been changed in France to “do not let us fall into temptation.”

He said the alternative words should be applied to the English translation around the world.

The Our Father has a long translation lineage. Originally in Aramaic, the language of Jesus’ time, it was translated to ancient Greek and Latin before modern translations.