English Missal helps Church’s renovation, Pope Francis says

(ANSA) – Vatican City, October 18 – The translation of Missals into English has helped ”shape the prayer of many Catholics and has also contributed to the understanding of the faith, to exercise the common priesthood of the faithful and to the renewal of the Church’s evangelical dynamism, all central issues in council teachings”, Pope Francis said on Friday.

The pontiff made the remarks at an audience of members of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) on the 50h anniversary of its creation.

Praising the translation of liturgical texts into English, the pontiff noted that ICEL was ”also one of the signs of the spirit of Episcopal collegiality which finds expression” in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council.

He also praised the Episcopal conferences represented in ICEL and all those who contributed to its work.

Citing his predecessor Benedict XVI, Pope Francis recalled that the ”participation to the liturgy requested by the council” needs ”even more in-depth understanding” starting with, citing Ratzinger, ”a greater awareness of the mystery celebrated and its relationship with daily existence”.

The president emeritus of ICEL, Mons. Arthur Roche, greeted the pontiff before his speech.