The struggles German Catholics are having with changes in the eucharistic prayer will be familiar for U.S. Catholics whose Mass language changed in 2011. In 2013, Germans who are used to praying that Jesus died für alle (for all) will be praying that Jesus died für viele (for many).

And the order to make the change is coming directly from Pope Benedict XVI.

In a recent 2,000-word letter to bishops in his native Germany, the pope addressed the translation of the Latin phrase pro multis in the eucharistic prayer, in which Christ told his disciples at the Last Supper that his blood was poured out, according to literal translation, “for you and for many.” He said there had been since the 1960s an “exegetical consensus” built on the idea that the original Hebrew sources implied not “for many” but “for all.” However, Benedict wrote, this had been an “interpretation” rather than a “translation,” and the Vatican had since asked local churches to revert to the more accurate phrase “for many.”

While bishops in Germany had agreed, the pope said, other German-speaking churches appeared intent on keeping the phrase “for all,” thus risking “a fission in our innermost sphere of prayer.”

“In this context, the Holy See has decided the words ‘pro multis’ must be translated as such in the new missal translation and not simultaneously interpreted. The simple translation ‘for many’ must replace the interpretative ‘for all,’ ” Benedict told the bishops.

The pope’s move follows years of controversy over new translations of the Catholic Mass in Germany.

The lay Catholic spoke with NCR after the pope’s letter, which was dated April 14, was published April 24 on the German Bishops’ Conference website.

An accompanying statement by the conference president, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, predicted the letter would provide “an important impulse” for completing the new translations.

Disputes have occurred over phrases used in the Catholic Mass since Vatican II, which made the term “for all” common usage in the church to reflect the view that Christ died to redeem all mankind.

(By Jonathan Luxmoore on ncronline.com)

If Jesus died for “many” and not for “all”, you can bet that the many will be Catholics who agree with the Pope.  Then rest are presumably consigned to hell.  To the great credit of lay Catholics there is uproar about the Pope’s authoritarian and unilateral behaviour.

Forecast:  within a few years the catholic “flock” will have reduced to a point that Catholic churches will be turned into furniture stores or supermarkets.