Vortex Weighs In On English Translations Of The Pope's Words

In today's Vortex, Michael Voris points out that Pope Francis does not speak English.  Of course English is the predominant language of the Western world, especially in matters of commerce and economics.  Pointing to a particular phrase of the Holy Father's concerning trickle-down economics, he shows how the change of one word completely alters the meaning of the papal text.

At 5:50 he states that "there's something fishy about how the Pope's words are being translated and mistranslated and blown out of proportion when other things he says are being overlooked, downplayed or just ignored."  He points out that his enemies at the Vatican realize the Holy Father's problem with English and that they don't hesitate to put out deliberately skewed translations.

Of course there are those who will exploit the Pope's sloppily-presented words to their own ends.  That's all the more reason for the Pope to retain translators who will faithfully and accurately translate his various documents, etc into the various languages before the progressive main-stream media get their paws and start warping them to their hearts' content.  Yes there are indeed subversive elements at the Vatican.  I do have trouble believing that the Holy Father knows and trusts no one who will offer the necessary translation skills to the Holy Father.  For instance, is not Cardinal Burke still at the Vatican?

I cannot hold the Holy Father as being completely blameless here.  It is he who must take proactive control of the message he wishes to communicate.  If I were to utter something in a careless manner on this blog and many well-meaning people gleaned from my words a meaning I didn't intend, no doubt the blame for the misunderstanding would rest on my shoulders.  It is the responsibility of the communicator to make his/her message sufficiently clear for a reasonable person to understand.  It is not the sole responsibility of the audience to automatically understand the communicator's intent, particularly when the message is objectively garbled.

If Michael Voris and other good people see this problem, why not the Holy Father?  Voris also asks "Just what good is the Holy See Press Office and the clerics there charged with getting proper English translations out to the world when they continue to let their buffoonery, inadequacy, incompetence and idiocy and perhaps even malice rule the day?"  I don't think there's any "perhaps" about the malice.  Recall that this same Press Office didn't let any such gaffes out their door during the previous two pontificates.   I agree with Voris when he says that the Press Office must be cleaned out.  Why does the pope dally and dither about reforming that communications office?  At the end of the day, the buck stops at his desk.