Thank you, @Dovekin. This brief passage, Gal 1:18-19, together with its accompanying footnote, has changed in an interesting way from one edition to the next of the Jerusalem Bible. The original 1966 JB already clearly leaned toward the “third James” hypothesis, but in a nuanced, undemonstrative way. The new, succinct wording of the footnote in the Revised New Jerusalem Bible, published last year, explicitly rejects in forthright language the alternative hypothesis, that James the Less and James the Just were one and the same man, and that the Gospels nowhere mention the alleged “third James.”
This looks suspiciously like a sign that the Catholic Church is quietly and unobtrusively withdrawing its support from the traditional view. Henry Wansbrough, who edited both the NJB and the RNJB, is a Biblical scholar who enjoys considerable prestige in Rome. A Benedictine monk, he was reportedly either the main author or the sole author of a book-length document released in 2001 by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, over the signature of the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, titled
The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible.
… … …
The three editions of the Jerusalem Bible in English:
JB (1966, ed. Alexander Jones)
NJB (1985, ed. Henry Wansbrough)
RNJB (2019, ed. Henry Wansbrough)
Text of Gal 1:18-19 with footnote to the name “James” in v. 19
JB:
[vv. 18-19] Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord.
[Footnote] Lit. ‘but only James’. Others translate ‘except James’, either identifying this James with the son of Alphaeus, Mt 10:3p, and taking him for one of the Twelve, or else understanding ‘apostle’ in the wider sense, cf. Rm 1:1+.
NJB:
[vv.18-19] Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas. I stayed fifteen days with him but did not set eyes on any of the rest of the apostles, only James, the Lord’s brother.
[Footnote] Unchanged from JB
RNJB:
[vv. 18-19] unchanged from NJB
[Footnote] This James was not one of the Twelve, so ‘apostle’ is being used in a wider sense.