new vulgate

[System_1]

Since Latin is a dead language and the original latin Vulgate was already declared to be totally free of error, why did the Church feel the need to make a new updated version of the Vulgate?

 

[Verbum]

Hi System,

The Vulgate was deemed to be free of doctrinal error, but not necessarily of translation errors. The New Vulgate takes into account all the progress that has been made in establishing the original texts and interpreting them.

Verbum

 

[peregrinus_sg]

Latin also isn’t a dead language. The Latin Church continues to use it as the official language. Even although some Catholics propagate Latin as a dreadful language that no one understands, interest and knowledge of Latin has been steadily on the rise and there are monastaries and communities that continue to celebrate the liturgy (Holy Mass and the Divine Office) in Latin. A new Latin translation of the Bible, updating the many translation errors that were made by St Jerome or that crept into the text, was needed for the reformed liturgy in Latin. The Council Fathers specifically called for a revision of the Psalter that provided a text that took into account the best of biblical scholarship, traditional interpretation and the style of Christian Latin. Venerable Pope Paul VI extended that injunction to the rest of the Bible, something which has been long recognised as overdue.

We must also not forget that biblical scholarship of itself can never determine the canonical limits of the sacred text. Modern scholarship informs us that we cannot at present determine the “original” state of the biblical text. The Nova Vulgata provides an important guide for selecting texts from different witnesses for liturgical purposes celebrated even in the vernacular.