Could the terms be used interchangeably?
I think they are used interchangeably quite often, and I’m not sure if there is any theologically significant difference between “worship” and “adoration” in English. The latter term simply entered English as a Romance loan word, of which we have
many thousands that function in parallel with our native Germanic words (e.g. the word “forest” is derived from French and Latin, while “woods” is Germanic).
The history of the Latin, Greek and English terms is
very muddy.
Historically, the Latin terms were pegged to certain Greek terminology as used by the early Ecumenical Councils. Namely, λατρεία (
latreia) which is worship offered to God alone, and προσκύνησις (
proskunesis) which is the veneration offered to Mary, the saints and angels (as well as their icons).
This distinction wasn’t so clear cut at times: the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (4th century) uses the term συμπροσκυνέω (
sumproskuneo) to mean “worshipped together” in the sense closer to λατρεία. The distinction between λατρεία and προσκύνησις became more clear by the late 8th century during the 7th Ecumenical Council when issues around the veneration of icons cropped up.
Pre-5th century, λατρεία was denoted by the Latin term
servitute while προσκύνησις was translated as
adoratio. This is seen in Latin translations of the proceedings of the Council of Chalcedon. However, by the Middle Ages,
adoratio came to be used for λατρεία while
veneratio was the translation of προσκύνησις. This is seen for example in Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. Sometimes to resolve any ambiguity, Latin authors would Latinise lατρεία into
latria.
That is the style as seen in the Catechism; it uses
adoratio very unambiguously as the worship that is to be offered to God alone (cf s 971, 378, etc.), and the English text translates it variously as “worship” or “adoration”.
If there is
any distinction between “worship” and “adoration” in English, it is perhaps that “worship” refers sometimes to the rites and rituals that constitute “adoration”: the Catechism occasionally uses phrases such as “cultus adorationis” or “cultus latriae”, which is translated as “worship of adoration” in the English text (cf s 1418).
Even in the context of this, I’m not quite sure what to make of the Bishop’s statement: I’m sure it’s not heterodox, but perhaps the character limit for Twitter is just far too constraining to make any sort of cogent theological statement.
