In this second installment in the reading of the Pope’s exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel, I want to clear a few introductory remarks before getting into the document. The politics, the reach and translation problems.
The Politics
I cannot think of a time since Humanae Vitae when a pope’s letter got this much attention. The right wing has come out deriding the letter, and the left wing is strangely quiet. For all of his talk of the poor, the left has been waiting to see if this Pope is a leftist, or will come out as such. I expect hey will soon begin to attack him.
John Paul II and Benedict both took heat from the left wing for being non-negotiable on women’s ordination and artificial birth control. Nothing has changed with this Pope in that regard, but his emphasis on social justice has the right wing in a fever.
I rebutted Judge Napolitano’s attack on the Pope’s open letter to the world here, and I heard Rush Limbaugh making the same argument as Napolitano. So the right wing has its marching orders on this, and yesterday I reviewed an attack of sorts form the left.
The Reach
Americans tend ot think of the Catholic Church as either a foreign entity or an American institution, depending if you are protestant or Catholic. The Roman church sees itself as part of a Universal church. In fact, what concrete examples the Pope mentions are from all continents except North America.
The Roman Church traces itself back to Peter, and there are some 30 other catholic churches that trace themselves back to an Apostle, legitimacy found in Apostolic succession in general, and in the case of the Roman rite, Petrine in particular. Other catholic churches trace their legitimacy back to Andrew, either James, John, Thomas, etc. All of these churches consider Rome first among equals and are said to be in communion with Rome. Then there are the schismatic Churches, essentially a political dispute, but still give serious consideration to what the Pope has ot say. In essence, a Pope always had a wide audience, but this Pope also has a popular audience.
Translation Problems
Vatican documents are usually published in Latin, the language of the Latin Church, and then translated into various languages. There is a long history of tendentious translating into English, with some documents having to be revised the work is so execrable. It seems the church has as translators people with a specific agenda. When Benedict tried to reform the bureaucracy, the eunuchs burned down the treasury, in the form of Vatican-gate. This Pope is dealing with the bureaucracy by refusing to live with them. Ouch.
But back to the translation. As I was reading the document, in English there are many phrases that sound so odd and un-Pope like. In paragraph 65, in talking about Catholic universities and hospitals, there is the sentence “This is a good thing.” Now that is fine as a Martha Stewart signature line, but it is jarring when it shows up in a Papal exhortation. There are such as this about every three pages. I was going to have a Latin scholar I have on retainer translate paragraph 65 from the original Latin, only to find in this case the original is in Spanish, this Pope’s first language. So even I can make out the Spanish, and here is the sentence from the Spanish version
Es muy bueno que así sea.
I guess so, although “This is very good.” would be my rough translation, as opposed to the Martha meme. My plan was to find something tendentious on a superficial level (all I can handle) to make a point the translation was sloppy.
But more perspicacious minds are onto this problem, and here is the research of one blogger regarding the notorious paragraph 54, the paragraph that has the right wing apoplectic.
Let us assume that the original composition was Spanish:
54. En este contexto, algunos todavía defienden las teorías del «derrame», que suponen que todo crecimiento económico, favorecido por la libertad de mercado, logra provocar por sí mismo mayor equidad e inclusión social en el mundo.
Official English…
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.
Over at the other post a commentator pointed out that the official English rendering of EG 54 makes Spanish “por si’ mismo” into “inevitably”, but that it really means “by itself”.
Let’s swap in the “by itself” and read it again.
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories ["trickle down economics"] which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will by itself succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world.
There is a big difference between “inevitably” and “by itself”!
There are uses of “mismo” that have to do with time, such as “ahora mismo” (“right now”). This is not one of those.
I think we can stipulate that “las teorías del «derrame»” is an adequate expression for English “trickle down” economics. We can drill, I suppose, into who generally uses the phrase “trickle down”. Some will say that only critics use the phrase. Let’s leave that aside. Also, I am not convinced that “justice and inclusiveness” does justice to “equidad e inclusión social”. ”Equidad” is not “justice”.
But the real point here is that in EG 54 the author says that “trickle down” economics cannot by itself produce the desired result.
That is, of course, correct.
Just so. And Equidad is simply equity, as in equity and inclusion, as in a fair shake and participation. So in this critical translation, we’ll probably see some improvements over time, and perhaps some heads knocked around in the Vatican translation office.
Mistranslation is a form of resistance. Straw man arguments, such as is coming from the right wing, and as I pointed out yesterday, a straw boy argument coming from the left wing. Why does anyone care? For there reasons stated above, this guy will have an impact, and he is being pushed ot see if he will push back, to get his measure. This reminds me of a story:
And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
These dangerous people, the left and right wing are confronting someone who has power over them.
For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
The time will come when they try to negotiate with this Pope.
Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
Whole lotta squealin' goin on, when even pigs want nothing to to with the possessors.
The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
Naturally, the powers that be do not like improvement, since it upsets their status quo. We all love a system that works for us.
And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
Who knows what else the man might do? (Two thousand pigs would represent sizable wealth in those times, gained how? Was some sort of equitable adjustment take place, where in a moment defrauded swineherds had the value of their herd increase by the bad fellows loss? You have to go to Heaven to get the rest of that story.)
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
The possessed are guilty of their possession, so to be exorcised is a mercy. In this short story we see Jesus get out of a boat, deal with people, get back in and sail away.
Oink. Splash.
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