If Mass translation is

8 'dangerously close' ardinal George pa, the Archbishop of Sydney, is in a good mood. The new English translation of the Mass, a process which he has been overseeing for five years, is finally nearing completion. He has succetsfully launched the official countdown to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. And, since the last time we met, Australia has regained the Ashes.
But it's the new translation of the Order of the Mass which he is clearly most pleased about, and before the interview gets underway he proudly brings forth a recently approved copy of the Ratio Translationis, a kind of manual for priests on the new translation. As chairman of Vox Clara, an ad-hoc group of bishops overseeing the translation process, the cardinal says the C12urch is now "dangerously close" to having the first draft of the new text completed. "I'm sure it will prove to be generally acceptable," he explains. "The worst fears of a few will nof be realised in any way at all." He could not give a precise date for when the new translation will be available for use but said that since the process had started, he had often remarked that completion was just two years away. "That must be coming closer to the truth." he jokes.
In the half-hour interview Cardinal Pell discusses a range of other topics including Cardinal Giacomo Biffi's warnings that the Antichrist will be a pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist. He greets the cardinal's comments with a chuckle before warning of a false pacifism which chooses not to fight for anything, an ecological movement which becomes a kind of superstition, and an ecumenism that pushes the teachings of Christ aside. The Antichrist, he says, is like the painting by Signorelli in Orvieto cathedral which depicts him standing behind Christ, but putting out his hand as though it were Christ's own hand. Whatever form it has, it will have "many elements that are attractive to humans as well as being deeply, deeply evil", he predicts.
The bluff cardinal is suitably sceptical about climate change. He believes it is "certainly true" that in different areas human beings are harming the climate, but he doesn't think "there's anything like the evidence necessary to say human pollution is provoking a catastrophic climate change". And he draws on scientific evidence showing that although the Arctic might be melting, the Antarctic is actually getting colder. "People without religion are often looking for something to fear," he says, adding that experts often have to produce findings to justify their research grants. "Remember, scientists too are not immune to Original Sin," he says.
On Muslim-Catholic relations the cardinal says "dialogue has to be realistic". "It cannot systematically ignore crucial points of difference we have to talk about those in clarity and charity." As for World Youth Day, Cardinal Pell says preparations are going well: the Church is receiving plenty of help, even from the Australian government, and he's expecting crowds of up to 600,000 pilgrims. Young people, he says, "are looking for healing and they're looking for a set of principles that will bring them peace of heart and enable them to set up good marriages and family-. That's why Christianity spreads, he says. "Because it works."
The last time the cardinal had agreed to an interview, I couldn't help but gloat that England had just.won the Ashes. "Well, that's been reversed," he snorts 18 months later. But he believes -the great days are gone" for Australian cricket as the best players have retired, though he still thinks Australia's batsmen are the best in the world. He reacts sportingly to Harry Boyle's letter in the March 9 issue of the Herald. "That's good that,he chuckles. confident perhaps that England still pose as much threat to the Aussies as a Swiss Guard 2nd XI.
It's been arranged, then cancelled, then put back on again, and now postponed. Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed al Tantawi, a leading Sunni scholar at the esteemed Islamic al-Azhar university in Cairo, is now, finally, to visit Pope Benedict XVI in May rather than March, according to university sources. The reason for the change is allegedly so that his visit can coincide with a twice-postponed meeting between former Iranian president Mohammed Ithatami and the Pope. According to informed sources, that meeting will now take place in early May when Mr Ithatarni will also address a conference on Catholic-Muslim relations at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Rome Correspondent: Edward Pentin E-mail: [email protected]