An Appeal

The following is a letter I received from a dear priest who asks our help.

Dear Friends,
Ave Maria!

As you all know, it has been the centuries-old tradition in the vernacular languages to capitalized pronouns and possessive pronouns referring to Almighty God and to our Divine Lord Jesus. Faithful translations of the Popes' letters and addresses into the vernacular tongues have always maintained this important sign of respect for the majesty of God and the divinity of Our Blessed Lord. The English translations coming now from the English Edition of the Osservatore Romano have systematically stopped this Catholic protocol, most recently in the Pope's encyclical.

Fortunately the expert translators of Papal material into the Portuguese, Italian and Spanish tongues continue to follow this respectful practice which exists also in their own traditions. It is certainly evident that the clergy and faithful in these countries would not accept the introduction of referring to the Divinity in the lower case, and it is equally certain that we should not accept anything less regarding our own Catholic tradition. The respectful reference to God in the upper case, incidentally, is a practice followed also by devout Protestants.

So I am asking all of you, who feel so inspired, to send a letter or e-mail to the Director of the Osservatore Romano, Signor Mario Agnes, expressing your displeasure at this callous and disrespectful practice and requesting that the editors correct the texts on the internet and in any future printed versions.

The email address of the Osservatore is:
ornet@ossrom.va
or
Direttore MARIO AGNES
"L'Osservatore Romano"
00120 Cittá del Vaticano

"And I say to you: Whosoever shall confess Me before men,
him shall the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God.
But he that shall deny Me before men
shall be denied before the angels of God" (Lk. 12, 8-9).

Thank you all
and may God bless you.
In Christ,
Father Thomas Carleton