The Holy See’s communications office corrected comments by Pope Francis, made in response to a reporter asking whether he had knowledge of disgraced U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's sexual activities prior to an investigation.
The Vatican’s communications coordinator said the discrepancy was caused by the quick turnaround in translating a long interview in Spanish granted by the pope to a Mexican journalist. It is not the first time translation issues in papal comments have given rise to doubts about the true meaning of the pope’s words.
Until now, Pope Francis has never been completely clear on whether he was or was not personally aware that former Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick sexually abused minors and adult seminarians until a Church investigation was carried out, which led to the pope’s decision to defrock the cardinal in February this year.
A retired Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, has claimed for some time that he told Pope Francis about McCarrick’s behavior in a private audience in June 2013.
Last week, a Mexican journalist interviewed the pope and asked Francis straight out whether he had knowledge of McCarrick’s sexual activities before the investigation, which many say was an open secret in the Church.
The response given by the pope was initially made available in an Italian translation of the original Spanish interview but it was incomplete. An Associated Press journalist noticed and asked about the omission.
The first version in Italian stated Francis responded by saying he knew absolutely nothing about McCarrick. In reality, Pope Francis’ full response also included that he did not remember whether Vigano had spoken to him about the archbishop of Washington.
The text of the interview in Italian was immediately amended and the Vatican’s communications coordinator Andrea Tornielli declared the discrepancy was caused by the quick turnaround in translation of the full Spanish text of the interview.
In the past there have been other incidents at the Vatican where communication regarding papal comments have been unclear. Last year the Vatican communications office published a partial quote by Pope Benedict in a letter that completely misrepresented its meaning, leading to the resignation of the head of the communications office.
Others have argued that Pope Francis' famous comment on gays — “who am I to judge,” made aboard a plane, was taken out of context and misinterpreted due to the fact the full transcript only appeared in Italian.
