Notice from the Vatican Office of Translation
Before "poor translation" is made the scapegoat of this latest statements by our Pope , we would like to post this important announcement to the faithful worldwide.DO NOT BLAME US!!! We do not tell our Great Papa what to say. He says it and we try to figure out what it means in Italian, let alone all the languages of the world!
Frankly, whatever you think he said, or whatever you read that he said, or whatever is reported that he said... well, it's all wrong! He never said it!
We are not charged with perfection in translation. In fact, none of us speak a second language at all!
This may surprise many readers of this notice, so I will describe our role here at Vatican Central... or VeeCee, as we call it.
First, just months ago, we were all homeless on the Streets of Rome. The translation office is a jobs program for homeless Italians. Through the kindness of the Great leaders at VeeCee, 8 of us were recruited to a very fulfilling job with benefits. Many of us previously used Google Translate, so we had every qualification needed. Please note, our instructions are to get the message out fast. You may have noticed our Great Pope speaks "off the cuff" quite frequently, or as we say here in VeeCee, "between bites of pasta."
For this reason, we are not charged with accuracy, but with speed. Blinding speed. And between you and me, we are fast. We don't like to miss meals. Done is done. Good enough, is good enough.
With this in mind, please try to speak kindly of us so that we can continue in this important role.
Sincerely,
Luigi, Antonio, Giuseppe, Michael, Maria, Giovanna, Francesco, & Concetta
