Pope Francis has appointed 71-year-old Arthur Roche from England as the prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Until now the archbishop was the secretary of the congregation, which deals with issues such as the translation of liturgical texts or the validity of sacraments.
Recently, he oversaw the new translation of the Our Father into Italian.
ABP. ARTHUR ROCHE
Secretary, Congregation for Divine Worship, Sacraments
“No, the the pope isn't changing the Our Father. How could he change what is in Scripture? FLASH You see, the most fundamental text for liturgical translations is the Bible. Because the prayers of the Mass are mainly taken from the Scriptures. So the texts of the Mass have to correspond to the Bible.”
Archbishop Roche succeeds Cardinal Robert Sarah, who was appointed prefect of the congregation by Pope Francis in 2014, a role he served in until February 2021.
The Pope also named the Italian bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola as the congregation's new secretary.
As undersecretary the Pope appointed Fr. Aurelio García Marcías from Spain, who has worked in the congregation since 2015.
Javier Romero
TR: Justin McLellan
RR
