PopeWatch is sure it is only-checks notes-a translation error. Poor Pope Francis, always being mistranslated.
PopeWatch: Always a Class Act
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
Sure, probably a bit cruder than you’d want from the Vicar of Christ, but I have to say, I agree with him. I’d probably replace ‘poor’ with ‘worthless’, but the fact that the Pope wasn’t immediately struck by lightning after saying this is proof of God’s infinite mercy.
There are words in Spanish that are used to refer to children born out of wedlock, and crude words that are equivalent to the Engish word “bastard.” They actually use the cognate wor, “bastardo” to mean bastard.
But the Pope referred to himself as a “pobre desgraciado,” which is not a crude expression, and it does not translate as “bastard.”
It would be litterally, a poor disgraced person. But a better translation is a poor fellow, an unfortunate soul, a poor sinner, a miserable wretch. He is merely referring to himself as a sinner in need of Divine Mercy.
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