Pope Francis wants the Catholic Church to change the words of 鈥淭he Lord鈥檚 Prayer鈥� to make it clear that it is only Satan, not God, who can lead us into temptation.
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The current wording of the prayer that begins 鈥淥ur Father鈥� asks God to 鈥渓ead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.鈥� The pope said in a television interview Wednesday that phrasing 鈥渋s not a good translation" of ancient texts and appears to suggest that God induces temptation.
鈥淎 father does not push me into temptation, to see how I fell,鈥� he told TV2000. 鈥淎 father doesn鈥檛 do that. He helps you get up right away. What induces into temptation is Satan.鈥�
TV2000 is an Italian-language TV station owned by the Italian conference of Roman Catholic bishops.
The prayer should ask, instead, for God鈥檚 help in avoiding temptation, he said. A better wording, he said, would be: "Do not let us fall into temptation.鈥�
The French Catholic Church recently decided to use that phrase, switching from, 鈥淣e nous soumets pas à la tentation鈥� (鈥淒o not expose us to temptation鈥�) to: 鈥淣e nous laisse pas entrer en tentation鈥� (鈥渄o not allow us to give in to temptation鈥�).
Pope Francis said that wording, or something similar, should be applied worldwide.
The interview (in Italian) is below:
