Is the English Translation of the Nicene Creed Correct?

by CNS · Published October 11, 2022 · Updated October 11, 2022

(CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

Question: My recollection is that the text of the Mass in English was rewritten about 20 years ago – to be a more accurate translation. I wonder, however, if they missed something: in the Nicene Creed, as we still say: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven.” Why was this reference to all humans as “men” not eliminated?

Answer: The changes in the English version of the Mass to which you refer went into effect on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011. The rationale, as I recall, was not so much to eliminate sexist references but to guarantee a more literal translation of the Latin text. This approach was based on a 2001 instruction from the Holy See called “Liturgiam Authenticam.”

That document said in part, “The translation of the liturgical texts of the Roman liturgy is not so much a work of creative innovation as it is of rendering the original texts faithfully and accurately into the vernacular language.” It clarified that “the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses.”

Still, though – in my mind the current English wording of the Nicene Creed is a mistranslation. The Latin wording is “propter nos homines,” and in Latin the word “homo” is generic; it means “person” or “human being.”

I, too, look for the day when it will be translated as such and not risk offending some listeners. Meanwhile, as a permissible alternative, often I choose instead to use the Apostles’ Creed.

Answered by By Father Kenneth Doyle