Pell on the new Mass translation

The Catholic Herald has an interview today with Cardinal George Pell of Australia where he comments on the new Mass translation. Here is the pertinent excerpt:

New Mass translation is 'dangerously close'

Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, is in a good mood. The new English translation of the Mass, a process which he has been overseeing for five years, is finally nearing completion. He has successfully launched the official countdown to World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008. And, since the last time we met, Australia has regained the Ashes.

But it’s the new translation of the Order of the Mass which he is clearly most pleased about, and before the interview gets underway he proudly brings forth a recently approved copy of the Ratio Translationis, a kind of manual for priests on the new translation. As chairman of Vox Clara, an ad-hoc group of bishops overseeing the translation process, the cardinal says the Church is now “dangerously close” to having the first draft of the new text completed. “I’m sure it will prove to be generally acceptable,” he explains. “The worst fears of a few will not be realised in any way at all.” He could not give a precise date for when the new translation will be available for use but said that since the process had started, he had often remarked that completion was just two years away. “That must be coming closer to the truth,” he jokes.