Liturgiam authenticam

This instruction included the requirement that, in translations of the liturgical texts or of the Bible, "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. Any adaptation to the characteristics or the nature of the various vernacular languages is to be sober and discreet." (n. 20)

Content

Use of the Nova Vulgata

Liturgiam authenticam established the Nova Vulgata as "the point of reference as regards the delineation of the canonical text." Concerning the translation of liturgical texts, the instruction states:

Furthermore, in the preparation of these translations for liturgical use, the Nova Vulgata Editio, promulgated by the Apostolic See, is normally to be consulted as an auxiliary tool, in a manner described elsewhere in this Instruction, in order to maintain the tradition of interpretation that is proper to the Latin Liturgy. [...] [I]t is advantageous to be guided by the Nova Vulgata wherever there is a need to choose, from among various possibilities [of translation], that one which is most suited for expressing the manner in which a text has traditionally been read and received within the Latin liturgical tradition

However, the instruction precises (n. 24) that translations should not be made from the Nova Vulgata, but "must be made directly from the original texts, namely the Latin, as regards the texts of ecclesiastical composition, or the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, as the case may be, as regards the texts of Sacred Scripture". Therefore, the instruction does not recommend a translation of the Bible or of the liturgy based upon the Latin Nova Vulgata; the Nova Vulgata must simply being used as an "auxiliary tool" (n. 24).