By Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, March 3, 2026
On February 16, 2026, in the context of celebrating the 400th Anniversary of St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican shared about a number of innovations launching for visitors and pilgrims. Among these is a new multilingual liturgical platform, offering audio and text translation of parts of the liturgy in 60 languages, accessible on personal mobile devices via QR code. The translation system is powered by an AI tool called Lara, and is supported by Translated, as a “first large scale application of simultaneous AI interpretation within a sacred space at the Vatican.”
According to Translated, the translation service is intended for “main celebrations,” Although the press release does not specify parts of the liturgy, additional coverage points to readings, chants and prayers.
As an occasional pilgrim to St. Peter’s Basilica, most recently there for the Jubilee of Communications event in late January 2025, the way that Saint Peter’s approached multilingual liturgies has always been an inspiration for me. In the United States context, we puzzle intensely over how two or more language and cultures could come together in a parish. Often the solution has been separate Masses: silos, parishes within a parish, boundaries around language and culture.
Attending a Mass at Saint Peter’s has always been a breath of fresh air when it comes to navigating these tension points in pastoral liturgy. They simply made the liturgy multilingual, attentive to the globally diverse assembly of pilgrims there. A reading in one language, followed by a reading in another. The general intercessions are offered in four or five languages. An overall familiarity throughout for all, held and offered by the rite.
At a liturgy at Saint Peter’s Basilica, a unique locale where the global church often comes together often, many languages are heard and appreciated, even if not necessarily understood. This has been a gift to me every time I have had the chance to be there. Gathered for such a liturgy, there was deeper and shared meaning beyond language, a unity emerging around how we are one Body, all part of a worship experience we all understood partially. This in and of itself became a symbol, inviting us into the progressive nature of God’s self-communication, a revelation that now we know in part, while seeking to know fully and be fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). Being part of such a liturgy, where some words drew me close but others held me at a distance just by virtue of a language barrier, carries deep lessons for me about hospitality, inclusion, and solidarity.
The Vatican’s decision to use AI to make simultaneous translation of the liturgy seems to be a well-intentioned and practical one. On my recent pilgrimage for the Jubilee for Communications, I, too, appreciated and benefitted from their app-based simultaneous translation services during presentations and panel discussions, using a platform called Vatican Vox. Much like the newly announced translation service for liturgy, Vatican Vox functioned seamlessly on my smartphone, with my own headphones, providing translation for me while attending these events. In listening to presentations and panel discussions, the translation app truly was an avenue of inclusion and participation, and enriched my experience significantly.
Yet, I wonder about the inclusion of this same useful technology into the context of the liturgy. In the multilingual liturgies of Saint Peter’s, the assembly is united in a shared partial understanding, held together by the rite. It is an experience of the Body, and an experience of hospitality and being community with the parts different than I.
I am concerned that, if we all insert our headphones and tune into our devices instead, what of this global sense of unity may be lost? We may be shifting the center here from being the Body, imperfect but present, to a more individualized encounter with our device. More could be said here about continuous partial attention and how our devices foster this, and the impact of this on fostering an attentive and contemplative space for our experiences of worship.
In my ongoing reflections around faith and communications, I have come back time and time again to one paradigmatic story: the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the subsequent miracle of languages (Acts 2). As the Spirit enables the disciples to speak, and as they are understood by the manifold pilgrims of Jerusalem, it seems to me that the process here was not about effective translation but being surprised by a deeper shared understanding cutting through linguistic barriers and cultural differences. The Spirit was gathering people in and through the communication of the disciples. I am hopeful that as we shift our attention to integrate devices in order to understand the language of the liturgy, we remain rooted in the Body, in encounter, in the Spirit.
Daniella Zsupan-Jerome, Ph.D, is assistant professor of pastoral theology at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary in Collegeville, MN. Her most recent work is Speak Lord, Your Servant is Listening: Reflections on Faithful Communication in the Digital Age (Liturgical Press, 2024).
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