Vatican website translation:<\/p>\n
67. The rite for the baptism of infants is to be revised, and it should be adapted to the circumstance that those to be baptized are, in fact, infants. The roles of parents and godparents, and also their duties, should be brought out more clearly in the rite itself.<\/p>\n
Latin text:<\/p>\n
67. Ritus baptizandi parvulos recognoscatur et verae infantium condicioni accommodetur; partes etiam parentum et patrinorum eorumque officia, in ipso ritu, magis pateant.<\/strong><\/p>\n Slavishly literal translation:<\/p>\n 67. The rite of baptizing children is to be reformed and adapted to the true condition of the infants; the roles of the parents and godparents as well as their duties are to be more accessible in the rite itself.<\/p>\n The rite for the baptism of infants in use at the time of the Second Vatican Council treated infants as though they were capable of answering for themselves (e.g., \u201cWhat do you ask of the Church?\u201d \u201cIs it your will that you should be baptized?\u201d). Since the infant candidates were incapable of speech, their godparents had to answer for them. In accord with the principle of the \u201ctruth\u201d of the rite that we have seen earlier, the Council Fathers decree that the actual capabilities of the infants being baptized are to be reflected in the texts and ceremonies used. Not only are the parents and godparents given new roles in the ceremony (e.g., renouncing Satan and professing faith on their own behalf) but they are also given explicit instructions about their duties both in the introductory rites and in the rites immediately preceding the baptism proper.<\/p>\n Pray Tell<\/em> readers may wish to discuss how well the Rite of Baptism of Infants has enshrined these conciliar directives. (One wonders, for example, how a text addressed to the newly baptized infant: \u201cSee in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity\u2026.\u201d accords with the \u201ctruth\u201d of the infant\u2019s condition [i.e., unable to understand language].)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In accord with the principle of the \u201ctruth\u201d of the rite that we have seen earlier, the Council Fathers decree that the actual capabilities of the infants being baptized are to be reflected in the texts and ceremonies used. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[255,15,3814,32],"tags":[2661],"class_list":["post-23116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-initiation-rcia","category-re-reading-sacrosanctum-concilium","category-vatican-ii","tag-sacrosanctum-concilium"],"yoast_head":"\n