Monday, April 25, 2005
Jon Stewart, Cardinal Arinze, and Latin grammar
The weblog sauvage noble dissects a dissection of a supposed attack ad in the Vatican, as imagined by The Daily Show:
Regarding the The Daily Show invective put in the mouth of Cardinal Arinze against Cardinal Ratzinger, Clint writes:
Here is what I understood the text to be:
Cardinal Ratzinger dicit amat magna mater ecclesia. Sed qui veritas est? Eram prognatus in Germania. Ut eram Martin Luther. Validus ecclesia est alius reformation superstes per a sausage-eating bastard? Ego Cardinal Arinze, et ego probatus is nuntius.
Roughly translated:
Cardinal Ratzinger says the great mother Church loves. But who is the truth? I was born(?) in Germany. As I am Martin Luther. The church is strong surviving the reformation by a sausage-eating bastard? I Cardinal Arinze, and I this message having been approved.
[...] Here’s what it should have said:
Cardinal Ratzinger [1] dicit se magnam [M]atrem [E]cclesiam amare. Sed quis veritas est [2]? Natus est in Germania. Etiam [3] illic natus est Martin Luther [4]. Habetne ecclesia [5] satis virium ut possit superesse alii [6] [R]eformationi per a sausage-eating bastard [7]? Cardinal Arinze [8] sum, et probavi hunc nuntium.
Which means:
Cardinal Ratzinger says he loves great mother Church. But what is the truth? He was born in Germany. Martin Luther was also born there. Is the Church strong enough to survive another reformation by a sausage-eating bastard? I’m Cardinal Arinze, and I approved this message.