By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-05-09 04:00:00
OOne of my first assignments as a young interpreter was to simultaneously interpret the proceedings of an ecumenical council that brought together all Christian denominations. As my homework, I dutifully read Scripture, the Gospels, papal encyclicals, and the conclusion of the First Council of Nicaea.
However, there was one thing I hadn’t foreseen. The mass was not held in the conference hall, but in the church itself, where there were no booths and the interpreter had to stand discreetly at the altar. Here the translation alone was not enough – the interpreter had to take on the role of the priest, with his unmistakable clerical timbre, his arms outstretched in prayer and then folded, his gaze constantly directed towards heaven.
My childhood experience as an altar boy helped, as did the innate instinct for the theater that always seems to come naturally to Italians. My performance was so impeccable that when a telegram arrived from Pope John Paul II saying…
