譯/李京倫
When nearly one-third of Ireland's Catholic population came to see St. John Paul II, then the pope, celebrate a papal mass in Dublin in 1979, divorce, homosexual acts and abortion were all against the law in the country. Ireland, like much of Europe, toed the line on Roman Catholic Church teaching.
1979年，愛爾蘭近三分之一的天主教徒來到首都都柏林，參加當時的教宗若望保祿二世主持的彌撒，並一睹教宗風采，那時候，離婚、同性性行為和墮胎都屬違法。愛爾蘭與諸多歐洲國家一樣，都遵從羅馬天主教教會的教導。
In August, Pope Francis will return to Ireland for a World Meeting of Families event attended by the church's most committed anti-abortion activists. But they will find themselves, after last month's historic repeal of an abortion ban in a landslide vote, in a country that is clearly part of Europe's secular sprint out of the Roman Catholic fold.
今年八月，現任教宗方濟各將回到愛爾蘭參加「世界家庭會議」，天主教最堅定不移的反墮胎人士都會參與，不過，這些人會發現，在五月的歷史性公投以壓倒性多數廢除墮胎禁令後，這個國家顯然已成為朝世俗方向疾奔、脫離羅馬天主教會陣營的歐洲國家的一員。
Across Western Europe, the church's once mighty footprint has faded, in no small measure because of self-inflicted clerical sex abuse scandals and an inability to keep up with and reach contemporary Catholics. Church attendance has plummeted, parishes are merging, and new priests and nuns are in short supply. Same-sex marriage is on the rise, and abortion is widely legal.
在西歐各地，天主教曾經強大的影響力已然消退，這在不小的程度上是因為教會自己造成的神父性虐待醜聞，以及教會未能跟上時代，抓住當代教徒的心。教堂出席率大幅下降，教區紛紛合併，新的神父和修女人數不足。同性婚姻在增加，而墮胎也普遍合法。
And yet, Francis is not sounding the alarm or calling the faithful to the ramparts. He seems resigned to accept that a devout and Catholic Europe has largely slipped into the church's past.
不過，方濟各既未敲響警鐘，也未要求虔誠信徒起身捍衛宗教。他看來是無奈接受了這件事：虔誠的天主教歐洲已大抵走入這個教會的歷史。
Instead, he has shifted his focus on the faith's future to the global South from which he came. At the heart of Francis' vision is a closeness of priests to the poor and desolate whom he believes the church should most serve.
反之，他已將他關注的天主教發展方向，從歐洲轉移到他出身的南半球。方濟各願景的核心是，教士要親近貧窮和孤寂無依的人，他認為教會最該服事的正是這些人。
This turn has drawn criticism from conservative Catholics like those in the Continent's most faithful country, Poland, who have allied with a nationalist government to keep out migrants.
這一轉變引起了保守派天主教徒的批評，例如歐陸最虔誠國家波蘭的信徒，這些信徒與民族主義政府聯手，不讓移民進入。
But the Argentine pontiff clearly believes that emphasizing a poor church ministering to the world's outcasts is a more authentic, appealing — and ultimately evangelizing — global message than a defense of orthodoxy and Europe's Christian roots.
不過這位來自阿根廷的教宗顯然相信，強調「貧窮的教會為世界上所有被拋棄的人服務」，比起捍衛正統教義和歐洲基督宗教的根源，更是一個真誠、有吸引力且最終更能讓人歸信的全球信息。
The challenge for Francis is to keep the present decline of the church in Europe from becoming a preview of its future in South America and Africa.
方濟各的挑戰是，不要讓天主教目前在歐洲式微的現象，未來在南美和非洲重演。
Inoculating the Southern Hemisphere from the growing scourge of sex abuse scandals, spreading secularism and out-of-touch clergy that devastated Catholicism in Europe is no easy task and will require much of the pope's attention.
重創歐洲天主教的是性虐待醜聞不斷加深的影響、世俗主義的擴散，以及與時代脫節的教士。讓南半球免於這些因素誠非易事，有賴教宗多所費心。
This may explain why Francis, while silent about Ireland before the vote, has been remarkably focused on a sex abuse scandal in Chile, threatening the church's credibility there.
這或許可以解釋何以方濟各在愛爾蘭墮胎公投前對此事保持沉默，卻相當關注智利的性虐待醜聞，這威脅到教會在當地的信譽。
In Brazil, which has the world's largest Catholic population, evangelicals preaching prosperity gospels are giving stiff competition to Catholicism, which is projected to become a minority faith in 2030. Francis made Brazil his first trip overseas after his election.
在擁有世界上最多天主教信徒的巴西，基督教福音派宣揚的成功神學正在跟天主教激烈競爭，預計天主教將在2030年成為少數信仰。方濟各當選教宗後首次出訪就是去巴西。
※說文解字看新聞
本文主要談論歐洲社日益世俗（secular）化，加上天主教會與時代脫節（out-of-touch），神父性虐醜聞的影響又不斷加深，導致天主教在歐洲式微，促使教宗寄望於南半球。
secular是指與宗教或靈性事務無關的，不帶貶意。世俗主義（secularism）則是指社會的關注焦點從超脫塵世的事物（otherworldliness）移向世間生活。在中世紀歐洲，宗教人士有一種強烈的傾向，就是鄙棄人間事務，冥想神與來生，而到了文藝復興時期，社會逐漸世俗化，人文主義（humanism）興起，人們開始對「人類的文化成就」和「人類在世間自我實現的可能性」展現出更大興趣。在整個現代史上，人類社會一直朝世俗化發展。
devout是指對宗教虔誠，或忠於某種信念、組織或人，a thing devoutly to be wished是指夢寐以求的事物，在莎劇「哈姆雷特」中，哈姆雷特在著名的獨白To be, or not to be之後說
"… and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished."
「闔眼一睡（指死亡）若是就能結束心頭苦痛和肉體承受的萬千驚擾，那真是我們要虔求的結局。」
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