CBCP releases ‘more accurate’ Filipino version of ‘Hail Mary’
MANILA, Philippines — Don’t be surprised if you hear two versions of the local translation of the most popular devotional prayer to the Virgin Mary.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has released another Filipino version of the “Hail Mary” prayer, meant to be a more accurate translation of the original Latin prayer.
The Filipino version of the “Ave Maria” was approved during the CBCP plenary assembly last month and was expected to be an “alternative” to the Tagalog-based “Aba Ginoong Maria.” CBCP News published the text on Tuesday evening.
CBCP secretary general Msgr. Bernardo Pantin explained that the new translation does not replace the old version but provides a “more faithful and accurate rendition” of the original Latin text.
READ: Rome prayers to be heard in 5 Philippine languages
Article continues after this advertisement
“It is more contextualized, simple and adaptable to the changing times, as well as enhances our understanding and appreciation of the significance and richness of its biblico-theological foundation,” Pantin said.
Article continues after this advertisement
Faithful to Latin original
In a brief commentary, the CBCP said the revisions were guided by “faithfulness to the original Latin text, Bible-based, simplicity, prayerfulness, adaptability to the changing times and in the Philippine context, and the spirit of synodality that all may be one.”
The bishops made the move as the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of 2025. The year also marks the 50th anniversary of the CBCP pastoral letter on the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Ang Mahal na Birheng Maria,” issued on Feb 2, 1975.
Among the notable changes in the new version was doing away with the first line “Aba Ginoong Maria”—with “ginoo” as a gender-neutral classical Tagalog honorific used in the 17th-century Spanish-colonized country—and using the original Latin “Ave Maria” instead.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the “Ave Maria” has three parts, with the first two based on the Bible: the first part based on the words used by the Archangel Gabriel in honoring the Blessed Virgin during the Annunciation (Luke 1:28), and the second borrowed from the greeting of St. Elizabeth to Mary during the Visitation (Luke 1:42). The last part was from the “Catechism of the Council of Trent,” framed by the Catholic Church itself during the mid-16th century.
Opposing views
Filipino Catholics’ reactions were polarized.
One side was more welcoming of the changes, saying it was a more accurate “word-for-word” translation of the original Latin prayer while others were more skeptical asking why need to fix something that was not broken.
Instead of revising the “Aba Ginoong Maria,” some Catholics were calling for the CBCP to update the Filipino translation of the “Lord’s Prayer” and the “Roman Missal,” the book that contains the prayers and instructions for Masses which the CBCP last updated in 2012.
For 63-year-old Janeth Villablanca of Pasay City, who considers herself a Marian devotee who prays the “Aba Ginoong Maria” every night since she was little, the new “Hail Mary” was “simpler” and “easier to recite.”
“There’s no problem if the CBCP updates it, but it will take me a lot longer to memorize the new ‘Ave Maria.’ I am already old, and all my life I was used to praying with all my heart and soul the old ‘Aba Ginoong Maria,’” she told the Inquirer on Wednesday.
“If the other seniors continue to pray the old version during our novena Masses, I may just join them so I don’t get raised eyebrows from them,” she shared. “But why change a prayer that’s already beautiful to begin with?”
Villablanca said she was planning to recite the new version of the prayer but admitted she would need “a cheat sheet” to correctly recite it.
“I am sure Mama Mary won’t get mad at me if I get some phrases of the new ‘Hail Mary’ wrong, right? I will still have to pray for the good health and long lives of my family and friends,” she added.