In a recent Vatican statement, non-Catholic "Churches" have been called "wounded". At least that is how the Latin has been translated into English. However, "wounded" is an inadequate word for the Latin defectus which was used in the official Latin version of the document.
Significantly, the official Latin version refers to the defectus which they suffer, and defectus is not Latin for “wound.” That would be vulnus, a word the Vatican chose not to employ.Related Links:
The Latin text is the official text for a reason. The Latin term defectus has a unique precision that no single English term can capture.
True, we get the English word “defect” from it. But this signification of “deficiency” does not capture the Latin term's full meaning, which is twofold. In the Latin, the one term (from the verb deficio) connotes both a “revolt” and a “lack.” The Latin dictionary describes the verbal action: “to do less than one might; to fail.”
Remember this is Latin, so call to mind a Roman army in order to grasp the concrete, dual meaning implied here. If a portion of the army “rebels,” then the portion thereby becomes “weakened” or “enfeebled” because it has cut itself off from the whole.
Hence my preferred translation of defectus is “self-wounding.” This best translates, I think, the attenuated state brought about by anyone's “rebellion” from a healthy unity...