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Letter from Rome How some are imposing the Italian language to keep control of the universal church
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Cardinals arrive for a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis at St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Nov. 3 for cardinals and bishops who have died in 2018. Latin is no longer the Catholic Church's official language. (Photo by Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
Many people still claim — mistakenly — that Latin has always been the Catholic Church's official language. But that is not true today, nor was it true in the past. For several centuries Latin was, indeed, the official idiom for issuing documents and celebrating the liturgy in only one part of the universal church — the Western or Roman Church. However, after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Western Church began what some would argue was an unintended process of de-Latinization. What was intended as a cautious introduction of the use of the vernacular — or national languages — in the liturgy (as had already happened with seminary lectures and textbooks) rapidly became the overriding norm. Despite efforts after the council to maintain Latin as the "eternal" language of Roman Catholicism, it gradually began losing its force even at the Vatican. In a matter of only a few decades, the norm was dropped that only the Latin prototype could be considered as the official text of a papal or Roman Curia document. Once upon a time, translations of those texts were only that — mere translations. Sign up to receive UCAN Daily Full Bulletin
How some Italians are imposing their language to keep control of the universal Church
Robert Mickens, Rome
Vatican City
November 2, 2018
![]() Many people still claim -- mistakenly -- that Latin has always been the Church’s official language. But that is not true today, nor was it true in the past. For several centuries Latin was, indeed, the official idiom for issuing documents and celebrating the liturgy in only one part of the universal Church -- the Western or Roman Church. However, after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the Western Church began what some would argue was an unintended process of de-Latinization. What was intended as a cautious introduction of the use of the vernacular -- or national languages -- in the liturgy (as had already happened with seminary lectures and textbooks), rapidly became the overriding norm. Despite efforts after the council to maintain Latin as the “eternal” language of Roman Catholicism, it gradually began losing its force even at the Vatican. In a matter of only a few decades, the norm was dropped that only the Latin prototype could be considered as the official text of a papal or Roman Curia document. Once upon a time, translations of those texts were only that -- mere translations. But today only a relatively few of the many documents that the pope or the Vatican issues are drafted originally in Latin. And many of them never even get translated into the language of Cicero. Finding a common language to replace LatinThe truth of the matter is that, apart from its continued use as the normative text for the Roman Catholic Church’s liturgies and laws, Latin -- which once was the lingua franca of Western civilization -- has become mostly a language... |