What do you think?
Why does he speak a language that only a few understand? I read that the language of the Vatican is in Italian, and to a certain extend English. So why does he not do his speech in, at least, Italian, so those who come to listen to him can understand him otherwise what is the point?
It's part of the tradition and I like it even if I don't understand it.
He can speak any language he likes as far as I'm concerned... it's all mumbo jumbo anyway.
Because Latin is the language of the scriptures (one of them) and liturgy.
Even Sunday Mass was given in Latin until the early 60s in most parts of Europe.
I doubt that the tradition will change any time soon.
It has been that way for centuries.
From a more modern perspective learning Latin is very helpful. It does give you insight into the structures of other languages.
The "language of the scriptures" is actually Hebrew for the Old Testament and Greek for the New. Latin was a device to mystify the power of the Catholic Church and keep its teachings obscure for the common people...
Why not Latin? If you speak Spanish, Italian, French or Rumanian you understand Latin. So combined that is most likely more Catholic people that understands him than if he spoke English. Chinese doesnt make much sense yet since there arent that many Catholics in China yet.
French people understand spoken Latin, do they?
Nop, if you didn't learn German at school then you didn't learn Latin
Yes, you're right. I stand corrected.
Pitch in Aramaic too..
It was translated into Latin.
OK, I'll just check with my French-speaking daughters whether they understood Latin before they started to learn it in secondary school...
However, it did mean that visitors to another country could follow the services in the same way as they did in their homeland - even if they didn't understand it all there either.
That wasn't what a recent programme on Swiss TV said.
But if you've studied Latin, learning German is probably easier ?
I speak French, english, turkish, Spanish and understand Italian. Tried to read Latin and understood some words but have no idea of the context.
No, knowing French, Italian and Spanish is not enough to understand spoken Latin correctly.
Well, that is true, but the line above about speaking Latin because it was widely understand around the world is quoddam pondus vetus sutores
This pope did the urbi et orbi thingie in Italian this year anyway.
The problem with Latin, which I wasted 8 years of my school years on, is that we have little idea how the spoken language sounded and should be pronounced. If anything, modern Italian may be a clue.
But an English person's rendering of amo, amas, amant will be vastly different toe the French-speaker's.
Add the fact the vocabulary has not been updated for 2000 years - how do you say laptop, taxi, electricity etc?? But great if you are caught with the spears of the enemy are in the camp of the emperor...
Oh the word "laptop" didn't exist in my time either
You could manage in Latin anyway..
" Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum!"
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html
Not sure modern Italian would be a correct assumption. The peninsula had too many invasions over the centuries for the language to remain pure. You'd need a Latin based language which has been relatively isolated.
At exactly what point did you hear the Pope speak Latin? There are a small number of occasions when the celebrant at a Catholic service may read or recite a part of the service in Latin, but that does not mean that they are competent in the language!
On every occasion that I heard the Pope deliver a homily, he was speaking Italian, of course he speaks Spanish, but apparently as Bishop of Rome he has decided that Italian is the language he will use.
Yes it is true that much of the internal administration is in Latin, as it avoids the need for translation and you can get documents such as a marriage certificate in Latin. And while most priests have a working knowledge of it, it is no longer a mandatory subject in the religious life - they rely on translations like everyone else.
If you speak any of these languages and make a bit of an effort you'll understand Latin I am sure.
I never actually studied Spanish but now speak it more or less fluently and through that I can pick up a lot of Italian and French without ever having learned either of these languages.
Same thing that I can understand a lot of Dutch through my German.
Understanding a similar language to your own is often more a matter of mindset, will and interest rather than skills. So Im not surprised that the French dont understand Latin ;-)
So in my world it makes perfect sense that the church uses Latin to some extent. I mean, its not like we dont know what they are talking about. The topic is pretty well known now after more than 2000 years :-)