Back to the future: Vatican to open new Latin school

Tuesday, September 4th, 2012

Alarmed by the decline in the use of Latin within the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict is planning to set up a new Latin school.

Latin is the language of the Vatican and Benedict is looking to breathe new life into the dead language by developing a new academy “to better promote the knowledge and speaking of Latin,” Vatican spokesman Fr Ciro Benedettini said on Saturday.

Until the 1960’s Vatican documents were published only in Latin, however most seminarians no longer carry out their studies in Latin and priests around the world no longer use it to chat with each other.

So far the only Vatican body charged with keeping the Latin language alive is the embattled Secretariat of State, but the new pontifical academy has been confirmed in a letter sent by President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.

The aim of the dicastery for culture will be to promote the use and knowledge of Latin in church and civil settings, including schools.

Recently the Catholic Church introduced a new translation of the Mass, based on a more accurate translation from the Latin.

The Holy Father however is not alone in his push for Latin. London mayor Boris Johnson, an enthusiastic proponent of the classics, is calling for Latin to be given greater contemporary relevance and for more teaching in schools and universities.

Sources