I got news for you.
The vast majority of priests who said the Tridentine Mass prior to 1962 didn't understand one single word of what they were saying.
"The vast majority of priests who said the Tridentine Mass prior to 1962 didn't understand one single word of what they were saying."
How in the world do you know that?
Doesn't matter, even if it were accurate, which I don't think it is. Certainly most of the faithful didn't understand as much Latin as they might have.
People are drawn to traditional things, the prayers of the traditional mass in Latin symbolically united the faithful to all of the generations before in a way that the vulgar tongue cannot. Of course the vernacular does too, in a theological sense alone, but the symbolic sense, the way the people see it, is important.
The record of the church since the introduction of the vernacular has been decline, less churches, less schools, less nuns, less folks in the pews. Liturgical language has a purpose, I fully expect that sooner or later, Latin will come back just as Hebrew was reintroduced as the language of Reform Judaism after a considerable hiatus.
But it will definitely take time, a major commitment would have to be made and just a statement by a cardinal ain't going to do it.
"The vast majority of priests who said the Tridentine Mass prior to 1962 didn't understand one single word of what they were saying."
This is the most nonsensical thing you've said to date. It is so demonstrably false as to be ludicrous. Seminarians in the preconciliar period took their EXAMS in Latin. They entered the seminary already having taken a half dozen courses in college or high school Latin. Many also had Greek under their belts. Ask any priest over sixty who was around back then.
I am a regular reader of this caucus, though I seldom post. I recognise your status as the >I>rebel in residence</I< and I have to say that, though I am often in disagreement with you, your comments frequently add some spice to the discourse.
In this case however,
>I< The vast majority of priests who said the Tridentine Mass prior to 1962 didn't understand one single word of what they were saying. </I<,
your assertion is pure b*lls. I come from a large UK family in which there were several priests and I do not recall one who could not have translated your above statement instantly into fluent Latin. They would also have made a better job of the syntax.