Posted on 10/07/2005 6:26:10 PM PDT by NYer
"More important still, we need to bring back the common theology "
That's the goal, Latin is a part of the means.
Maybe I am wrong, but I heard that even at Vatican I many bishops had a hard time communicating orally in Latin. In the 19th Century the usuall means was French.
"Maybe I am wrong, but I heard that even at Vatican I many bishops had a hard time communicating orally in Latin."
Another means of separating the wheat from the chaff, perhaps.
Agreed. I would like to see Latin reintroduced not at the seminary level, nor even at the High School level, but universally at the Middle School level. Culturally and academically, the restoration of Latin as a real language (and not just a tool for studying Caesar) would be a boon for Western society.
Vivat lingua materna in corde hominum!
Long live the mother tongue in the heart of mankind?
or "The mother tongue lives in the heart of mankind?"
(I have a smattering of a few languages, but the only ones I really speak are English and Japanese.)
Long live the mother tongue in the heart of mankind?
or "The mother tongue lives in the heart of mankind?"
(I have a smattering of a few languages, but the only ones I really speak are English and Japanese.)
Homo, -is is a third declention noun. Hominum is genetive plural.
Ah. Maybe someday I'll have the leisure to put in some serious study.
Newman once commented that the problem was pronunciation. An Englishman could not be really fluent in Latin IF he had to adopt an italianate pronunciation. And if he tried, the Italians would simply sneer. Latin was better as a common written means. sort of like Chinese writing is common currency between northern and southern Chinese.
"As for Latin, a common language would be good to bring all the bishops of the world together. More important still, we need to bring back the common theology that was taught when Latin reigned in the seminaries and universities."
I suspect that most if not all speak latin to varying degrees. The issue is "varying degrees". If you're a Bishop in China, how often do you actually get to converse in latin? I suspect not so much, and probably with an accent that makes it difficult for you to be understood in any case.
And then there is the issue of the eastern churches, some of whom (the Melkites come to mind) might not be willing to speak latin in an official setting such as a synod. Regardless of whether they happen to speak it fluently.
Pope Benedict is a linguist. Switching between languages for him is fairly easy. He's also a scholar and very interested in what people are thinking. Sometimes things are better expressed in one's native tongue than in a second or third language.
Bumping.
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