Doesn't the Latin language technically favor Rome?

[Nanotwerp]

The Catholic Church is truly universal, but I guess it is pretty much impossible for it to be ethnicity-wise, given how the official languages are Latin (Roman Empire) and Italian (Italy).

 

[OraLabora]

The Catholic Church is truly universal, but I guess it is pretty much impossible for it to be ethnicity-wise, given how the official languages are Latin (Roman Empire) and Italian (Italy).

Th Catholic Church is 23 Sui juris Churches of which th Roman Catholic Church is only one. It’s the only one I believe that uses Latin as official language (and realistically, Italian as the working language at the Vatican).

However since 50 years or so the Roman Church allows use of local languages for the liturgy. So your point is rather moot.

 

[Marysann]

I don’t think so. Latin is not Italian. From my experience in attending Mass in Italian parishes in the almost three years that we have lived here, Italians dislike Latin and use it at Mass even less than you might encounter in an American parish. As far as I know, there is only one parish in all of Rome where Mass is celebrated in Latin. Latin is used at the Vatican as it is the universal language of the Church, but virtually never at ordinary Italian parishes.

Latin favors those who are willing to work hard and learn it, and they can be from any country.

 

[agnes_therese]

The Catholic Church is truly universal, but I guess it is pretty much impossible for it to be ethnicity-wise, given how the official languages are Latin (Roman Empire) and Italian (Italy).

What would you propose as the official language?

 

[phil19034]

Th Catholic Church is 23 Sui juris Churches of which th Roman Catholic Church is only one. It’s the only one I believe that uses Latin as official language (and realistically, Italian as the working language at the Vatican).

However since 50 years or so the Roman Church allows use of local languages for the liturgy. So your point is rather moot.

Note: English quickly becoming a second working language at the Vatican and may slowly replace Italian, especially if the Roman Curia is replaced by a mostly international one. Today, Italians are the majority in the Vatican, but that’s slowly changing.

To the OP: Latin isn’t really “ethnic” anymore. Approx 1/2 the world speaks a language that was influenced in one way or another by Latin. It is a more precise language and is less subject to misinterpretation than English. In English… words often have many different meanings and or different words for similar meanings. That’s why English is perhaps the most difficult language to learn and why it’s harder for native English speakers to learn multiple languages.

 

[chimo]

The Catholic Church is truly universal, but I guess it is pretty much impossible for it to be ethnicity-wise, given how the official languages are Latin (Roman Empire) and Italian (Italy).

The Catholic Church uses the language of the people whenever possible. Because it is done this way the Catholic Church is just as ethnic as it is in the Orthodox Churches. The Polish Catholic Church, the Hungarian Catholic church and so on throughout Catholicism is about as ethnic as you can get and is very similar to those Orthodox Churches throughout the world. The only exception to Catholicism on ethnicity is in the United Stated and Canada where the Catholic Church tends not to follow through in ethnic lines. Even in Canada and the United States the various Orthodox jurisdictions are moving towards a more united Orthodox Church. Just as Catholics from their earlier immigration times settled with their ethnic ways to bring the Catholic Church to Canada and the United States they had an easier time to formed a united front because of this common liturgy language of Latin but it will take more time before the Orthodox Church here to become united. Can you imagine if those same Catholics had come over to Canada and the United States with only their own languages to celebrate the Mass. So the Latin back then was very useful in uniting all these Catholics. The Orthodox will have a more complex time because they have not the common language Latin to unite all of them so patience and time will enable them to receive this unity as well.

 

[Mumbles140]

What would you propose as the official language?

Esperanto!

 

[Psalitte]

The Catholic Church is truly universal, but I guess it is pretty much impossible for it to be ethnicity-wise, given how the official languages are Latin (Roman Empire) and Italian (Italy).

Italian isn’t an official language of the Church, only Latin, Italian might be the lingua franca because the Roman Curia is in, well… Rome! But Latin shouldn’t really provide any obstacle, considering the last native speakers died out about a millenia ago, in fact considering how widespread the Church is, it actually should be able to foster unity because rather than everyone having to learn several languages, one could just learn Latin, and be able converse with others. Many fields and discipline have a universal language, science and medicine tend to use Latin and Greek, international business has English, etc.

And I’m not sure if you’re familiar but the Church has members on every continent in practically every country, it’s fastest growth is in the Southern Hemisphere, 10% of Korea is Catholic, Japan once had a flourishing Catholic community in the 16th century, the faith managed to spread and remain in the Americas and the Philippines well after the colonial stage, there are Saints of all walks of life, race, sex, and age, so the notion that the Church can’t be “universal” ethnic-wise has been, in my opinion, thoroughly disproved.

 

[ProVobis]

I don’t think so. Latin is not Italian.

According to some sources (read, books I’ve read), Italian was essentially Latin without the grammar up until the 16th century or so. The fact it’s different today is because Italian, like most modern languages, is mutable. That said, Italian does offer many advantages, especially in music, though Latin certainly is right up there with it.

 

[SyroMalankara]

According to some sources (read, books I’ve read), Italian was essentially Latin without the grammar up until the 16th century or so. The fact it’s different today is because Italian, like most modern languages, is mutable. That said, Italian does offer many advantages, especially in music, though Latin certainly is right up there with it.

Even today, the Italian pronunciation in the Lazio region is considered the “proper” way to speak Latin.

 

[otjm]

Even today, the Italian pronunciation in the Lazio region is considered the “proper” way to speak Latin.

The equivalent of the Queen’s English?

 

[Cristiano]

According to some sources (read, books I’ve read), Italian was essentially Latin without the grammar up until the 16th century or so. The fact it’s different today is because Italian, like most modern languages, is mutable. That said, Italian does offer many advantages, especially in music, though Latin certainly is right up there with it.

That is not correct. Italian, the vulgate, was a complete language with its own grammar well separated from Latin since the 1200s. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is an example of the early classic writings in Italian.

 

[Cristiano]

Even today, the Italian pronunciation in the Lazio region is considered the “proper” way to speak Latin.

This is not correct. There is only a proper pronunciation in Italian and that it tends to be associated with Tuscany. Across Lazio you can hear quite different ways of pronuncing words and Rome is an example for some aberrations of the Italian language (e.g. swapping s with z, or pronouncing double consonants where they do not exist). Proper Roman dialect is not Italian, just read the Sonnets by G. Belli, but as a Roman I am so much in love with it even if I have difficulties to read it and pronounce it properly. You also have to remember that Latin pronunciation changed over the centuries and it looks like it reached a softer pronunciation during the period of Emperor Traiano.

 

[ProVobis]

FWIW,

According to Mario Pei , (Story of Latin and the Romance Languages?) this was the percentages of distance “removal” from Latin:

Sardinian: 8% removed from Latin;
Italian: 12% removed;
Spanish: 20% removed;
Romanian: 23.5% removed;
Occitan: 25%;
Portuguese: 31%;
French: 44%.

books.google.com/books?id=HfdBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA294&lpg=PA294&dq=Mario+Pei+,+Italian+12%25&source=bl&ots=C0LEorFY7s&sig=V4oA7ffkUBzmF7QHeQGEHFWtYIo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KZXKU4W4GpeeyASFrYGoAg&ved=0CGsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Mario%20Pei%20%2C%20Italian%2012%25&f=false