Why did the Catholic Church wait 500 years?

[FabiusMaximus]

I remember when some of the changes to the liturgy occurred after Vatican II and was thinking about how Catholics must have felt when the Mass was said in the vernacular instead of Latin in the 1960’s. What I am not clear about is why did it take so long for worship to be in the language understood by the people? What was the rationale for using Latin well after that language was no longer even spoken by 99.9% of the world?

Martin Luther retained the Latin Mass but quickly translated the Mass and Bible into the native language of the people of Germany so that everyone could understand. I believe all the other Reformers followed Luther and vernacular became the norm in Protestantism. But it was approximately 500 years later that the Catholic Church joined the rest of Christendom in praying the liturgy in the language that was understood by the laity.

Any thoughts?

You know I think there is much people who haven’t attended the Tridentine Mass do not understand about it. The times I have attended a traditional Latin Mass I’ve never felt like I was out of the loop. Whatever I could not understand I followed in the missal but honestly, just taking all that you see in and absorbing the incense you almost feel like you’re stepping back in time. It just felt amazingly reverent.