Italy Vatican no longer prescribes Latin as the first official language
Tempora mutantur, times are changing: Latin is no longer the prescribed first official language in the Vatican.
25.11.2025, 15:40
SDA
This is the result of a new set of rules for the administrative apparatus of the Catholic church state, which was published six months after the new Pope Leo XIV took office. Article 50 of the Regolamento Generale now only states: "The authorities of the Curia shall, as a rule, write their acts in Latin or in another language."
Previously, it was still stipulated that the authorities of the small Catholic state in the center of Rome had to write their documents "as a rule" in Latin. At the same time, however, it was already possible "to use other languages that are more commonly used today, depending on the respective requirements". The most important working language in the Vatican is Italian.
Repeated debates about masses in Latin
Latin has been losing importance in the Catholic Church for decades. Masses have long been held worldwide in the respective national languages. Time and again, there are debates within the Church, with its 1.4 billion faithful worldwide, about old masses in Latin.
At the Second Vatican Council (1962 - 1965), Latin was still the only permitted language of debate. In the meantime, papal legal texts no longer have to appear in Latin in the Vatican Official Gazette. However, papal doctrinal letters are still always published in Latin. Current terms are also still translated, for example climate change in climatis mutatio.
Pope Leo speaks several languages
Official announcements from the Vatican or speeches by the Pope are now generally published in English, Italian, Spanish and French. German and Polish are used less frequently after the death of Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II. Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff from the USA. He speaks English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin. His election in May was announced with the Latin words "Habemus papam": "We have a pope".
