America: The National Catholic Weekly
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Ave atque Vale

The case for replacing Latin as the official language of the church
the cover of America, the Catholic magazine

L atin is the official language of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, but the working language of the Vatican is Italian. Given its location in Rome, the Vatican’s use of Italian makes perfect sense. As for Latin, though, fewer and fewer seminarians and priests today are familiar with it, and laypeople seldom study it; but official church documents are still published in Latin.

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