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“Latin” means unity, loyalty to the Pope:
It is possible to imagine a western Church with local languages in its liturgy, as in the East, where, joined to the Greek, were also used Syrian, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian and Ethiopian. In every way the situation in the West was fundamentally different; the unifying force of the papacy was such that Latin became the sole liturgical language. This was an important factor favoring ecclesiastic, cultural and political cohesion.
(Translation by Fr. Anthony Forte.) Could we have read a piece like this in l’Osservatore Romano only a few years ago? Surely not!
Josephus,
You need a full altar size Missale Romanum with nary a lick of English in it!
I thought I appreciated Latin already. Then, this morning, my professor pointed out the beautiful symmetry of this phrase from St. Leo the Great:
“Diligenti Deum sufficit ei placere quem diligit”
verb, accusative, verb, pronoun, verb, accusative, verb
The very arrangement of the words delights.
“Diligenti Deum sufficit ei placere quem diligit”
“For the one who loves God it is enough to be pleasing to the One whom he loves”
The Latin is so succinct and much more lovely, of course.
This is quoted by Pope John Paul II in Veritatis Splendor, 10
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_lt.html