22-Feb-2002 -- EWTN News Brief

POPE PUSHES FOR WIDER USE OF LATIN

VATICAN, (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II has recommended the use of Latin in the Roman
liturgy and in seminary training.

In a message to a conference being held at the Salesian University in Rome, the Holy Father
emphasized that Latin remains the official language of the Catholic Church, and expressed his desire
that "the love of that language would grow ever strong among candidates for the priesthood." The
Pope's message itself was written in Latin, and read by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican
Secretary of State.

The conference to which the Pope addressed this message was commemorating the 40th anniversary
of Veterum Sapientia, the apostolic constitution in which Pope John XXIII wrote of the importance of
Latin as an important part of "the patrimony of human civilization."

Pope John Paul underlined the same message, pointing out that the use of Latin "is an indispensable
condition for a proper relationship between modernity and antiquity, for dialogue among different
cultures, and for reaffirming the identity of the Catholic priesthood."