United Press International – May 12, 2008
VATICAN CITY, May 10, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) — The Roman Catholic Church, reflecting the love of Latin by Pope Benedict XVI, has opened a Web site at the Vatican written in the church’s ancient language.
The Vatican’s official Web site began featuring a new Latin section called Sancta Sedes (or Holy See) this week, giving the church its first Latin language online presence, the BBC reported. The Latin page takes its place alongside existing Vatican Web pages in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
For most of its long history, all Catholic Church documents were written in Latin, and all masses performed in the language. In the 1960s, however, the Church liberalized its rules and allowed mass to be performed in English and other local languages.
Pope Benedict, however, has begun a push to reinstate Latin’s place in the church, the BBC reported.
Along with the new Web site, he has encouraged the use of Latin and has lifted restrictions on celebrating the Latin Tridentine mass.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International