Why does the Pope have to speak Latin when originally Christians spoke the Semitic language?
Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at
1:26 pm
Originally, during Jesus' time most people in the middle east (the place where Jesus lived) spoke the Semitic language. Especially Aramaic, which is similar to Arabic, so the language that Muslim religious leaders speak are more accurate than the pope's. On my opinion, I think it doesn't matter what language you speak to god, just as long as your praying. But, all I want to know is why does the people of the roman catholic church have to speak Latin?
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Tagged with: arabic • aramaic • god • jesus • latin • middle east • muslim religious leaders • pope • roman catholic church • semitic language
Filed under: Written and Spoken Latin
The key is in the word "Roman" Catholic. The Vatican is a Roman place so they speak Latin. It’s that simple.
It’s curious, though, that for centuries, Latin was considered a "holy" language. It was just until recently that Catholic churches started doing their Mass in local languages rather than Latin.
Catholicism is a merger of Christianity and the Roman culture. Scholars explain that the Roman culture did have a huge influence on Christianity. In fact, Christianity was modified to fit the Roman empire!
Christianity was adopted by the Roman Empire as the State religion. The Romans spoke Latin. When the Romans conquered other lands, they took their language and religion with them.
Good question:
Latin is the language of the Church and has been for approximately 1800 years. Before that time the language used was usually Koine Greek in the Church. In Jerusalem in the first century most people spoke Greek, Latin and Aramaic. In the beginning Koine Greek was the language of scholars but later Latin took its place with the growing influence of the Roman Empire. God bless!
In Christ
Fr. Joseph
If you would like more answers, consider asking around this site as well…
http://christianforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26