@bugcat why are you so interested in Latin? Usually this is something that remains in the heart of who made Classical studies (as far I know there are no much countries where this is made in public schools).
This is just my curiosity because in order to learn Latin you have to gain also a quite large knowledge of the history especially of Roman Empire and classics.
Do you know? Are really few the people in the world that can speak and understand spoken Latin. I want to just remember an incredible episode happened in Rome few years ago.
One day (not an ordinary day at the Vatican: the anniversary of the Lateran pacts) Pope Ratzinger convenes a consistory for the canonization of some saints. The reunion per se is nothing extraordinary as the Pope is used to make this kind of happening one per week for different reasons. At the end of the “ordinary” meeting, however, Benedict XVI rests in his place and will begin to read a declaration, in Latin as per Vatican norm. He said he had to announce something “important for the Church”, speaking of “advanced age” (“ingravescentem aetatem”). Two non-random words, because “Ingravescentem aetatem” is the title of the document with which Pope Paul VI, in 1970, set the maximum number of cardinals at 80 years (who beyond this threshold, then reduced to 75 years, are required to consider their own resignation to the Pope). The most of the cardinals and journalists who followed the final part of the speech were getting a little bored and they - evidently - did not pay close attention to what he was saying in Latin or were not quite able to understand it (who knows?).
Only one journalist - a woman (Giovanna Chirri) who is a talented Latinist was also present. She was sent by the newspaper as the correspondent in Vatican for his declared knowledge of Latin (but no one in the editorial board made actually any exam to her since no one was able to understand such dead language and - more important - no one was interested in this boring assignment).
Well… she was the only one among the presents who understood what Benedicto XVI was saying. For the first time in history a Pope was going to resign!
She reported later:
“«I wasn’t breathing, I felt a balloon inside my head, I think the pressure also rose. I immediately understood what was happening but I was terrified. Managing such news alone is a huge, almost dramatic responsibility.”
"Even before the Pope pronounced the renunciation formula, explained the reasons and gave indications on the beginning of the vacant seat, I understood everything. In that moment I was terrified. And when you are afraid, there is little you can do! Ratzinger’s accent, despite the German inflection, when he speaks in Latin is very clear so I understood his words very well, even if uttered in a low, almost subdued tone. I understood that the Pope had resigned but now it was a question of giving the news ».
"As soon as the Pope finished the speech I looked around in disbelief because everyone was leaving as if nothing had happened. I then looked for the director of the Holy See Press Office, Father Federico Lombardi, who called me back in a few seconds and confirmed everything. In the end I called the editorial staff. There was a very good colleague who I really struggled to convince him of the news I was giving him because I was the only one who had it! It is not easy for a colleague to be told that the Pope has just resigned and announced it in Latin ».
What a scoop! She was there, she listened, she did the checks. Even today many people don’t believe the story and they think that some good Vatican sources called her that morning to tell that the Pope would shortly resign. The reality is that probably, in that room, after the Pope the best Latinist present in the room was just Mrs. Chirri.
Funny, no?
Just a challenge for you. What do you think to translate the Pope’s announce made in that day? Probably it was the most important speech made in Latin in the last thousand years or so. 