Very good point Barbara and interesting on so many levels. The Church is one of the most important global institutions at a time when globalisation is being eroded mostly from anglosaxon powers and so it fascinating to discuss the role of English in the Church and its lack of preminence for geographical and historical reasons as an element that drives the Catholic Church away from America
Fascinating. I just watched Conclave and wondered a lot about the language issue. Thank you for clarifying. Still, I wonder how many of the Cardinals can function at all in either Italian or Latin.
It's crazy that the choice is between a dead language and a small European one. It's for obvious reasons, but still. Interestingly the same goes for reporting on the Vatican. Very hard to do properly if you don't speak Italian
Excellent... Where else would you be right now! I'll make a point of watching Sky News later ...
Habebamus Papam, habebimus Papam sed, eheu!, non iam habemus Papam.
Haven't seen THAT film (or read the book) ... although I've read non-spoiler reviews which have described the ending as really rubbish, and reviews of the book aren't much more complimentary. Anyway, it can never be as good as la roba vera, il Papa vero... !
What you said about Bergoglio doing an "inside job" is quite funny and convincing. We can never know anything about i conflitti di interresse nella Cappella. Someone should write a novel about it, preferably a cardinal.
Not sure about inside job, but speaking the language sure helps. There are ways and ways to translate, especially when done vocally. And also, he was a truly great communicator.
Thanks for your comment (made me smile), but I won't be on sky later, I'm not exclusive to them this time so doing other stuff. Heading to square for smoke - mght be the one!
Thank you for this post. Many of the Cardinals are multilingual, so I imagine the Conclave, although their business is serious, is much like similar gatherings of multilingual people where not everyone understands the languages of everyone else: that there is a certain amount of explanation and clarification that occurs in a kind of cascade, and everyone helps each other out to ensure that understanding is reached.
Also, we must remember that the Conclave had a particular order of business. The Vatican itself has a remarkable translation service, and it stands to reason that any information on likely nominations for the Pope would have been made available in multiple languages in advance of the Conclave for those Cardinals whose Italian (or Latin) is less than fluent. I also imagine (not having seen the movie) that there is a lot of meeting discipline - and let us not forget the spiritual dimension to the whole endeavour!
In addition to his native English, Pope Leo is also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, according to Wikipedia. Those five languages must be those used by the large majority of Roman Catholics.
I haven't seen this mentioned in press commentary but it must have been a factor that his fellow Cardinals considered, along with the background and career that gave him those language skills.
I'm reminded that Michael Edwards, the first (and only?) British-born member of the Académie Française, said that "Learning French isn't just learning another language, it's learning another way of seeing the world."
Very good point Barbara and interesting on so many levels. The Church is one of the most important global institutions at a time when globalisation is being eroded mostly from anglosaxon powers and so it fascinating to discuss the role of English in the Church and its lack of preminence for geographical and historical reasons as an element that drives the Catholic Church away from America
Hadn't considered the American angle. There's probably a whole book to write on that point alone! Will have a proper look after the white smoke......
Well I learnt Latin at school I must have been the last generation who could in theory have communicated with any catholic?
Fascinating. I just watched Conclave and wondered a lot about the language issue. Thank you for clarifying. Still, I wonder how many of the Cardinals can function at all in either Italian or Latin.
It's crazy that the choice is between a dead language and a small European one. It's for obvious reasons, but still. Interestingly the same goes for reporting on the Vatican. Very hard to do properly if you don't speak Italian
Excellent... Where else would you be right now! I'll make a point of watching Sky News later ...
Habebamus Papam, habebimus Papam sed, eheu!, non iam habemus Papam.
Haven't seen THAT film (or read the book) ... although I've read non-spoiler reviews which have described the ending as really rubbish, and reviews of the book aren't much more complimentary. Anyway, it can never be as good as la roba vera, il Papa vero... !
What you said about Bergoglio doing an "inside job" is quite funny and convincing. We can never know anything about i conflitti di interresse nella Cappella. Someone should write a novel about it, preferably a cardinal.
Not sure about inside job, but speaking the language sure helps. There are ways and ways to translate, especially when done vocally. And also, he was a truly great communicator.
Thanks for your comment (made me smile), but I won't be on sky later, I'm not exclusive to them this time so doing other stuff. Heading to square for smoke - mght be the one!
Thank you for this post. Many of the Cardinals are multilingual, so I imagine the Conclave, although their business is serious, is much like similar gatherings of multilingual people where not everyone understands the languages of everyone else: that there is a certain amount of explanation and clarification that occurs in a kind of cascade, and everyone helps each other out to ensure that understanding is reached.
Also, we must remember that the Conclave had a particular order of business. The Vatican itself has a remarkable translation service, and it stands to reason that any information on likely nominations for the Pope would have been made available in multiple languages in advance of the Conclave for those Cardinals whose Italian (or Latin) is less than fluent. I also imagine (not having seen the movie) that there is a lot of meeting discipline - and let us not forget the spiritual dimension to the whole endeavour!
Barbara is fantastic!
In addition to his native English, Pope Leo is also fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, and Portuguese, according to Wikipedia. Those five languages must be those used by the large majority of Roman Catholics.
I haven't seen this mentioned in press commentary but it must have been a factor that his fellow Cardinals considered, along with the background and career that gave him those language skills.
I'm reminded that Michael Edwards, the first (and only?) British-born member of the Académie Française, said that "Learning French isn't just learning another language, it's learning another way of seeing the world."