Lend me your ears: Vatican Radio broadcasts news in language of Caesar

What’s the Latin for smartphone? Listeners to Vatican Radio may soon find out as the station has launched news bulletins in the language of Caesar and Cicero.

The move is part of efforts to revive the use of Latin and the first five-minute bulletin was broadcast on Saturday morning. Mere decades ago Latin was a staple in school systems in many European countries as well as being the language of all Roman Catholic services, however its use has waned significantly.

‘Hebdomada Papae, Notitiae Vaticanae latine reddiate’ (‘The pope’s week, Vatican news in the Latin language’) hopes to reverse that trend and the weekly feature will leave translators with the interesting task of creating words for modern concepts such as ‘social media’ and ‘suicide bomber’.

After the bulletin the station has added a 30 minute chat show in Latin to the schedule which will also offer tips on using the ancient tongue in the modern world.

“We wanted the official language of the Church to be experienced in news just as it is in the daily broadcast of a Mass in Latin,” the editorial director for Vatican communications, Andrea Tornielli, said.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!