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Joe Johnson of Denver writes:

I commend Pope Benedict XVI for allowing more churches to use the old Latin Mass. The Latin language itself fits a Catholic Church that is universal, a church in which all peoples, languages and cultures should feel at home and where no one is regarded as a stranger.
Moreover, the Latin language has a certain stability which daily spoken languages, where words change often in shades of meaning, cannot have. Latin words and expressions retain their meaning generation after generation. This is an advantage when it comes to the articulation of the Catholic faith.
Latin also has a nobility and a dignity that are not negligible. It is concise, precise and poetically measured. In addition, the Tridentine Mass, contains Gregorian chant, which is marked by a meditative rhythm that helps purify the heart and elevate the mind to a more heavenly plane of existence. It shows joy, sorrow, repentance, petition, hope, praise or thanksgiving, as the particular feast, part of the Mass, or other prayer may indicate. It makes the psalms come alive.
The Latin Mass is thus suitable for all cultures and peoples.

READER COMMENTS

So, then, is there a Latin phrase for "raping altar boys"?

Be nice, shaupeen. It's not called raping in the church. It's referred to as sharing God's love.

Greek would seem a better fit than Latin in my opinion...

Lots of love there, eros, amour, lots of sharing.

Is there an Evangelical phrase for having gay sex, sleeping with underage girls or using church proceeds to by huge houses, extravigant cars and boats for leisure?

Catholics are to be commended since they're the only ones going to "heaven"...

I'ma sponsoring a find'a the Pope in'a the pizza contest

If Catholics ever figure out that having a Pope is completely unnecessary, they won't have to wait for a Pope's permission to worship as they choose. Martin Luther thought of this a long time ago.

As large as the Roman Empire expanded, it never really got past the Mediterranean area. It is only universal in the those people's opinions that European heritage is central to the world. If numbers count, let's try Chinese, it's been around longer and it's dialects are spoken by more people than those from the Romance languages.

Simply following the Golden Rule is far more universal. Let's get past the superstitions.

Where's Richard Grimes in this thread. My God, this is tailor made for him to jump in with both feet!

Whatever happened to "English is the only acceptable language in this country"?

Every comment herein exceeds in vitriol what I could and would have entered; therefore, fast forward to the Deicide Corner:

Deicide Corner: The church continues to blanket itself in secrecy to the actions being taken to address the vast problem of child molestation and the lack of support for victims of such awful crimes. Today, in a study conducted by the Catholic Church itself, there are roughly 5,000 priests across the country (more worldwide) who have been credibly accused of molestation but whose identity and current status remains unknown. These priests may be still practicing… and the church continues to hide or transfers these individuals. Columnist Tom O’Connell

Headline News Anchor at CNN 3/9/07 claims he became the victim of sexual abuse at the age of 14 lasting three years. His abuser was Father Jeff Toohey. He says: “I felt trapped….The school would never believe me, I thought, and I feared I would be expelled if I revealed the abuse. I was 14 with no voice except the one in my head saying, ‘You can never tell the truth about what is happening.” Thomas Roberts

And now Pope Benedict, a member of the Nazi youth brings back Latin so the sheep (Jn.10) will understand even less of what is said and blindly follow: “So, then, is there a Latin phrase for ‘raping alter boys’”? It will be in Latin so we won’t know it if we hear it.

Reminds me of the time I went to a friend's funeral; and the priest mumbled his way through the entire "Dies Irae". After which, in his sermon, he took pains to inform everyone that Latin was the ONLY language in which the prayers of the church were ever to be said, since ONLY Latin actually invoked God, and was of benefit to the departed soul.

Well, Ratzinger did insist that it was time for the church and the faithful to "return to the essentials "; so a regression to a dead language, which carries with it a dead - and so long in the grave it stinketh - set of superstitions should come as no real surprise to anyone.

Popes' bastards become Dukes, with feudal fiefs. Cardinals' mistresses get 3/4 of a million dollar inheritances. So, why shouldn't the local hedge wizard enjoy his form of droit de signeur? (That's the Medieval French phrase for it anyway; sort of a "pit stop" on the way back to whatever Latin will make it official.)

A dead language for a morally dead religion, Priceless!

It is unbelievable that the intelligent can believe that a Jew, an Arab, and a baby Jew born in the Middle East are Gods that create everything in existence. The ignorant can be excused from such idiocy; however, the intelligent must be mentally deranged. The pope’s black little baby Jesus preordains his own death clearly in suicide so the bulk of humanity will not have to be sentenced to ovens never to expire but to burn for eternity, i.e. forever irrespective of his/her conduct during a lifetime on Earth. Even the pope’s priests don’t believe or they wouldn’t be out there gang-banging little boys in which the godly punishment is hell’s fire. A word to the wise: Parents beware; be wary of god’s mouthpieces. Don’t trust them around your children. Every patriarchal religion abuses children. Err in favor of children when looking at clergy: Assume he is a sexual predator. Assume you’ve seen him handcuffed by Chris Hansen on NBC To Catch A Predator.

Mr. Johnson says: "the Latin language itself fits a Catholic Church that is universal, a church in which all peoples, languages and cultures should feel at home and where no one is regarded as a stranger."

Such an erroneous statement. All of the people attending the Mass, no matter in what country, are hearing it in a language that is foreign to them. When Latin was used, and when it is used now, everyone is a foreigner, everyone is a stranger to the Mass. Back in the good old days that never were, the only way people knew what was being said was to look at the English translation. Many could parrot some of the Latin, but not understand it. Of course, right now, none of the priests understand Latin either. But if they come to speak it, that will further separate them for the people. Perhaps that is the purpose of Pope Benedict, to emphasize that "we are up here on the top of the mountain; the rest of you are down there. Never the twain will meet." Perhaps he is concerned about how people are now using their own consciences rather than his.

Pope Ratzinger likes to use latin because it is easier to fool those who blindly accept what he says without any investigation or evidence of truth. It can be shown by studying past religioins, that Jesus, who is actually the "Sun" and a Sun god was copied by the christian founders, ffrom past religions and personified as a real person, which he was not.

Many of the gods of the ancient past, like Horus, the Egyptian Sun god of 3000 BC, share the same pretend history as the pretend Jesus. and are said to have been born on December 25th, which is in the astrological constellation of 'Virgo', which in latin means "The Virgin". The pope knows all of this and knows that thir was snever a real virgin birth, but as a business man he needs a good job and the vast amounts of cash that flows into the Vatican. It is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated and the Pope and the rest of the religious industry need this imaginary story or thier house of cards will crumble.

The Pope has issued a papal bull, in which he has effectivly given all other religions the finger.

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