Why we need Latin! In the Pope's letter, 'the English and the Italian texts do not seem to be saying the same thing'. Not a problem if it was in the official language of the Church!
From Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment
There are problems in the text of Traditionis Custodes: even Vincent Nichols pointed out a place in the accompanying Letter where the English and the Italian texts do not seem to be saying the same thing.
I don't know whether other people have noticed the following: while TC forbids a bishop who already has a TLM group in his diocese from authorising any more such groups, a bishop whose diocese lacks such a group is subject to no such prohibition. I am not certain that this is intentional.
One inference could be that the document was put together in a tearing hurry. Perhaps the surgeon was knocking at the door?
Normally, I whinge ... and how right I am to do so!! ... about Vatican documents issued without an official Latin text. This practice is, indeed, a deplorable exercise in Italophone cultural imperialism. Those of us who do not speak Italian are now (nobody bothers to conceal it) second class Catholics.
But ...
There are examples of extremely important documents being changed after their official publication. Many examples could, I suspect, be adduced: here is just a couple:
(1) The bull Apostolicae curae of Pope Leo XIII, condemning Anglican Orders, somehow was changed between the first printing in ASS and its subsequent republication in Acta Leonis XIII, and ... get this! ... the Vatican website, when I checked in June last year, carried the original, displaced, ASS text! (The motive for the first alteration appeared to be the elimination of a "loophole" which lowered the status of the condemnation ... my suspicion is that Cardinal Vaughan ... er ...)
(2) In 2000, the Vatican Press published ("ex editione typica") the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, with an assurance that the Pope had approved it on 11 January 2000. But when the text of the entire Missal was subsequently published, the text of the Institutio had been very substantially modified.
The appearance of an official Latin version of Traditionis custodes in AAS could easily be an opportunity for the document to be 'tidied up' in a way that made it even more leak-proof and poisonous than it is in its current modern language texts.
It is important to remember that we are not at the mercy of honourable or decent people, and that PF's hatred of us is, er, visceral.
On the other hand, conceivably, if PF gets enough grief from irritated bishops, a changed text might be less nasty!
But I wouldn't put money on it.
Not if I woz you, Squire.
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