Curial acts will no longer have to be prepared in Latin

The new Regulation of the Roman Curia and the corresponding Regulation of Personnel have set out a five-year ad experimentum framework. These were signed on the feast of Christ the King and published on November 24.

Among the changes is the disappearance of the old requirement that curial acts be drafted “as a rule” in Latin. Vatican officials privately acknowledge that, with Italian, English, French and other modern languages now permitted for normal use, this will in practice mean the abandonment of Latin.

Article 50 states that while “the curial institutions will normally draft their acts in Latin or in another language”, care will be taken to ensure that major documents intended for publication are translated into the most widely used languages.

The new regulations also establish that “an office for the Latin language be established at the Secretariat of State, at the service of the Roman Curia”.

Under the regulations, all acts intended for the Pope must be channelled through the Secretariat of State, and documents of broader significance must be shared across relevant institutions before publication.

For the first time, the regulations stipulate that dicasteries must “examine and, if necessary, adjudicate on matters that the faithful, exercising their right, directly refer to the Holy See”. In such cases, the local ordinary and the pontifical representative are to be consulted confidentially.

In practical terms, this grants Catholics a right not to be ignored by Vatican departments and places a significant burden on officials who, until now, could decline to respond to sensitive or complex matters.

In another reform, decisions affecting dioceses, religious institutes or movements must be preceded by consultation with their superiors. This appears to address past controversies in which bishops or religious superiors were disciplined, replaced or overruled without being heard, sometimes on the basis of incomplete or misleading reports.

Other matters in the regulations include instructions concerning digitalisation, expectations of personnel and employment rules for Vatican staff.

FULL STORY

Vatican ends routine use of Latin in sweeping overhaul (By Niwa Limbu/Catholic Herald – registration required)

General Regulations of the Roman Curia (Holy See)