Sunday Telegraph 27/01: Il latino sta morendo

Ho appena letto un intervento di P. Reginald Foster, "latinista" del Papa. Egli mette in guardia dalla possibile - e purtroppo sempre più tangibile - perdita della lingua latina nella Chiesa, che precluderebbe l'accesso diretto a importanti fonti della tradizione vivente della fede cristiana, specialmente dal punto di vista teologico (e non solo, dico io).

Riporto alcuni pensieri:

"You cannot understand St Augustine in English. He thought in Latin. It is like listening to Mozart through a jukebox"

"We still speak Latin in the elevators and around the house in my monastery at San Pancrazio, just like 45 years ago. But nowadays the students don't get it, and I don't blame them – it's not their fault"

Italy is, however, different: all schoolchildren, except those who attend technical colleges, must be taught Latin for at least four hours a week until they are 18. But Fr Foster said the techniques used to teach Latin were outdated. "You need to present the language as a living thing," he said. "You do not need to be mentally excellent to know Latin. Prostitutes, beggars and pimps in Rome spoke Latin, so there must be some hope for us"

"It is dying in the Church. I'm not optimistic about Latin. The young priests and bishops are not studying it"

L'intero articolo si può leggere naturalmente sul sito del Telegraph

I miei esami procedono