Latin made the Catholic church truly universal.One could attend church in any country in the world and participate fully in the celebration of the Mass.I lived for some time in the Sudan and attended the local church,the congregation was made up of many nationalities including Arab,all followed the mass in Latin and in each persons missal was a translation in their own language.If I was to go to that same church now and the mass was said in Arabic I really would not have a clue about the service and my chance of participating in it would be nil.
For a truly international church we can either bring back latin or start trying to learn a multitude of foreign languages.

Fred, Brisbane, Australia

I am reminded of a letter that a friend once received from the founder of the Welsh Nationalists, Saunders Lewis. He said,
"Welsh is the language of my people and Latin is the language of my Church".

The moral of which is, if you are a patriot, excel in the use of your own language and if you want to be an inter-Nationalist, learn Latin

Christopher Gillibrand, Brussels, Belgium/ Europe

Q: "Latin may be difficult (what valuable thing is not?)"

A: God.

Donal Thompson, Madrid, Spain

Simon seems to be a little bit confused. The MUSIC of Palestrina is one thing - but the point that Sylvia concerned language.
I'm one of those who's never learned Latin. A Latin Mass to me would be like any other Mass in a foreign language - incomprehensible. I'd prefer to understand what I'm saying to God.

John S, Southampton,