Place of Latin in the Liturgy of the Church after the Second Vatican Council – Analysis of the Problem and Synthesis Attempt

Abstract

The article takes up the problem of the presence of Latin in the liturgy of the Church after the Second Vatican Council. Despite the recommendations contained in the Constitution on the Liturgy, Latin was excluded from the life of the Church. The numerous testimonies of ancient authors convince about the great virtue and practicality of Latin in the worship of God and in the mutual communication. The statements of the Popes of the twentieth century include praise this ancient language and recommendation to keep it in the rites and education (especially in the study of theology). After the Second Vatican Council, there was the “sacrifice” (elimination) of that unitatis vinculum in favor of specifically conceived accessibility and comprehensibility of rites. Some lay and spiritual writers of those times do not agree with this situation. A special place have here explanations of J. Ratzinger, who in his numerous publications devoted much attention to the place of Latin in the liturgy of the Church.