In Defense of Latin in the Mass

Why did the Roman Church preserve Latin as the language of her sacred liturgy for centuries? And what is lost when the Church's ancient liturgical language is treated as merely an obstacle to understanding?

In In Defense of Latin in the Mass: The Case for the Church's Timeless Liturgical Language, Pope Benedict XIV offers a concise, reasoned, and historically grounded defense of Latin's enduring place within the Roman Rite. Writing in an age when the Church's liturgical traditions faced sustained criticism following the Protestant Reformation, Benedict XIV confronts objections that remain remarkably familiar to Catholics today.

Rather than defending Latin through sentimentality or nostalgia, the Holy Father appeals to theology, history, ecclesial tradition, and the lived experience of the Church. He demonstrates how a stable sacred language can preserve doctrinal clarity, strengthen unity across nations and generations, safeguard the Church's liturgical inheritance, and distinguish divine worship from the language of ordinary life.

One of the most accomplished canonists and scholars ever to occupy the Chair of Peter, Benedict XIV brings formidable learning to the question while maintaining a measured and charitable approach. His arguments reveal that the debate over liturgical language ultimately concerns something much greater than vocabulary: the nature of sacred worship and the Church's responsibility to receive, preserve, and hand on her inheritance.

This volume also includes an essay by Hierotheus Confluentinus, provincial of the German Capuchins, providing additional historical and theological insight into Latin's role in Catholic worship. Together, these works offer a compelling examination of why the Church's timeless liturgical language has endured.