The Vatican Website in Latin
7th May 2026
It is quite interesting to compare the writing style of Papal Encyclicals from Popes down to Paul VI with those from John Paul II onward. The former are very florid and have a distinctive structure, whereas John Paul II and his successors have written in more direct and bare-bones style. (Well, I thought it was interesting.)
When I was an undergraduate at Yale I had to depend on the Sterling Library’s copies of Actae Apostolicae Sedis, which is the official ‘gazette’ of the Vatican, for contemporary Latin writings. Now, of course, there is the Finnish site Nuntii Lantini (article here) and, if you look for them, a number of people who write in Latin on the Internet. And, of course, Google Translate does its best.
It’s a great time to be alive….