Vatican City - Among the changes introduced by the new General Regulations of the Roman Curia promulgated by Leo XIV is one which, at first sight, might appear minor. A comparison with the 1999 text, however, reveals a significant change in the rules governing the use of languages within the Holy See’s administration. Latin retains its place in the Curia, but no longer enjoys the position of precedence expressly assigned to it under the previous Regulations. The clearest indication of this shift can be found in the provisions dealing with “Languages in use”.
Under the General Regulations of the Roman Curia approved by Saint John Paul II in 1999, Article 144 stipulated that the Dicasteries “shall normally draw up their acts in the Latin language”, adding only afterwards that “the languages most widely used today may also be employed” for correspondence and, where necessary, for the drafting of documents. The structure of the provision left little room for doubt. Latin was the default language under the Regulations; modern languages could be used instead where the practical needs of the Curia required it.
The text promulgated by Leo XIV changes precisely this point. Article 50 of the new Regulations states: “The Curial Institutions shall normally draw up their acts in the Latin language or in another language.” Only a few words have changed, but the legal significance is considerable. The phrase “may also be employed” has disappeared and has been replaced by a straightforward alternative: “in the Latin language or in another language”.Latin therefore continues to be mentioned first, but the Regulations no longer present it as the ordinary language, with others treated as an additional option. The two alternatives are placed on the same legal footing.
The reform therefore reflects a Curia in which official acts may ordinarily be drafted either in Latin or in another language, without the Regulations establishing any general preference for the former. Latin, however, has not disappeared from the Curia’s regulatory framework. The new Article 50 retains, almost word for word, two other provisions contained in the previous Regulations. An office for the Latin language remains within the Secretariat of State, serving the Roman Curia, while the principal documents intended for publication are still to be translated into the languages most widely used today.
The change therefore concerns the role assigned to Latin in the ordinary work of the Curial Institutions. The traditional language of the Holy See remains available, protected and supported by a dedicated office, but it no longer enjoys the explicit precedence it held under the 1999 Regulations.
The general requirement to know Latin also disappears
The comparison becomes even more significant when attention turns from the General Regulations to those governing personnel. In 1999, knowledge of Latin was expressly required under the general rules for Officials appointed to the higher functional grades. For admission to grades 10, 9 and 8, applicants were required, in addition to holding a university degree, to have “knowledge of the Latin language and, in addition to Italian, of at least one modern language”.
This was therefore not simply a skill that might be valued during the selection process. Latin was formally listed among the requirements for entry into those categories of staff.
The 1999 General Job Description reinforced the same approach. For several professional roles in the higher grades, knowledge of Latin was again listed as a requirement alongside Italian and at least one modern language. At grade nine, moreover, the duties included drafting proposed acts and official documents of the Apostolic See “in the Latin language or in a modern language”, including decrees, rescripts, briefs and apostolic letters. The Personnel Regulations promulgated in 2025 abandon this model. Under the new system, the staffing structure of each Institution determines the requirements for individual roles. These must include qualifications, professional experience and “knowledge of one or more languages in addition to the mother tongue and the Italian language”. Latin no longer appears as a general linguistic requirement.
This does not mean that a Dicastery cannot require knowledge of Latin for a post where it is necessary. The new system allows skills and requirements to be determined according to the specific duties involved. What disappears, however, is the across-the-board requirement imposed directly by the 1999 Regulations on Officials in the higher grades. Here too, therefore, a clear choice emerges: linguistic competence is tied to the work actually entrusted to the individual, rather than being built around compulsory knowledge of Latin for particular categories of staff.
The role of Italian
The new text also brings the position of Italian into particularly sharp focus. The 2025 Regulations require linguistic competences to be determined by taking into account “one or more languages in addition to the mother tongue and the Italian language”. The wording treats Italian as a common element, distinct both from an employee’s mother tongue and from any additional languages required for the performance of their duties. This point is particularly important because the official language of Vatican City State, where the Holy See is based, is Italian, not Latin.
Italian was already expressly mentioned in the 1999 text, but within a different framework: for the higher grades, knowledge of Latin, Italian and at least one modern language was required. Today Latin has been removed from this general framework, while Italian remains firmly embedded in the system of requirements.
The change therefore gives regulatory form to a linguistic arrangement that more closely reflects the Curia’s day-to-day workings: Italian serves as the common working language, while other linguistic competences are identified according to the employee’s linguistic background and the needs of the office.
A change that is small only in appearance
The linguistic reform occupies only a few lines within two texts dealing with far broader aspects of the organisation of the Roman Curia. The issue is particularly significant when it comes to the recruitment of lay people. For clergy and religious, knowledge of the classical languages normally forms part of their academic formation: theological faculties, as well as some institutes of religious sciences, include examinations in Latin and, in many cases, Greek in their respective curricula.
The new Regulations were approved ad experimentum for five years and entered into force on 1 January 2026. The document bears the signature of Leo XIV and is dated 23 November 2025, the first year of his pontificate. If no amendments are introduced during the five-year period, the text will be regarded as definitively confirmed.
Fr G.V.
Silere non possum
