Sir, There are indeed very few qualified Latinists outside the Vatican (letter, Sept 5). The original texts of the Roman Missal should be in the language that is currently most widely used and understood: English. The alternative for many countries would be making a translation from a translation, which is most unsatisfactory.
The use of a dead language to produce texts limits the words and concepts to those of the times (now measured in centuries) when Latin was widely used and understood. This may not have been a great problem hitherto but it seems foolish to limit the possibilities of expression in this way.
Chris Feetenby
Leeds