Detroit — Some might think it strange that more than 119,000 people follow a Twitter feed of a supposed “dead language.”
But Pope Francis’ Latin Twitter feed has gained an astounding number of followers since its creation after his election as pope.
Msgr. Daniel Gallagher, the only American member of the Vatican Office of Latin Letters, which translates documents into the Church’s official language, says Twitter allows people to have conversations. “We discovered that Twitter messages spread more widely, more quickly,” Msgr. Gallagher said in a phone call from Rome.
He said it lends to the universality of the Church, and that through the 7 million followers of the Pope’s nine Twitter feeds, diverse groups of people are reached all over the world.
“The young people are especially savvy, so it’s easy to reach them through social media,” said Msgr. Gallagher, who originally is from Traverse City and studied Latin at the University of Michigan and was formed for the priesthood at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary.
When Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI started tweeting, it was pure novelty to the world, he said. The Catholic Church, one of the oldest establishments in the world, was joining the new world of technology.
“Excitement was also simply due to the fact that the messages are short and easy to remember,” Msgr. Gallagher said. He said he’s heard the tweets quoted in speeches, articles, and seen them go “viral” as people save and send them on to friends on Twitter and Facebook.
The pope’s Latin tweets, specifically, cater to a bit of a different crowd. Much of the excitement about the Latin tweets comes from those outside the Catholic Church, Msgr. Gallagher said, such as Latin scholars. Other enthusiasts are those familiar with the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass and groups of youth fascinated with the language.
He said many suggested the Holy Father create a Latin Twitter feed to encourage a living approach to the language — meaning its use through speaking, reading and writing.
While Pope Francis does not click “send” on every tweet, he is ultimately responsible for the message content and approves each translation of the message before it is sent out, Msgr. Gallagher said.
Msgr. Gallagher works with Pope Francis on the Latin tweets along with the other six members of the Office of Latin Letters.
“Even though I took other languages in high school and college, there was always something distinctive about Latin that really fascinated me,” he said, describing the language as “very concise, beautiful and precise.”
Through his international travels, Msgr. Gallagher said the universality of the Church becomes remarkably clear when he can walk into a church in Asia and still hear the same Latin Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
For Catholics interested in studying Latin, Msgr. Gallagher suggests attending a Mass in Latin or purchasing a bilingual version of a missal. Some universities might also offer small Latin reading groups.
Msgr. Gallagher said he understands that the language might overwhelm people. “But when we realize people used the language in daily life, for example, to call their dog, it becomes much less intimidating,” he said. “I always say it belongs to no one and everyone.”
Allison Follbaum is a freelance writer from Livonia and a recent journalism graduate of Madonna University.
Study abroad
Msgr. Gallagher teaches at the Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study in Rome. Latin and Greek students and scholars are encouraged to research their summer programs by visiting their website, http://paideia-institute.org.
