why did the catholic church give its sermons in latin up until very recently?

Answer 1

The sermons were never given in Latin, except maybe, at the Vatican. In our church, the sermons were always in English. The mass itself was celebrated in Latin until Vatican II in 19 67. After that, the entire mass was celebrated in the vernacular(the language of the people).

Answer 2

I'm Catholic so I think I may explain it better than some of the other answers. Originally the Vulgate was in Greek before everything was translated to Latin.Then up until the Second Vatican Council during the 60's(not sure when exactly),the new council put into law that latin be shelved for peoples' native languages since Catholicism was spreading to places like Africa and Asia and S.America which had multiple languages. This was because the Vatican wanted the Catholics to actually know what was going on with the mass and the sermons because going to church when latin was used was a waste of time for the followers and the only people who could understand and speak latin at the time were the priests because it was taught at the seminaries.

In some countries,during the first sunday of every month and ceremonies like the Triduum:Holy Thursday,Good Friday and Holy Saturday,Mass is still said in Latin because it makes it more sacred and now more catholics can speak it limitedly as far as mass goes since the missal is usually printed in english,latin and then the native language.
Hope I helped.The official vatican website will shed more light if you want to learn more. Use the link below.it takes you to the main page and you can tinker around.Some pages are only accessible in certain languages especially the transcripts of the audiences

Answer 3

The Catholic mass was said in latin until Vatican II permitted celebrating mass in the local language (so we're talking almost 40 years, not very recent). The sermon (or as they say in the catholic church, the homily... strange you didn't know that) has been said in the local language so they would be understood.

Answer 4

After Vatican II, the Catholic Church decided to customize it's mass to be more user friendly. People didn't speak or understand Latin anymore. Church attendance was down. Money wasn't coming in anymore.

As of late, there has been interest in bring back the Latin mass. People say that Latin mass is more awe-inspiring than a boring mass in English.

Answer 5

In most countries the sermon was in the language of the whatever country the Mass was being said,. Also the priest would say the readings first in Latin and second in the vernacular.

Answer 6

The Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965, abolished the practice of celebrating mass in the language of it's official bible, the Latin Vulgate.

Even when the lass was celebrated in latin, sermons were always given in a respective land's native tongue.

Answer 7

not all the catholic Church's give the sermons in Latin some of them in Arabic and Assyrian

Answer 8

It is part of the opening up process the church is going through right now. Because their attendee rates have dramatically decreased in the past few years, they are trying to bring more people back into the church by opening up and making themselves more approachable. Thus, reading their sermons in languages that people can actually comprehend.

Answer 9

It didn't. Prior to Vatican II, most of the mass was in Latin (except for one small prayer in Greek) -- however the sermons were given in the local language.

Answer 10

The entire mass was in Latin until recent times.