Pope Francis greets a crowd at the Vatican. Photo: Wikimedia It's the tour that's said to make or break Pope Francis's papacy. Last weekend, the Pope touched down in Cuba, a country whose half century long standoff with the US he famously helped to bring to an end. Today, he heads to the United States. But for many, one of the most remarkable aspects of his trip to the states doesn't have to do with any of his religious edicts or bold stances on international politics. It's the fact that he's daring to speak to people in English.
Yesterday, the Huffington Post reported that, before his arrival in the US, the Pope made a video directed to his admirers in Philadelphia. "I look forward to greeting the pilgrims and the people of Philadelphia when I come for the World Meeting of Families,” the Pope said. “I will be there because you will be there! See you in Philadelphia!” It was an unremarkable statement, except for one thing: it was in English. The Pope has been notoriously shy about speaking English. He is, of course, a native Spanish speaker. And his training in the Catholic Church, coupled with his Italian lineage and the similarities between the Spanish of Argentina and Italian, have made him feel right at home speaking Italian. He has a working knowledge of other European languages as well, expressing a particular fondness for German. But English has always proved elusive. This is something of a rarity among popes. Francis's two predecessors were legendary in their multilingual prowess. The National Catholic Register reports that Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was fluent in seven languages. And Pope John Paul II was reported to speak a whopping 12 languages. This may be due to the former popes' European upbringing, where multilingual skills are particularly important and play a larger part in the culture than most other regions of the world. Pope Francis, on the other hand, is sheepish about his English proficiency. "What has always caused the most problems for me has been English, especially the phonetics," he admits to the Register, ascribing this issue to the fact that he is "tone deaf." Ironically, English has been most necessary for the Pope not on his travels to the Americas, but during his visit to South Korea. There, he issued a few unscripted remarks to a group of children in English. This may have been less intimidating for the Pope since the children were not native speakers; non-native speech tends to be easier to understand for others who are not native to a given language. For his current trip to the United States, on the other hand, the Pope plans to spend little time speaking in English. While only four of his speeches in the country are to be given in English, 14 of them - including his speech to the UN, considered to be his most important during the trip - will be in Spanish. It's hard to say what the effect of this will be on the American public. In the primary race, the Republican field has been marked by a nativist streak, most notably Donald Trump's call for the construction of a massive border wall between the US and Mexico. Other well-known Republican figures, like Sarah Palin, have demanded that all immigrants in the country "speak American." The Pope's heavy use of Spanish may raise the ire of those on this side of the political spectrum, who already expressed frustration about his Laudato Si, in which he urged for greater action on climate change. On the other hand, The Atlantic's Priscilla Alvarez thinks that using Spanish may be a way to shore up slipping Catholic faith among Latinos in the US. With any luck, this will be a chance for the Pope to take his English speaking skills to the next level. But it's not just an opportunity for the Pope to learn English - it's also an opportunity to raise Americans' enthusiasm about learning Spanish as well. Francis has shifted the debate on so many issues, perhaps it's time for him to use his influence to help lift the stigma surrounding foreign languages for so many Americans. |
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