DELE News
Vatican City to speak Spanish
A Spanish speaking pope hasn’t sat in Saint Peter’s chair since 1503. The induction of Jorge Mario Bergoglio into the church, although everyone knows him as Francisco, has initiated a surge in interest in the Spanish language in the Vatican state.
The Cervantes institute will be in charge of offering Spanish classes to almost 5 thousand employees belonging to the Vatican, offering general Spanish courses, standard as well as intensive, and specifically themed classes such as Spanish for the legal sector, business Spanish, Spanish for the religious world, etc.
It must be taken into account that more than 40% of the 1.230 million Catholics across the world live in Latin America, something that makes the Spanish language a fundamental language of communication; the new Pope has really drawn attention to this.
The importance of Spanish on an international level is undeniable and Francisco’s position has brought the value of the language into the limelight. Evidently, Spanish is one of a handful of languages which make up the future, where multilingualism is only set to become more and more essential, with linguistic skill a necessary attribute in order to really become somebody in the working and cultural world.