In terms of official documents is the trend toward classical rather than medieval Latin? I have never been to a Latin Mass but my understanding is that the priests use medieval Latin. I have read about the late Father Gerald Foster and his duties at the Vatican as church Latinist. He was reputed to have had a wicked sense of humor. Thanks, spqr.
The form of Latin used in Church documents really depends upon the writer. St. John Paul II was known for his extremely classical, almost Ciceronian, style. St. Thomas Aquinas, on the other hand, was much more terse, as can be seen in the Summa. I don’t think I’m supposed to post links yet, but if you access the Latin version of the Vatican website you’ll be able to read a decent selection of Church documents in their original language. Another good source for this is the Enchiridion Symbolorum (aka Denzinger’s Sources of Catholic Dogma), which gathers together a ridiculous collection of papal and conciliar documents in their original Latin and, to a lesser extent, Greek. The language of the Mass is basically the same as that of the Latin Vulgate Bible, as that is the source of virtually all prayers found in the Extraordinary Form Mass and the Latin Ordinary Form missal. I suppose you could classify it as Medieval Latin. It certainly contains more prepositions, and is sung in the ecclesiastical style, with Italianate C/G and no distinction between long and short vowels. I don’t know if I answered your question but I hope that helps.