A Place of Brightness: The Short-Lived "Royal We" in the Pontificate of Francis

Monday, May 26, 2014

The Short-Lived "Royal We" in the Pontificate of Francis

As I'm making available full grammatical descriptions of Pope Francis' Latin Tweets, I stumbled on a curious point. The very first tweet issued from the account @Pontifex_ln (March 17, 2013) included the "Royal We." Take a look at the Latin and English together:

Where English says "I ask" the Latin says "We ask (rogamus)." Pray "for me" becomes "for us (pro nobis)" in the Latin.

Now, we should not blame the translator. I'll bet the "Royal We" was official policy under Pope Benedict XVI. And who could possibly have predicted the likes of humble Pope Francis?

It didn't take long for the translator to realize the "Royal We" runs against the spirit of Pope Francis. Just a few days later, the "Royal We" is gone.

1st person singular forms, such as ego, prospicio, and volo are used already on March 24, 2013, and the "Royal We" never reappears:

In response to your first tweet, Your Holiness, Fundo preces pro te, Papa Francisce, Domino Nostro...
"I pour out prayers for thee (2nd pers. sing. familiar form), Pope Francis, to our Lord..."

Update: there may be a new instance of the "Royal We" in a Papal Tweet. I explain that it is possible to interpret it otherwise.

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In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

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Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!

Monday, May 26, 2014

The Short-Lived "Royal We" in the Pontificate of Francis

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