Fr. Zuhsldorf relates an anecdote about an encounter between Pope John Paul II and his Latinist. This is for all you Latin scholars who suffered through your elementary Latin classes in school.
There is no “J” in Latin, or shouldn’t be. Fr. Foster, famous Latinist here in Rome, tells the story of when John Paul II was elected and he began to sign his first name with a “J” as in “Joannes”. Foster reminded the Pope that there is no “J” in Latin. The Pope thought about that for a while and then responded: “There is now.” No other man on earth could make that declaration.
It’s good to be pope.
Not really.It is often the other person who has the last laugh.As Foster tells the story himself ,he points out that the inscription on the tomb of JPII has the “I” not the “J”.
Sadly, its only good to be pope when you are alive, because once your dead they will do a number on you. As Fr. Foster notes gleefully, the latinist won, his tombstone is inscribed: Ioannes Paulus PP II. Fr. Foster swears he had nothing to do with this, but took a certain amount of pleasure in the timelessnes of the Latin language.
Great story.
When we lived in Italy all of our bills and other correspondence came to the household of “Chelli” – can you guess our name?
Very nice story, however in the end, the Latin teacher won. This is the way the Holy Father’s name is posted on http://www.Vatican.va. Somehow, I always think my teachers are going to get the last word…
Ioannes Paulus PP. II
Karol Wojtyla
16.X.1978 – 2.IV.2005