# A Pope Speaking English **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435 "2011-01-21T09:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ultraman100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b77776/32.png) [@ultraman100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultraman100)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/1 "2011-01-21T09:25:44Z")
Has there ever been recorded an audio of any Pope speaking english in any context for a duration of over a few minutes? Link? My Google keyword search didn’t uncover anything. Maybe that’s why we have forums like these. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/2 "2011-01-21T09:43:24Z")
I can’t watch Youtube videos on my computer since there’s no Flash player installed, but I would be very surprised if Benedict XVI. had not publicly spoken any English during his recent visit to the UK. [See this Google results list](http://www.google.com/search?q=ratzinger+hyde+park&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:de-DE:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=#q=ratzinger+hyde+park&rls=com.microsoft:de-DE:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=vid:1&source=og&sa=N&hl=de&tab=wv&fp=7551f595d404e248) for a search for “Pope Hyde Park”, where he presided over a prayer (and faced rallies of protesters). Of course, you’d also need to define what “more than a few minutes” is supposed to mean. I’m also quite sure that both John Paul II. and Benedict XVI. have celebrated public masses while on visit in English-speaking countries (Benedict XVI., for instance, one in Glasgow, of which there are Youtube videos out there). I’m quite confident they did that in English. Why would you think John Paul II. and Benedict XVI., both of which were/are polyglot and travel(led) a lot in their official capacity, would never have publicly said anything in English, the lingua franca of the world? ---
**Author:** ![ultraman100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b77776/32.png) [@ultraman100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultraman100)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/3 "2011-01-21T09:49:59Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/4 "2011-01-21T11:06:29Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Why would you think John Paul II. and Benedict XVI., both of which were/are polyglot and travel(led) a lot in their official capacity, would never have publicly said anything in English, the lingua franca of the world? Every time I heard them speak, it was always with a translator. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/5 "2011-01-21T11:31:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Every time I heard them speak, it was always with a translator. That’s probably because those instances where there is wide TV coverage of the Pope are not specifically geared towards English-speaking countries. Take the urbi et orbi blessings from St Peter’s Square, for instance; they are read in dozens of languages (not all of which the Pope speaks, of course, reading pre-formulated phrases from paper), but the main ceremony is conducted in Italian, since it takes place in Rome. But if the Pope addresses a specifically anglophone audience, for instance when visiting an English-speaking country, I’m pretty sure he’ll try to do that in the vernacular. And as I said, both John Paul II. and Benedict XVI. are known to be very well-versed in languages - the Wikipedia article for John Paul II. lists fourteen languages as idioms which he spoke, which I find hard to believe. OTOH, I’d find it even harder to believe that he had no knowledge of English, even though both of them grew up at a time when English did not yet have the status of the first foreign language most people in the world learn as today. I’d gladly assist in finding Youtube videos of Popes speaking English, but the firm won’t let me install Flash on this machine. Edit: To be precise, the urbi et orbi blessing itself is not multilingual. What is read out in multiple languages are the Easter and Christmas greetings to the world that accompany the blessing itself. ---
**Author:** ![phaemon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/977dab/32.png) [@phaemon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phaemon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/6 "2011-01-21T11:45:12Z")
He [Benedict XVI] read in English at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. There are probably quite a few videos; here’s a [youtube one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzY7pgVA_Io) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/7 "2011-01-21T13:47:20Z")
Here’s Pope John Paul II in [Chicago in 1979](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkJyOEhPvmE). There’s a good few minutes of him speaking English there. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/8 "2011-01-21T14:17:27Z")
> [@phaemon](#): > > He [Benedict XVI] read in English at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow. > > There are probably quite a few videos; here’s a [youtube one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzY7pgVA_Io) Ironically, he’s the only person who’s spoken comprehensible English in Glasgow in ages… ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/9 "2011-01-21T16:02:49Z")
Pope Adrian IV spoke English on a daily basis, but any video of him so doing has been lost. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/10 "2011-01-21T16:08:44Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Pope Adrian IV spoke English on a daily basis, but any video of him so doing has been lost. He probably spoke more French than English, and more Latin than French – and the English that he spoke would be hard to understand these days unless you were familiar with early Middle English. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/11 "2011-01-21T17:20:07Z")
As recently as this Christmas, the Pope gave an address to the British public via the BBC’s _Thought for the Day_ programme (a radio programme which invites various religious thinkers to give short addresses): Here’s a [video (YouTube link)](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/pope-benedict-delivers-thought-for-the-day-12474464). ---
**Author:** ![ultraman100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b77776/32.png) [@ultraman100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultraman100)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/12 "2011-01-22T00:35:13Z")
Thanks for the links guys! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/13 "2011-01-22T02:06:21Z")
Here’s [Pope Paul VI watching the Apollo 11 mission](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkUaYrWuv3s&feature=related) and praying for the astronauts. At about 4:30, he switches from Latin to English. When Paul VI spoke to the U.N. in 1965, he used French. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-pope-speaking-english/568435/14 "2011-01-22T04:49:18Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > Pope Adrian IV spoke English on a daily basis, but any video of him so doing has been lost. So did Alexander Pope. 😛