Vatican Museums

It's in the rooms of the Gregoriano Profano Museum that the Vatican Museums will host an original initiative with the title "Examen Publicum Vaticanum" on 20 December. This unusual event, the brainchild of cooperation between the Austrian Embassy to the Holy See, Vatican Museums and the Austrian Culture Forum in Rome, is aimed at underlining, through a public examination in Latin, the continuing vitality of the Latin language and the importance of its teaching in secondary schools.

In a unique setting, among original Greek and ancient Roman sculptures, the students of the private Austrian lycée Sacré Coeur in Bregenz, together with their counterparts of the Formatio high school in Liechtenstein, will take, either individually or in pairs, a written examination in Latin with the title "Puer natus est" (A child is born).

It will be a regular examination, consisting in the translation of liturgical texts on the theme of Christmas and in some questions of interpretation.

A particular feature of the event will be that of permitting the students, towards the end of the exam, to avail themselves of a special aid: the so-called "telephone wild card". In other words, they will be able to call on their mobile phones authoritative religious and lay personalities in the Vatican, in Austria or in other countries, and receive from them valuable advice to help them complete the examination. The examinees can ask for explanations on questions concerning Christmas, the Catholic Church and the liturgy. Vice versa the authorities consulted can pose questions to the students.

Throughout the duration of the Examen Publicum Vaticanum, the presence of the media will be permitted: they will observe the students in the various stages, including that of the use of the telephone wild card.
The aim of the event is not only to promote the teaching of Latin in high schools and contribute to the understanding of texts of Holy Mass in Latin, but also to stress the historic role of the Catholic Church in the development and preservation of the Latin language. Given the imminence of the Christmas festivities, there is also a strong intention, through this initiative of encounter between different languages and cultures, to transmit a message of peace, hope and harmony among peoples.