5,000-Euro Prize Offered for Best Article on Classical Languages
Journalistic Competition of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 11, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences has announced a journalistic prize to promote the teaching and study of Latin and Greek.
Awards will go to articles published in newspapers and reviews that show how these two languages have had a decisive role for the scientific and cultural development of Europe and the West in general.
To be eligible for the competition, articles must be published between now and Dec. 31.
Authors entering the competition must send six copies of their newspaper or review article to the Secretariat of the Pontifical Committee of Historical Sciences (at Piazza Pio XII 3, 00120 Vatican City), specifying the name of the newspaper and date of publication.
After studying all the articles received, the jury will assign a 5,000-euro ($6,000) prize. The occasion for the competition is the 50th anniversary of the pontifical committee.
Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, president of the pontifical committee, told ZENIT that the competition responds «to the progressive abandonment of the study» of the classical languages, in particular, Latin.
The main objective is «to recover Latin as a language and instrument of knowledge,» he said.
This language is necessary to study the ancient and modern history of the world, «when Latin was, so to speak, the international language of political, economic and cultural relations,» the monsignor added.
Monsignor Brandmuller applauds initiatives to promote this language, such as the «courageous decision» of Mel Gibson in «The Passion of the Christ» to use the original languages of Jesus’ times, including Latin.
