Pope Francis Limits Use of Latin in Ceremonies July 19, 2021 Pope Francis holds the weekly general meeting at the Vatican on December 16, 2020. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS Share share The URL has been copied to your clipboard 0:00 0:05:02 0:00 Pop-out player Pope Francis placed limits Friday on the use of Latin in the Roman Catholic Church service called Mass. The decision cancels a reform established by Pope Benedict XVI, who led the Church just before Francis. Benedict had ordered that Latin could be used in special celebrations of the mass. He also permitted the use of Latin in usual masses if the membership of an individual church requested it.