Starting next week, Chinese will be added as the ninth official language at papal general audiences, Pope Francis announced Wednesday.
“Next week, with Advent, the Chinese translation will also begin here publicly,” the pope said on Nov. 27 during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
The addition marks a significant expansion of the languages used at the weekly papal events, where key portions — including Scripture readings, summaries of the pope’s address, and greetings — are delivered in eight languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Arabic.
The translations make papal teachings accessible to pilgrims from around the world. They are traditionally delivered by staff members of the Vatican Secretariat of State or Vatican News.
World’s most spoken language
Mandarin Chinese is considered the world’s most spoken language, with nearly one billion speakers, ahead of Spanish and English.
Varieties of Chinese — including Mandarin, Wu, Hakka, and others — collectively are used by more than 1.3 billion people worldwide.
The papal move to embrace Mandarin Chinese comes at a complex moment in Vatican-China relations.
Just last month, the Holy See renewed its controversial agreement with Beijing on the appointment of bishops for another four years.
The renewal followed growing concerns about religious freedom in China, corroborated by recent reports. Some studies also indicate the Christian population has stopped growing after decades of expansion in the 1980s and 1990s.
