Pope Francis’ latest encyclical is a historic document for focusing on the environment but it also says something about the decline of Latin in the Vatican.Firstly, the title, Laudato si’, is not in Latin – still the official language of the universal Church – but the Umbrian dialect of Italian spoken by St Francis of Assisi (the phrase is taken from the great saint’s  Canticle of the Creatures.) Having a non-Latin title has happened before, with Pope Pius XI’s encyclicals of 1931, Non abbiamo bisogno (“We do not need”), and 1937, Mit brennender Sorge (“With burning anxiety”).It may also be the first time that an encyclical has not been produced in Latin and then translated into other languages. Laudato si’ has instead