That's all very well, Joe, and to be sure, Latin isn't used very much as a medium of contemporary communication, these days.

However, it is a very living - and lively - language in Vatican City. The inhabitants therein are from all over the world, and Latin is still the lingua franca for most of the people who work there. The resident population is just over 800 but there are round about 3000 people who work there, but live elsewhere. A significant proportion of these, I think, will have to speak Latin to some extent. And the language is evolving to cope with the modern world, including all sorts of neolisms. There are Latin words and pgrases for television, automobiles, zip-fasteners, smart phones - you name it!

So, to call it a "moribund language," as the article does, is not strictly true


I'm immortal until proven otherwise