Pope Francis primarily speaks Spanish, which is his native language as he is from Argentina. He is also very comfortable with Italian, the main working language of the Vatican. Besides these, he is proficient in several other languages including Piedmontese (a northern Italian dialect), Portuguese, French, German, Ukrainian, and Latin, the official language of the Holy See. However, he admits to struggling with English, particularly its pronunciation and phonetics, despite having studied it earlier in life. The Pope prefers to have his speeches interpreted and translated to ensure clarity and sincerity rather than speaking in many languages himself. Unlike some of his predecessors who were fluent in many languages (e.g., Pope John Paul II spoke 12 languages), Pope Francis favors simplicity and has discontinued some multilingual traditions such as greeting Easter in 65 languages
. In summary, Pope Francis speaks:
- Spanish (native)
- Italian (very comfortable)
- Piedmontese
- Portuguese
- French
- German
- Ukrainian
- Latin (official Vatican language)
He struggles with English and prefers to use interpreters for wider communication
