As mentioned, popes have an influence all over the and popes are required to be multilingual, but not for the reason you think. For instance, Pope Francis was born in Argentina, making his native language Spanish. He also speaks Italian, French, German, and Portuguese (via Day Translations). Other popes in the past have spoken many more languages than that, and one might assume that the pope would be required to be multilingual to communicate with his followers in the language they speak, but that's not the case. The only two languages all popes must be fluent in are Latin, the classical language of mass, and Italian, the language of Vatican City and Italy.
That language requirement is a bit surprising for a post that, in theory, is open to anyone worldwide and speaks for international Roman Catholic cultures. To reach that position of power, each pope gets elected by a College of Cardinals, and interestingly enough, the previous pope in power appoints those cardinals. Once there, popes remain in their position for life, and the old forehead hammer tap to determine if a pope has died may very well be a myth, as Snopes explains. Must the pope, though, work his way up through the ranks of the Roman Catholic church, from deacon to priest, bishop, archbishop, and then cardinal? There's a saying in American politics that anyone can become president. To some extent, that's also true of the papacy.
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