From Mr John Holland SIR — Once again I am indebted to John Kearney (Letter, Jan 16) for making my arguments for me: for it is precisely, aside from its primary and overwhelming benefit in facilitating universal communication, to avoid such other limitations as the Italian hegemony that I recommend the use of English as the lingua franca of the Church.
As to whether more people speak Spanish than English, I am unsure; but I have no doubt that English is dispersed much more widely throughout the world and is incomparably the most commercially and politically influential tongue in existence. If there is doubt about this, just consider the number of English language schools which continue to proliferate in Spain and Italy. No, John, I am not joking and I suspect you know this.
Yours faithfully, JOHN HOLLAND London W13