My grandparents where Sicilian, so as a kid i heard it spoken all the time.  when studying Latin in college. it was really amazing how much of it came thru, except for the cases and declensions.  oh and not much in the way of articles as a result

He met nearly a dozen, let's say 11, but 3 could speak basic Latin to him. Now, that might sound awful to those of us who have studied living languages like Spanish or French or German, or what have you, but with languages that are no longer spoken, the gap between what you can say and what you can read is far larger than with living languages. I mean, I've been learning German for many years and I'd still struggle to hold a basic conversation, but I can read very advanced German. I can even understand legalese, usually.

That's no excuse for the Church leaving Latin to the wayside, but it's just a reason why I'm impressed that even a quarter of respondents could speak in basic Latin. I'm sure these 3 could read a great deal of Latin, especially since they have extremely little practice hearing or speaking the language, but a huge amount reading it.