The Pope's Latinist

Fr. Reginald "Reggie" Foster, OCD, is the papal latinist, and probably the greatest latinist in the world (some people have said his latin is better than Virgil's). He's the one who wrote the latin text for Pope Benedict's first formal address to the Cardinals the day after his election.

He's also very eccentric. Having always worn his habit, he took it off for good the day after JPII mandated that all clergy in Rome had to wear either clerics or their religious habit. And in an interview with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune a few years ago (Fr. Foster is from Milwaukee), he referred to the (private) Masses he's celebrated in the nude.

If you're curious about the guy (and I'd be surprised if you weren't), you can check out his weekly podcast at Vatican Radio, The Latin Lover; pretty interesting listening, as you might imagine.