In 2003, Jesús María Bañales, at the beginning of a new Study program in the School of Canon Law of the University of Navarra, began to give Latin classes to the students of licentiate degree and doctorate, not an easy task if we take into account that the study of this language has not been a priority in the secondary teaching and that the great majority of them are foreigners and, therefore, of very diverse and disparate cultures.

In order to explain Latin Grammar, he thought that it was appropriate to use examples that were close to the subject they were studying, in this case, the Canon Law. After several years working in this line, the idea of writing a book was born, which has just seen the light of day: "The Latin of the Latin Code of the Code of Canon Law".The Latin language of the Code of Canon Law (syntactic study)". From the examination of each and every one of its 1,752 canons, Professor Bañales has searched for the most usual and significant Latin turns and syntagmas and, once analyzed, he has distributed them following the numbering that appears in the "Latin Syntax"by E. Valentí Fiol, guide historicist of reference letter. Behind each of the numbers is indicated the syntactic question being studied, so that it is not essential to have the above-mentioned guide at hand.

This book has involved at least 5 years of slow and meticulous work . Professor Bañales states in the introduction: "Although the fundamental goal of work has been to examine syntactically the current Code of Canon Law, based on the experience professor of several years acquired with students, I have found it convenient to add other examples taken from Patristics, from recognized canonists, from pontifical documents or from the Holy See, from marriage sentences, from hymns or liturgical prayers, etc. This study can help us all to know better the canonical or liturgical Latin language , ancient and present of the Church, and to value it as a great treasure handed down to our days".

The work, published by EUNSA in the "Treatises and Manuals" Collection, has been prefaced by Jorge Otaduy, director del high school Martín de Azpilcuetawho explains that it is "an extraordinarily useful work for all those interested in canonical Latin, because it makes a systematic presentation of the Latin Syntax of the Code of Canon Law, which allows to reach an adequate understanding of the most usual constructions of the text".

Jesús María Bañales is graduate in Philology Classical by the University of Barcelona, and PhD by the University of Navarra. Full Professor of Latin from teaching average , is Associate Professor of Philology Latin at the University of Navarra. Since 2003 he teaches teaching in the Schools of Canon Law and Theology at the University of Navarra.