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It doesn’t, but in the West it has been said in Latin for centuries. For the same reason, at the colleges in England, grace before meals and some debates are carried on it Latin. Latin is the mother tongue of the West, and it could be understood across Europe. It allowed people from Hungary to Ireland and from North Africa to Scandinavia to follow the most important activity of their week. (It is untrue that people of the Middle Ages were stupid. While many might have been unschooled, most spoke and understood more than one language, and Latin was one they heard and, due to its inheritance from the Roman people, appreciated.) I studied Latin, and I miss the language at Mass.

I understand this, and I appreciate the appropriateness of your question and the fact that you are not "debating.".

You may have to get a better perspective from another Catholic FReeper. Myself, I highly value the Latin Mass --- and sing in my parish's little bitty Latin schola because I love its sheer beauty, its obeisance to the Great King expressed in every gesture, as well as its strong sense of centuries-and-continents-spanning continuity.

I like to tell my Trad friends I love the TLM because that's the Mass that brought Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day into the Church. (You may not get what I'm saying here, but it's a wink-nudge.)

Nevertheless, the Mass does not "have" to be in Latin, and in acme Catholic Churches has never or rarely been in Latin since the time of the Apostles. Remember there is mote the Catholic Church than the Latin Rite.

You've probably already received an answer to your question but I'll throw mine in anyway.

When Catholics use the expression "Latin Mass" they aren't really referring to the language of the mass, though they are, they are actually referring to a form of the mass that existed prior to the liturgical reforms of the 1960s. This 'new' mass, the Mass of Paul VI, is the fruit of the Second Vatican Council and finally promulgated in 1970.

Prior to 1970, the mass celebrated universally was the fruit of two millennia of organic grown ultimately formalized in 1570 by Pius V and only occasionally amended from that date on up to 1962.

It would be quite easy for your to make a comparison yourself of this 'new' mass (novus ordo) to the 'old' mass (Tridentine Mass, Extraordinary Form, or usus antiquior ) by having a look at them in English on line here.

Open up the links in two separate windows side-by-side and read them from beginning to end. Note the similarities and the dissimilarities. In some cases the latter are minor and in others they are not so minor. Also be on the look out for out-and-out omissions. These are most telling. Please remember as you read them that you are reading prayers, the highest form of prayer in the Catholic Church actually.

And one last point, on the Latin language in fact, one thing it has to commend it is its unchanging quality. It's a dead language so the meanings of words cannot change over time. And from my personal experience as a kid in Catholic school in the 1970s, a mass in Latin absolutely eliminates the possibility of the priest ad libbing on the altar. "Sorry Father Mike, this ain't about you."

Sorry for the long answer. I hope you find it helpful.