Latin Europe is a loose term for the region of Europe with an especially strong Latin cultural heritage inherited from the Roman Empire.
Historians of the Middle Ages often use "Latin Europe" to refer to the cultural-geographic area of Europe where Latin was used as a working language of the Church, State and/or Academy. This traditionally means the region covered by the Catholic Church, under the Bishop of Rome, which practically coincided with the territorial dominions of the old Frankish empire and the cultural satellites on its periphery. Latin Europe is spoken of in contrast to the Slavic or Greek-influenced Eastern Europe, in the sphere of influence of the Orthodox church, under the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Byzantine empire. Latin Europe is often used synonymously with "Western Europe".
In non-historical contexts, the term has been used by some authors like Rogelio Pérez-Perdomo and Lawrence Friedman.[1] Geographically anchored in Southern Europe, the countries using a Romance language (or one with a large Romance lexical input), that are also predominantly Roman Catholic, are considered culturally Latin by Pérez-Perdomo and Friedman.[1]
Many such countries have status within the Latin Union. There is no clear definition on which countries or areas are included, but Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Wallonia, French, Italian and Romansh-speaking parts of Switzerland and most of their culturally related European Microstates always or nearly always are.