Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Pope Francis reaffirmed his decision to restrict ancient rite masses in Latin and specified the cases in which bishops must ask his permission to allow them.
The announcement was made this Tuesday by the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche, who explained that two cases were the subject of different interpretations and discussions, which is why this clarification was necessary.
On July 16, 2021, Pope Francis, in the Apostolic Letter “Traditionis custodes”, established the Missal of the Second Vatican Council promulgated by Paul VI and John Paul II as the “only” ceremonial form of the Roman Rite.
In the letter, Francis significantly restricted the celebration of Masses in the so-called Tridentine Rite, in Latin and with his back to the faithful, stating that they could only be allowed in some cases, and introduced the reference that they had to be authorized be made by the bishop.
The new document just announced emphasizes that, if you wish to celebrate a Mass in the Tridentine Rite in parish churches or request permission for this missal from priests ordained after July 16, 2021, the diocesan bishop is “obliged to read the Dicastery of Divine Worship and the discipline of the sacraments, which will evaluate individual cases”.
The restriction on the number of Masses in Latin caused discomfort in the more traditionalist and conservative wing of the Catholic Church, so much so that in December 2021 the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship was forced to respond to some misgivings from members of the Church and qualified it as “sad” the division caused by the document.
“It’s sad to see the deepest bond of unity […] becomes a cause for division: it is the task of the bishops to preserve communion, a necessary condition […] to participate in the Eucharistic table,” he said.
The Congregation for Divine Worship deemed “an irrefutable fact” that that historic council “felt the urgency” to reform the Missal so that the faithful could “participate fully, actively and consciously in the liturgical celebration”.
In 2007, Benedict XVI had already declared that the Missal of the Second Vatican Council “is and remains” like the “normal” liturgy, although it facilitated the use of Tridentine, in ecclesiastical Latin, in an “extraordinary” way.
Source: DN
