A Chance for Liturgical Peace | The American Spectator

Devotees of the old Catholic liturgy have reason to hope that the restrictions and calumnies heaped upon the form of the Mass that they so love, which has so long sustained the Church, may soon be eased, although it will likely be some time before the old liturgy is given the pride of place it was once afforded.

In a recent letter to the bishops of France, Pope Leo XIV urged the shepherds of the eldest daughter of the Church to treat Catholics who sincerely love the Vetus Ordo (commonly called the Traditional Latin Mass, Tridentine Mass, or the Extraordinary Form of the Mass) with generosity and inclusion. Vatican Secretariat of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who delivered the pontiff’s message to the French bishops, said that Pope Leo XIV “is particularly attentive” to “the delicate subject of the Liturgy.”

“It is troubling that a painful wound concerning the celebration of Mass, the very sacrament of unity, continues to open in the Church,” Parolin shared, on behalf of the pope. “To heal it, a new way of looking at one another, with a greater understanding of each other’s sensitivities, is certainly necessary; a way of looking that can allow brothers, enriched by their diversity, to welcome one another in charity and the unity of faith,” he continued. The Vatican representative prayed that the Holy Ghost will guide France’s bishops to “concrete solutions that will allow for the generous inclusion of those sincerely attached to the Vetus Ordo,” while respecting the “guidelines established by the Second Vatican Council regarding the Liturgy.”

At a Vatican event, Parolin expressed his solidarity with the pope’s message. “I think we all share this, this, let’s say, assessment that the Pope gives, right?” he said, according to Niwa Limbu and the Catholic Herald. Parolin stressed that “the liturgy must not become a source of conflict and division among us. It will be necessary to find the formula … that can meet legitimate needs. But I believe that, well, this can happen without turning the liturgy into a battlefield.”

Following the promulgation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the Novus Ordo Mass became the norm for the Church, while celebration of the old liturgy was largely abrogated. Pope St. John Paul II and his friend and successor Pope Benedict XVI oversaw the formation of priestly organizations dedicated to celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) and, in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI authorized all Catholic priests to celebrate the old Mass, without requiring special permissions or an indult.

Devotion to the TLM continued to spread until 2021, when the late Pope Francis (Author’s Note: Please charitably spare a prayer for the soul of the late Holy Father in this Easter season; the papacy is a tremendous responsibility, many souls were entrusted to his care) issued the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which imposed heavy restrictions on the celebration of the Vetus Ordo, requiring priests to seek the permission of their local bishops first. Cardinal Arthur Roche of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who is generally agreed to have ghost-written the motu proprio, later issued a rescript further tightening restrictions, requiring bishops to seek the Vatican’s permission before granting their priests authority to celebrate the old Mass.

Despite the charity and understanding evinced by Pope Leo XIV towards the faithful who have suffered under those restrictions, Roche recently defended Traditionis Custodes. “What the Holy Father began to realise is that the concession granted to those who found the new rite difficult was being promoted against the reform of the liturgy from the Second Vatican Council,” the British bishop claimed, referring to Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum as a “concession.” He said that the “promotion” was ultimately used “against the unity of the Church.”

While it is true that some schismatics adhere to the old form of the Mass, the bishops of the Catholic Church reported almost universally, ahead of the publication of Traditionis Custodes, that the TL-lovers in their dioceses were not schismatics, sedevacantists, or enemies of the pope; they were, rather, simple Catholics who accepted the Second Vatican Council and prayed dutifully for the pope, who appreciated the heightened reverence and sense of mysticism inherent in what Pope Benedict XVI dubbed the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

The restrictions imposed upon celebration of the old Mass have done nothing to foster unity, nothing to heal this painful division plaguing the Church. It has only fostered enmity and animosity between the two liturgical factions which believe themselves pitted against one another, and has succeeded in driving more than a few Catholics — both laymen and priests alike — to schism. Hopefully the charity and clarity of Pope Leo XIV and those shepherds like him will prevail over the cold impositions of Roche and his ilk.

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