New norms on the old Mass, greater responsibility of the bishop

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis, after consulting the bishops of the world, decided to change the rules governing the use of the 1962 missal, which was liberalized as an “extra-ordinary Roman rite” fourteen years ago by his predecessor Benedict XVI. The Pontiff today published the motu proprio “Traditionis custodes”, on the use of the Roman liturgy before 1970, accompanied by a letter in which he explains the reasons for his decision. These are the main novelties.

The responsibility to regulate the celebration according to the preconciliar rite falls to the bishop, moderator of the diocesan liturgical life: “it is of his exclusive competence to authorize the use of the Missale Romanum of 1962 in the diocese, following the orientations of See it. “The bishop must ensure that the groups which already celebrate with the old missal” do not exclude the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, the precepts of the Vatican Council II and of the Magisterium of the Sovereign Pontiffs ” .

Masses of the ancient rite will no longer be celebrated in parish churches; the bishop will determine the church and the days of celebration. The readings will be done “in the vernacular” using translations approved by the Bishops’ Conferences. The celebrant will be a priest delegated by the bishop. The bishop is also responsible for verifying whether or not it is appropriate to maintain the celebrations according to the old missal, by verifying their “effective usefulness for spiritual growth”. In fact, it is necessary that the responsible priest have in mind not only the worthy celebration of the liturgy, but also the pastoral and spiritual care of the faithful. The bishop “will refrain from authorizing the creation of new groups”.

Priests ordained after the publication of today’s Motu Proprio who intend to use the pre-conciliar missal “must submit a formal request to the diocesan bishop, who will consult the Apostolic See before granting the authorization” . In the meantime, those who already do so should ask the diocesan bishop for permission to continue using it. The institutes of consecrated life and the societies of apostolic life, “established in due time by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei”, will come under the control of the Congregation for Religious. The Dicasteries of Worship and Religious Life will ensure that these new provisions are respected.

In the letter accompanying the document, Pope Francis explains that the concessions established by his predecessors for the use of the old missal were motivated above all “by the desire to promote the recomposition of the schism with the movement led by Archbishop Lefebvre” . The request, addressed to the bishops, to generously welcome the “just aspirations” of the faithful who requested the use of this missal, “therefore had an ecclesial reason to rebuild the unity of the Church”. This faculty, Francis observed, “has been interpreted by many within the Church as the possibility of freely using the Roman missal promulgated by Saint Pius V, determining a parallel use to the Roman missal promulgated by Saint Paul VI”.

The Pope recalls that the decision of Benedict XVI with the motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum” (2007) was based on “the conviction that such a measure would not call into question one of the essential decisions of the Second Vatican Council, thus undermining his authority ”. Fourteen years ago, Pope Ratzinger declared unfounded the fears of a split in parish communities, because, he wrote, “the two forms of use of the Roman rite can mutually enrich each other”. But the survey recently promoted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith among bishops has provided answers which reveal, writes Francis, “a situation which distresses and worries me, confirming the need to intervene”, whereas the desire for unity has been “gravely despised”, and the concessions offered with magnanimity have been used “to increase distances, to harden differences, to build oppositions which hurt and hinder the Church, exposing her to the risk of division ”.

The Pope was saddened by the abuses of liturgical celebrations “on one side and the other”, but also by “an instrumental use of the Missale Romanum of 1962, increasingly characterized by a growing rejection not only of the reform liturgical, but Vatican Council II, with the unfounded and unsustainable affirmation that it betrayed Tradition and the “true Church.” “To doubt the Council, explains Francis,” is to doubt the very intentions of the Fathers, who solemnly exercised their collegial power cum Petro and sub Petro in the Ecumenical Council, and ultimately to doubt the same Holy Spirit who guides the Church “.

Finally, Francis adds a final reason for his decision to change the concessions of the past: “It is increasingly evident in the words and attitudes of many people that there is a close relationship between the choice of celebrations according to the books. liturgies prior to the Second Vatican Council and the rejection of the Church and her institutions in the name of what they consider to be the “true Church”. It is to defend the unity of the Body of Christ that I am forced to revoke the power granted by my predecessors.