Tres bon

French poll shows support for traditional Mass

Nov. 10 (CWNews.com) - Although French Catholic bishops have said that the faithful would oppose wider use of the Tridentine rite, a poll of French Catholics has found that nearly two-thirds would like to have the choice of attending a traditional Latin Mass.

When asked whether Catholics should have a choice between the Novus Ordo Mass and a traditional liturgy, 65% of French Catholics answered that they should, while another 22% said they did not care; only 13% opposed the idea.

Among the 1,000 people surveyed, 60% said that they would attend a Mass celebrated in Latin with Gregorian chant, at least occasionally. On the other hand, in an apparently contradictory response, 51% of the respondents said that they would either "rarely" or "never" attend a Mass celebrated in the traditional rite.

The survey was conducted by the CSA Institute, an established French polling firm, on behalf of the Catholic group Paix Liturgique. The poll results were introduced to English-speaking readers by the Rorate Caeli blog site.