Sunday, March 11, 2007

Tomorrow's News Today

Pope ignores protests to restore Latin mass
March 12, 2007 | www.theaustralian.news.com.au

POPE Benedict XVI plans to bring back the celebration of mass in Latin, overriding a rare show of protest from senior cardinals.

With a papal decree said to be imminent, Catholic publishers in Rome are preparing new editions of the Latin missal.

They have sent proofs to Vatican authorities for approval, the Rome newspaper La Repubblica has reported.

Vatican sources said Benedict, who is fluent in Latin, is considering the publication of a papal motu proprio (literally, on his own initiative), which does not require the approval of church bodies.

This would enable Benedict to ignore opposition from several cardinals.

The decree would declare the Latin, or Tridentine, mass an "extraordinary universal rite", and the vernacular mass, with which most Catholics are familiar, an "ordinary universal rite".

The late French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was excommunicated for opposing changes in the church agreed by the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, including the replacement of the Tridentine mass with updated liturgy in local languages.

The Pope's proposal will be cheered by Lefebvre's traditionalist followers.

A special Vatican commission, appointed to examine the demands of traditionalists, met in December to help draft the decree. Today, celebration of the Tridentine rite is limited. Bishops can allow it, but only on the condition that the celebration is deemed a sign of "affection for the ancient tradition" and not a criticism of the reforms.

Benedict wrote in his memoirs, My Life: Memories 1927-1977, published when he was still a cardinal: "I was stunned by the ban on the ancient missal."

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess all will have to keep eyes open to see what will actually be coming down the pike, you whippersnapper, you!

7:59 PM  
Blogger Brian Michael Page said...

Man, you can always tell secular media LOL! Notice how they say "Latin, or Tridentine, mass" - first big error, small "m" in "Mass"; second big error, they make it sound like the Latin Mass is only the Tridentine Mass, apparently not knowing that the Novus Ordo is also done in Latin (no permission required).

BMP

4:06 AM  
Blogger Cerimoniere said...

Many thanks for this, Father. However, when I visit the Australian site, I can't find this story when I search there. Is this story actually posted there?

I do wonder, if there is any truth in this story, whether the Pope might not have returned to an idea that was circulating a few years ago, before the last editio typica of the new Missal was published. I heard a report then that some of the more traditional Cardinals were trying to have the old Ordo Missae included in the new Missal as an option, or at least some of the prayers from it (e.g. the Offertory).

If such a possibility were announced in the post-synodal Exhortation, then one can see that LEV might have some work to do at the moment. I can't imagine that it's actually a reprint of the traditional Missal itself.

2:56 PM  
Blogger Fr LWG said...

Here's the link:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au
/story/0,20867,21364512-2702,00.html

4:01 PM  
Blogger Cerimoniere said...

Thank you, Father. I see at the bottom of the article, it says "The Sunday Times," as though attributing credit elsewhere. Anyway, a very interesting piece.

2:57 AM  

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