Rumor Alert!

No Pontiff has used the old Missal for 40 years: it could happen on 2 December

Corriere della Sera | Luigi Accattoli

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO – A new direction for culture and rites in the Vatican: Yesterday the Pope nominated Giovanni Maria Vian director of L’Osservatore Romano and consecrated as bishop the Milanese priset Gianfranco Ravasi who will have the role of "minister of culture"; in the next few days there is awaited the nomination of the new "master of ceremonies" to replace Archbishop Piero Marini. After the arrival of the new master of ceremonies it is "probable" that the Pope will celebrate a Mass with the old rite, in St. Peter’s, obviously entirely in Latin: it could happen in 2 December, the first Sunday of Advent....

Nothing precise is known about the Pope’s intention to give bishops an "example" of his own choice to use the older rite, byeond the reception of requests of the faithful, as the Motu Proprio he published in July provides. The rumor is circulating both on the lips of those who hope in such a gesture, which says that he would definitively clear "through customs" the old Missal which is still encountering resistance in spite of the recent derestriction; and also among those who fear that the Pope is making the gesture because it would be "another step away from the Council".

"Right now it’s only a rumor", says a monsignor who is neither for or against it, "but everyone is talking about it around here and I believe he is going to do it even if he risks stirring up some polemics, because Catholics who are less than 50 years old have never seen a Pope celebrate Mass with his back to the people and speaking the ‘Eucharistic Prayer’ in a low voice." In the meantime, the ‘court’ which accompanied the Pope in these celebrations was abolished and I really want to see how an old papal Mass would be carried out today!"