Pope: Old Latin Mass, a source of division among Catholics

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Pope Francis, the world Catholic church again issued a decree on the celebration of the old Latin Mass.

The decree, as AP reported, described the Latin Mass as a sign of continued friction with Catholic traditionalists.

Francis reasserted that the Holy See must approve new celebrations of the old rite by signing off on bishops’ decisions to designate additional parish churches for the Latin Mass or to let newly ordained priests celebrate it.

The decree states that the Vatican’s liturgy office, headed by British Cardinal Arthur Roche, is responsible for evaluating such requests on behalf of the Holy See and that all requests from bishops must go there.

This is while Francis made a remarkable decision in 2021 to reimpose restrictions on its celebration that were relaxed in 2007 by then-Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis said at the time that he was acting to preserve church unity, saying the spread of the Tridentine Mass had become a source of division and been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church and its liturgy.

The new decree doesn’t restrict the celebration further but merely repeats what was previously declared.

Francis’ crackdown on the old Mass outraged his conservative and traditionalist critics, many of whom have also attacked him for his focus on the environment, social justice and migrants.

Francis says he preaches the Gospel and what Jesus taught, and has defended the restrictions by saying they actually reflect Benedict’s original goal while curbing the way his 2007 concession was exploited for ideological ends.

Joseph Shaw, chairman of the Latin Mass Society in Britain, which promotes the old Mass, called the new document “grave” since it confirmed that bishops need explicit permission from Roche’s office to use parish churches for Tridentine Masses.