Pope overturns Pope Benedict, reimposes restrictions on Latin liturgy

[ad_1]

Rome (AFP) – Pope Francis cracked down on the spread of the ancient Latin liturgy Friday, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s decisions in a major defiance of traditional Catholics who immediately denounced it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.

Francis reimposed restrictions on the celebration of the Latin Mass that Pope Benedict relaxed in 2007. The Pope said he was taking action because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the Church and was used as a tool by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council. Meetings that updated the liturgy.

Francis passed a new law requiring individual bishops to consent to celebrations of the Old Mass, also called the Tridentine Mass, and requiring newly ordained priests to obtain express permission to celebrate it from their bishops in consultation with the Vatican.

Under the new law, bishops must also determine whether existing groups of believers associated with the Old Mass accept Vatican II, which allowed Mass to be celebrated in colloquial rather than Latin. These groups can no longer use regular parishes for their masses; Instead, the bishops must find an alternative place for themselves.

In addition, Francis said that bishops were no longer allowed to authorize the formation of any new pro-Latin bloc groups in their dioceses.

Francis said he is taking measures to promote unity and address divisions within the church that have grown since Benedict’s 2007 document, the Summorum Pontificum, which eased restrictions on the observance of the ancient Mass. He said he based his decision on a survey the Vatican conducted in 2020 of all parts of the world. Bishops whose responses “reveal a situation that preoccupies me and saddens me and convinces me of the need to intervene”.

The pope’s decline immediately caused an uproar among traditionalists who had already opposed Francis’s more progressive tendency and still felt nostalgic for Benedict’s doctrinal papacy.

“This is a very disappointing document and completely invalidates the legal provisions” in the 2007 Benedict Document, said Joseph Shaw, president of the Society of Latin Mass in England and Wales.

The story continues

While Latin ceremonies can go on, “the presumption is constantly against them: bishops are called upon to close them,” Shaw said, adding that the requirement to hold Latin masses outside the parish is “practically impractical.”

“This is an extraordinary rejection of the hard work of the church and loyalty to the hierarchy that has characterized the traditional liturgy movement for so many years, and which I fear reinforces a sense of alienation among those associated with the ancient church liturgy,” he said in an email.

Benedict released his document in an effort to reach a splinter group celebrating the Latin Mass, the Society of Saint Pius X, which broke away from Rome due to the reforms of Vatican II modernization.

But Francis said Benedict’s efforts to promote unity were counterproductive.

In a letter to the bishops accompanying the new law, the pope said that the opportunity offered by the pope was “used to widen the gaps, to reinforce differences, and to encourage dissensions that harm the Church, block its path, and endanger it from division.”

Francis said he was “sad” that the use of the Old Liturgy was “often characterized by a rejection of not only the liturgical reform, but also of the rejection of the Second Vatican Council itself, claiming, with unfounded and intolerable assertions, that it had betrayed tradition and the “true Church”.

The traditionalists and Catholics associated with the ancient rites were destroyed. Some of these Catholics were already among Francis’ fiercest critics, with some accusing him of heresy because he opened the door, for example, to allowing divorced and civilly married Catholics to communicate.

Rorat Cayley, a popular traditionalist blogger, said that Francis’ “attack” was the Pope’s strongest reprimand against his predecessors in living memory.

“Shocking and horrifying,” the group wrote on Twitter. “Francis hates us. Francis hates imitation. Francis hates all that is good and beautiful.”

Nick Donnelly, a traditionally-minded deacon active on social media, has called Francis’ new law the “Wilding and Death Law.”

He tweeted: “Bergoglio’s attack on the Mass of the Ages is much worse than feared,” referring to Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Cardinals who criticize Francis did not immediately comment on the law. However, in recent days, Cardinal Robert Sarah, retired head of the Vatican’s office of the Mass and a fierce supporter of the ancient liturgy, has sent out a series of protective tweets insisting on the “irreversible” reform introduced by Benedict. Sarah showed a picture of the retired Pope in his red velvet cloak.

[ad_2]