Pope overturns Pope Benedict, reimposes restrictions on Latin liturgy

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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 Benedict relaxed in 2007, and went so far as to limit its use. The Pope said he is taking action because the Pope’s reform became a source of division in the Church and was exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, meetings of the 1960s that modernized the Church and its rites.

Critics said they had never before witnessed the pope in quite this way, which reflected his predecessor. The reversal was about something as basic as the liturgy, while Benedict is still alive and living in the Vatican as a retired pope, it only magnified the extraordinary nature of Francis’ move, which would surely lead to more right-wing hostility directed at him.

Francis, 84, passed a new law requiring individual bishops to consent to celebrations of the Old Mass, also called Tridentine Mass, and requiring newly appointed 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 cannot use regular churches; Instead, bishops must find alternative sites for themselves without creating new parishes.

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, Summorum Pontificum. He said he based his decision on a survey conducted by the Vatican in 2020 of all the bishops of the world, whose responses “reveal a situation that worries and grieves me, and convinces me of the need to intervene.”

The pope’s retreat immediately caused an uproar among traditionalists who had already opposed Francis’s more advanced and nostalgic penchant for the doctrinal papacy of Benedict.

“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.

While Latin ceremonies can go on, “the presumption is always against them: bishops are called upon to shut them down,” Shaw said, adding that the requirement for Latin masses to be held outside the parish is “impractical.”

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

Benedict released his document in 2007 to access 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 ancient liturgy was accompanied by the rejection of Vatican II itself “with groundless and intolerable assertions that he had betrayed tradition and the ‘true Church’.”

Francis was right to intervene, said Christopher Peleto, professor of church history at Keene University, noting that Benedict’s original decision had a plethora of unintended consequences that not only created internal divisions but temporarily sour relations with Jews.

“Francis hits her right in the head with his observation that Benedict’s 2007 relaxation of regulations against the Latin Rite allowed others to use them to divide,” he said. “The setback proves his point.”

The reaction was really violent, though it is also possible that many simply ignored Francis’ edict and proceeded as before with the sympathetic bishops. Some of these traditionalists and Catholics were among Francis’ fiercest critics, with some accusing him of heresy because he opened the door to allowing divorced and civilly married Catholics to receive the Eucharist.

Rorat Cayley, a popular traditional blogger out of the United States, said Francis’ “attack” was the Pope’s strongest reprimand against his predecessors in living memory.

“Francis hates us. Francis hates imitation. “Francis hates all that is good and beautiful,” the group tweeted. But she concluded: “Francis will die, and the Latin mass will live forever.”

Messa’s Latin blog, a traditional Italian blog, was also scathing in its criticism.

“Mercy is always and only for sinners (who were not asked to repent) but no mercy for those few traditional Catholics,” the blogger said on Friday.

Despite this, for years Francis has expressed his displeasure with the old liturgy, describing its adherents in particular as self-referential marine inquisitors unrelated to the needs of the Church. He cracked down on religious orders that celebrated the ancient liturgy exclusively, often denouncing the “inertia” of traditionally minded priests who prioritized rules over pastoral accompaniment.

Traditionalists insisted that the old liturgy was never abolished and that Benedict’s reform in 2007 allowed it to flourish.

They point to the growth of traditional parishes, often frequented by young people and large families, as well as new religious parishes that celebrate the old liturgy. The Latin Bloc Association claims that the number of traditional masses celebrated every Sunday in England and Wales has more than doubled since 2007, from 20 to 46.

But for many, the writing was on the wall once Francis climbed into the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected in 2013 without the red-velvet cape trimmed with ermine that Benedict favored and is a symbol of the pre-Vatican II Church.

The restrictions went into effect immediately after they were published in the official Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, on Friday.

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