Posted on 10/25/2025 5:32:46 PM PDT by xxqqzz
VATICAN CITY (AP) — A top American cardinal celebrated a traditional Latin Mass on Saturday in St. Peter’s Basilica with the explicit permission of Pope Leo XIV, thrilling traditionalist Catholics who had felt abandoned after Pope Francis greatly restricted the ancient liturgy.
A few thousand pilgrims, many of them young families with multiple children and the women covering their heads with lace veils, packed the altar area of the basilica to standing room-only capacity.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, the conservative American figurehead, presided over the 2 1/2-hour liturgy, which was rich in hymn, incense and priests bowing to the altar, their backs to the faithful in the pews.
For many traditionalists, the moment was a tangible sign that Leo might be more sympathetic to their plight, after they felt rejected by Francis and his 2021 crackdown on the old liturgy.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
“but don’t understand restricting the Latin mass.”
I’m Catholic and a Latin-Mass regular, and I’ll do my best to explain it in a nutshell. There’s a cohort of “progressives” (of which the late Pope Francis perhaps best exemplified) that wage a sort of jihad against the traditional Mass. It’s not so much the Latin Mass per se that they don’t like but rather the old-timey Catholic religion that called a sin a sin and was very judgy. As the old Latin Mass is mostly favored by conservatives/traditionalists who also happen to oppose liberalizing Catholic doctrine on a bunch of topics such as homosexuality, contraception, divorce, etc etc., cracking down on the Latin Mass is their way of kicking conservatives/traditionalists in the teeth. In other words, it’s not the Latin language that they don’t like, nor it is really the Latin Mass that they don’t like, it’s the Catholics associated with the Latin Mass whom they don’t like.
It’s analogous to liberals hating MAGA hats... It’s not really red baseball caps promoting a message of making America great that they hate. It’s the people who wear MAGA hats whom they hate.
Well said.
I always enjoyed the Latin mass. Never thought it was alien since the English translation was in the missal on the facing pages. And once they put you in high school Latin, it was fun to try to read the Latin and do your own translation.
Fixed it.
Two points:
1. Since the invention of printed hand missals, the people could ALWAYS understand -- the text was printed in Latin on one side and English (or other local language) on the other side. You can still go into antique bookstores and find old Latin-English missals with people's names penciled inside the front cover. And most of the people attending the cardinal's Mass had modern printed versions of those very same missals.
2. The language of Latin is actually the least of the issues. In the late 1960s, they actually changed the text of the prayers: watered down some, eliminated many, and radically altered others. The focus was changed from God to man, and the end result was an overall and growing weakening of belief in the Real Presence and in the idea of following the doctrines of the faith.
In the Traditional Mass, the priest is not "turning his back on the faithful", he is facing the same way as the faithful, as a leader of the assembly and a fellow pilgrim on the way to eternity.
Thank you.
All comments here were well said, and all explained well what the real controversy is over...the Conservative and Traditional Catholics. Let’s pray this Catholic Church of Pope Leo XIV is not becoming the prophesied ape of the Church.
God bless Cardinal Burke!
Well and right said.
Anyone who wanted could understand the Latin mass. Worship aids of all sorts were plentiful. Not to mention that knowledge of Latin was widespread. Most people in the world speak more than one language, and always have.
Did they get rid of the "Act of Contrition" prayer?
This is actually very big news.
Thank you for posting.
The can’t bear the biretta beares.
Improved.
Don’t get too excited - Leo 14th is a dud - he is just as liberal as Francis the Fake Pope...Leo just promoted Cardinal Cupich to a Vatican Post...
Still remember declining the verb “to be”..sum, es,est,sumus estis,sunt.
I never said that I was excited.
Wow! Did THAT bring back memories!
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