Posted on 01/05/2007 1:37:38 PM PST by Carolina
POPE BENEDICT XVI has spoken by telephone to a number of French bishops to persuade them to accept a wider use of the Tridentine Mass, it has been claimed.
The Pontiff brought French bishops who oppose the Tridentine Mass "to a reluctant but decisive change of view", according to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP), an organisation of Old Rite priests that the Pope strongly supports.
It is widely expected that a papal document will soon be released to allow priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass – using the pre-Vatican II 1962 Latin Missal – without the explicit permission of the local bishop, though probably only in the low-key setting of a "private" celebration. The document, which will be released motu proprio, or on the Pope’s own initiative, has caused concern among bishops in France, where traditionalist groups are particularly active.
But efforts by the French episcopate to "torpedo" the initiative have failed, according to Videre Petrum, the FSSP’s British newsletter.
"It is said that the mild but persuasive words of Pope Benedict, who personally spoke by telephone to many of the most intransigent enemies of tradition among the bishops of France, worked a sort of miracle, and brought them to a reluctant but decisive change of view, or at least to a recognition of the limits of disobedience," the newsletter said. Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, a former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said last month that the Vatican’s Ecclesia Dei commission had discussed the document and would pass on its conclusions to the Pope.
The cardinal added that he did not expect the commission, set up in 1988 to oversee Vatican relations with traditionalists, to discuss the document any further.
Commentators say priests will be allowed to celebrate the Tridentine Rite without permission at "private Masses" that would be nevertheless be open to the public.
The proposed reform would put pressure on the bishops of England and Wales to adopt a more welcoming stance towards the FSSP, which currently has only two priests based in London.
Catholic ping!
by Sophie de Ravinel (translation by The New Liturgical Movement)The pontifical document is awaited with a certain fear in France, where the bishops expressed their reservations. Ardently desired by Pope Benedict XVI and begun in the autumn, the reconciliation of the Catholic Church with the Lefebvrists should take a decisive step at this beginning of the year 2007 with the awaited publication of a papal decree freeing up the Mass of St. Pius V. We could thus see the appearance in the parishes of France Masses according to the Latin rite in force before the 2nd Vatican Council.
How many churches exactly will adopt the Old Mass, in parallel with the actual rite? It is impossible to foresee. But the pressure of the minority traditionalists, active and demanding, should be strong in certain places, in particular in Paris. The Pope for a long time has thought of putting an end to the schism of 1988. Why leave separated from the Church hundreds of priests and thousands of faithful, while at the same time we preach dialogue with other religions?
It is without doubt in France, where mistrust in regard to the traditionalists remains strong, where Benedict XVI's plans have the most barriers to overcome. ...
Catholic ping!
Prayers for Pope Benedict. God bless him and help him.
There's an FSSP parish in our archdiocese. Great people, godly priests.
He is only asking the bishops to do what they should have done thirty years ago, which is to accomodate the feelings of the faithful. Unfortunately, the reforms were rammed down the throats of the faithful. As the pope has said, the people got the feeling that the divine liturgy was, after all, only the work of men. How many Catholics were led to abandon the Church by this radicalism? My guess is that many of those who turned to evangelicalism were seeking some rock to cling to and found it in the Bible only dogma.
I've noticed that the liberals in the church tend to be passive-agressive types. That type in the hierarchy worries me more than muslims. Prayers for the Pope on this First Friday.
I would probably faint dead away if I got a call from B16.
I hope these Bishops felt the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6AOvStZS64
"Traditional Latin Mass filmed on Easter Sunday in 1941 at Our Lady of Sorrows church in Chicago. The film presents the ceremonies of the Missa Solemnis or Solemn High Mass in full detail with narration by then-Mgr. Fulton J. Sheen. Celebrated by Rev. J. R. Keane of the Order of Servites (hence the white habits and cowls), the ceremonies are accompanied by a full polyphonic choir, orchestra, and fifty Gregorian Chanters."
Thanks again!
You're welcome!
Hello, Mom!
Amen to all that, and don't you know a lot of our squirelly(sp?) American liberal Catholic bishops would go slam bang into cardiac arrest if any of THEM got such a phone call!
Dennis
Bump to myself for later viewing.
Makes me recall this by Pope St. Gregory the Great:
"At that hour of the Sacrifice, at the words of the Priest, the heavens are opened, and in that mystery of Jesus Christ, the choirs of Angels are present, and things below are joined to things on high, earthly things to heavenly, and the service is both a visible and an invisible event."
Amen!
Rumours, rumours, rumours.
I'm STILL (not really, but play along) from Missouri.
SHOW ME.
Viva Il Papa! I love this Pope!
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