Pope Francis provokes uproar from traditional Catholics by restricting Latin Mass, reversing signature policy of predecessor Benedict

Daily Mail (UK) ^ | July 17, 2021 | Jacob Thorburn

[Marchmain]

Pope Francis, 84, reimposed restrictions today on celebrating the old Latin Mass

Pope Benedict XVI had originally relaxed the traditional rules in 2007

Bishops must now approve celebrations of the old Mass, while newly ordained priests have to receive express permission from senior clergymen and Vatican

Traditionalist Catholics immediately decried the move as an attack on them

Pope Francis cracked down Friday on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI's signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.

Francis, 84, reimposed restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass that Benedict relaxed in 2007, and went further to limit its use.

The pontiff issued a new law requiring individual bishops to approve celebrations of the old Mass, also known as the Tridentine Mass, and newly ordained priests needing to receive permission from bishops in consultation with the Vatican.

Francis said he was taking action because Benedict's reform had become a source of division in the church and been exploited by Catholics opposed to the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church and its liturgy.

The restrictions went into immediate effect with its publication in Friday's official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

Critics said they had never before witnessed a pope so thoroughly reversing his predecessor.

Under the new law, bishops must also determine if the current groups of faithful attached to the old Mass accept Vatican II, which allowed for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin.

These groups cannot use regular churches; instead, bishops must find alternate locations for them without creating new parishes.

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

[Marchmain]

'Christopher Bellitto, professor of church history at Kean University, said Francis was right to intervene, noting that Benedict's original decision had had a slew of unintended consequences that not only created internal divisions but temporarily roiled relations with Jews.'

[Alberta's Child]

... noting that Benedict's original decision had had a slew of unintended consequences ...

I can't disagree with him here.

The biggest "unintended consequence" was that it exposed a huge distinction between one part of the Catholic Church marked by flourishing Latin Mass communities and another that is marked by dying parishes, civil lawsuits over homosexual predators in the clergy, and bankrupt dioceses.

I have news for Francis: Taking desperate steps to shut down the first group isn't going to fix your problem.

[detch]

Pater Noster, Ave Maria

Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur Nomen tuum.
Adveniat regnum tuum.
Fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie,
et dimitte nobis debita nostra
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris.
Et ne nos inducas in tentationem,
sed libera nos a malo.

Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum.
Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui,
Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.

[Marchmain]

Yes, we are now TLM refugees in a hostile land.

[Carpe Cerevisi]

Isn’t this like the 15th thread on this in the last 24 hours?

[ebb tide]

It’s like an atomic bomb in the Catholic Church.

What else would you expect?

[Marchmain]

It’s a reallllyyy big deal. Different articles do overlap but also have different info, quotes and perspectives.