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Pope Benedict XVI has sacked two Vatican officials over the readmission of a British Holocaust-denying bishop to the Roman Catholic Church. He also abolished the Vatican department responsible for the lifting of the excommunication of Richard Williamson, who is one of the leaders of the Society of St Pius X. The rehabilitation, in January, threatened to undo decades of work to heal rifts between Catholics and Jews. The German-born Pope was forced to apologise to Jewish leaders and atoned by visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Israel in May. The incident made Pope Benedict, one of the most admired...

In the Sunday, July 8, 2007 edition of Il Giornale, the respected Italian journalist, Andrea Tornielli, who has also written for Inside the Vatican, published the following interview with the President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, on the main aspects of Summorum Pontificum. The Ecclesia Dei commission is the body entrusted with overseeing the implementation of the "motu proprio."What meaning does the Pope's decision have?"The Pontiff's letter is clear. It is a decision which comes from the heart and from the mind of a Pope who loves and knows liturgy well. He wishes that the heritage...

This interview is reprinted with the kind permission of The Latin Mass Magazine. Interview with His EminenceCardinal Castrillion Hoyos [This interview was granted by His Eminence Cardinal Castrillion Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and President of the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei" in Rome on May 5, 2004, Feast of St. Pius V.] Q: Eminence, nearly one year after the celebration in Saint Mary Major of the Mass in the Rite of Saint Pius V, what reactions have you have received from the so called "traditionalist" world, with regard to this event? A: I would say that...

An English priest will this week celebrate what is believed to be the first Tridentine Rite Mass for 20 years in St Peter's in Rome, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. The historic service, hailed as a breakthrough by traditionalists, will be led by Fr Andrew Southwell on Friday, a month after the Pope lifted a long-standing ban on the "Old Rite" in the world's most famous church.