Vatican instructions on Latin Mass raise hackles of Catholic liberals
To express it in layman’s language, the Holy See yesterday issued a detailed set of instructions calling on bishops and priests to show willing when faced with requests for celebration of Mass in Latin. These instructions follow on from the 2007 Motu Proprio data in which the Pope had eased restrictions on the use of the Latin or so-called Tridentine Mass, which had been sidelined, but not abrogated, by the liturgical reforms of the second Vatican Council, being replaced by the 1970 local language liturgy.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi yesterday said the new norms were published in order “to reconcile differences” between those in favour of restoring the Latin rite and those who see it as a backward step.
One is entitled to be sceptical on this front given that the former lobby tend to see fidelity to the old missal as a mark of traditionalist identity, whilst the latter lobby sees promotion of the Latin Mass as a contradiction of the teachings of the second Vatican Council.