Report: Pope Set to Allow Wider Use of Latin Mass

c. 2006 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI is set to revive the Latin version of the Roman Catholic Mass, issuing a papal decree that could restore traditional forms of worship that fell out of favor 40 years ago, according to an Italian news report. Rome’s Il Giornale newspaper reported on Wednesday […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Pope Benedict XVI is set to revive the Latin version of the Roman Catholic Mass, issuing a papal decree that could restore traditional forms of worship that fell out of favor 40 years ago, according to an Italian news report.

Rome’s Il Giornale newspaper reported on Wednesday (Oct. 11) that the decree, known as a Motu Proprio, would relax current church restrictions on the Latin Mass, known as the Tridentine rite. The change would allow priests to celebrate Mass in Latin without having to seek permission of local bishops.


If approved, the decree would reintroduce worship that had been the staple of church life for hundreds of years before it was replaced by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s in favor of local-language worship.

Il Giornale said the decree would declare the Latin Mass an “extraordinary rite,” which would make it an option _ but not a requirement _ for local priests. The report did not disclose any further details on how the decree would loosen restrictions.

For rank-and-file Catholics, the change would not mean having to relearn the Mass in Latin, although the old-style liturgy could become more commonplace for the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that the decree was conceived as a concession to the ultraconservative followers of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who founded the Society of Pius X in a push for wider use of the Latin Mass.

Tension between Lefebvre and the Vatican came to a head in 1988 when the archbishop consecrated four bishops without papal approval, prompting the late Pope John Paul II to excommunicate him.

A year ago Benedict met with Bishop Bernard Fellay, the Society’s current leader, in a bid to repair relations with the group. After the meeting, Fellay called on the Vatican to lift the excommunication on Lefebvre and the four bishops and to grant priests the right to celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

The Rev. Marc Nelly, an aide to Fellay, greeted news of the potential decree warmly. “It’s an important first step” toward reconciliation, Nelly said. He noted, however, that that group considers the celebration of Mass in local languages incompatible with the use of the Latin Mass.


The Times of London on Wednesday reported that the pope had signed the document, and that it could be published within a few weeks.

KRE/PH END MEICHTRY

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