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July 16, 2021 Pope Francis' squeeze on masses celebrated in the ancient rite. The Pontiff has published a Motu Proprio which modifies the norms of celebrations in the liturgy preceding the Council. It will be the bishops who will be responsible for the provisions. Masses in Latin and with the priest facing the altar in any case can no longer be celebrated in parish churches. It is "a situation that pains and worries me", writes the Pope in a letter to the bishops of the world, underlining that "the pastoral intent of my Predecessors" reaching out to the "desire for unity" has "often been seriously disregarded" .



Pope Francis, in the letter to the bishops with which he explains the reasons for the new norms that will govern Masses in the ancient rite, underlines "an instrumental use of the Missale Romanum of 1962, increasingly characterized by a growing rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Second Vatican Council, with the groundless and unsustainable assertion that it has betrayed Tradition and the 'true Church' ".




Mass in Latin, you change. After Benedict XVI, in order to meet the Lefebvrians and other traditionalists, liberalized the pre-conciliar missal, the so-called "Latin Mass" with the motu proprio Summorum pontificum (2007), Pope Francis abrogates that turning point and reiterates, with the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes signed today, that "the liturgical books promulgated by the Holy Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in accordance with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite".



Francis explains that the decision stems from extensive consultations carried out in recent years to verify the implementation of the Summorum pontificum which, he writes, "revealed a situation that pains and worries me, confirming the need to intervene. Unfortunately, the pastoral intent of my parents. Predecessors, who had intended 'to make every effort to make it possible for all who truly desire unity to remain in this unity or to find it again', has often been seriously overlooked. St. John Paul II and with even greater magnanimity by Benedict XVI in order to recompose the unity of the ecclesial body in respect of the various liturgical sensibilities has been used to increase distances, harden differences,build contrasts that wound the Church and hinder its progress, exposing it to the risk of divisions ".



Hence the decision to abrogate any previous discipline, and to regulate, case by case, through the responsibility of the diocesan bishops, the possibility of granting the celebration of the Mass back to the people in an extraordinary way, according to the pre-conciliar missal of 1962. "I presbyters ordained after the publication of this Motu proprio, who intend to celebrate with the Missale Romanum of 1962, must submit a formal request to the diocesan Bishop who, before granting the authorization, will consult the Apostolic See ", states Francis.



"The priests who already celebrate according to the Missale Romanum of 1962, will ask the diocesan bishop for authorization to continue to make use of the faculty". It is to defend the unity of the Body of Christ that I am forced to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of it is contrary to the reasons that led them to grant the freedom to celebrate Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962 ".