Pope lifts ban on ridentine rite

by Jonathan Petre and Desmond O'Grady POPE John Paul II this week gave his permission for Catholics to use the Tridentine Latin Mass in strictly controlled conditions. The Mass had been prohibited when the second Vatican Council introduced the new Rite of the Vernacular in the 1960s.
The new indult is unlikely to alter the situation in England and Wales, where an indult has been in existence since 1970 when it was introduced by Cardinal John Heenan. The Pope's decision, however, was this week welcomed by the London-based Latin Mass Society who want to extend the frequency with which the Tridentine Mass is celebrated.
The Vatican Congregation for Worship, headed by the German Benedictine, Archbishop Mayer, has sent a letter to all bishops saying that permission should be granted to those who request the old Latin Mass according to the Council of Trent Rite, provided they promise fidelity to the second Vatican Council.
The decision is not intended to undermine the updated Mass services, nor is it viewed as a concession to conservative Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who broke with the Vatican over reforms in the Church, and was suspended from his priestly duties by Pope Paul VI.
The Congregation's letter states that . . . "as the problem (of priests and the faithful's link to the Tridentine Rite) remain, the Holy Father, desiring to help those groups also, offers diocesan bishops the possibility of giving an indult which concedes to priests together with those faithful indicated in a letter which must be sent to their bishops, the possibility of celebrating Holy Mass using the Roman Miscal in the 1962 edition while observing the following conditions."
The five conditions are: first, those who want the Tridentine Mass must not raise doubts about "the legitimacy and doctrinal exactitude" of the Paul VI missal; second, that these Masses must be celebrated in the places and on the dates decided by the bishop; third, they must be celebrated in Latin according to the 1962 edition of the missal; fourth, any blend of the text and Rites of Pius V (Tridentine') and Paul VI must be avoided; fifth, after a year bishops must report on the results of the indult.
The Vatican claims that if these instructions are observed there will be no damage to the "faithful observance of liturgical reforms."
According to sources in Rome, there was considerable opposition within the Vatican to the decision to permit the Tridentine Rite again.
Last week 40 liturgical experts met at Frascati outside Rome to discuss the indult which was described as "inopportune". It is thought that they requested that its application should be limited, because they feared that it would strengthen the hand of groups who may formally accept the second Vatican Council, but are in fact totally opposed to it.
Archbishop Lefebrve said in a radio interview that he was "very happy" with the decision. Speaking from a seminary in Vrilonwald in West Germany, the Archbishop said that the move could possibly change the situation of traditionalists in relation to Rome and the present "climate of persecution".
Tridentine Masses are only rarely celebrated in this country. The only regular Tridentine service is held once a month at St Mary of the Angels in Bayswater, West London.
Fr Anthony Churchill of the Catholic Media Office said that the indult did not oblige the local bishops to comply. "The Pope is extending, as it were, the indult that already applies to England and Wales to the whole world. He is allowing the use of the 1962 missals at the discretion of the local bishop within certain conditions."