Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
Instruction on the application of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI given Motu Proprio
I. Introduction
1.
The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Sovereign Pontiff
Benedict XVI given Motu Proprio on 7 July 2007, which came into effect
on 14 September 2007, has made the richness of the Roman Liturgy more
accessible to the Universal Church.
2. With this Motu Proprio, the
Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a universal law for the
Church, intended to establish new regulations for the use of the Roman
Liturgy in effect in 1962.
3. The Holy Father, having recalled the
concern of the Sovereign Pontiffs in caring for the Sacred Liturgy and
in their recognition of liturgical books, reaffirms the traditional
principle, recognised from time immemorial and necessary to be
maintained into the future, that “each particular Church must be in
accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the
faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally
handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition. These are to be
maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the
faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church’s rule of
prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi).”1
4.
The Holy Father recalls also those Roman Pontiffs who, in a particular
way, were notable in this task, specifically St Gregory the Great and St
Pius V. The Holy Father stresses moreover that, among the sacred
liturgical books, the Missale Romanum has enjoyed a particular
prominence in history, and was kept up to date throughout the centuries
until the time of Blessed Pope John XXIII. Subsequently in 1970,
following the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council, Pope
Paul VI approved for the Church of the Latin rite a new Missal, which
was then translated into various languages. In the year 2000, Pope John
Paul II promulgated the third edition of this Missal.
5. Many of
the faithful, formed in the spirit of the liturgical forms prior to the
Second Vatican Council, expressed a lively desire to maintain the
ancient tradition. For this reason, Pope John Paul II with a special
Indult Quattuor abhinc annos issued in 1984 by the Congregation for
Divine Worship, granted the faculty under certain conditions to restore
the use of the Missal promulgated by Blessed Pope John XXIII.
Subsequently, Pope John Paul II, with the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei of
1988, exhorted the Bishops to be generous in granting such a faculty for
all the faithful who requested it. Pope Benedict continues this policy
with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum regarding certain essential
criteria for the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite, which are recalled
here.
6. The Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI and the last
edition prepared under Pope John XXIII, are two forms of the Roman
Liturgy, defined respectively as ordinaria and extraordinaria: they are
two usages of the one Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the
expression of the same lex orandi of the Church. On account of its
venerable and ancient use, the forma extraordinaria is to be maintained
with appropriate honor.
7. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum
was accompanied by a letter from the Holy Father to Bishops, with the
same date as the Motu Proprio (7 July 2007). This letter gave further
explanations regarding the appropriateness and the need for the Motu
Proprio; it was a matter of overcoming a lacuna by providing new norms
for the use of the Roman Liturgy of 1962. Such norms were needed
particularly on account of the fact that, when the new Missal had been
introduced under Pope Paul VI, it had not seemed necessary to issue
guidelines regulating the use of the 1962 Liturgy. By reason of the
increase in the number of those asking to be able to use the forma
extraordinaria, it has become necessary to provide certain norms in this
area.
Among the statements of the Holy Father was the following:
“There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal.
In the history of the Liturgy growth and progress are found, but not a
rupture. What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great
for us as well, and cannot be suddenly prohibited altogether or even
judged harmful.”2
8. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum
constitutes an important expression of the Magisterium of the Roman
Pontiff and of his munus of regulating and ordering the Church’s Sacred
Liturgy.3 The Motu Proprio manifests his solicitude as Vicar of Christ
and Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church,4 and has the aim of:
a.) offering to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved;
b.)
effectively guaranteeing and ensuring the use of the forma
extraordinaria for all who ask for it, given that the use of the 1962
Roman Liturgy is a faculty generously granted for the good of the
faithful and therefore is to be interpreted in a sense favourable to the
faithful who are its principal addressees;
c.) promoting reconciliation at the heart of the Church.
II. The Responsibilities of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei
9.
The Sovereign Pontiff has conferred upon the Pontifical Commission
Ecclesia Dei ordinary vicarious power for the matters within its
competence, in a particular way for monitoring the observance and
application of the provisions of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum
(cf. art. 12).
10. § 1. The Pontifical Commission exercises this
power, beyond the faculties previously granted by Pope John Paul II and
confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum,
artt. 11-12), also by means of the power to decide upon recourses
legitimately sent to it, as hierarchical Superior, against any possible
singular administrative provision of an Ordinary which appears to be
contrary to the Motu Proprio.
§ 2. The decrees by which the
Pontifical Commission decides recourses may be challenged ad normam
iuris before the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.
11.
After having received the approval from the Congregation for Divine
Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Commission
Ecclesia Dei will have the task of looking after future editions of
liturgical texts pertaining to the forma extraordinaria of the Roman
Rite.
III. Specific Norms
12. Following upon the inquiry
made among the Bishops of the world, and with the desire to guarantee
the proper interpretation and the correct application of the Motu
Proprio Summorum Pontificum, this Pontifical Commission, by virtue of
the authority granted to it and the faculties which it enjoys, issues
this Instruction according to can. 34 of the Code of Canon Law.
The Competence of Diocesan Bishops
13.
Diocesan Bishops, according to Canon Law, are to monitor liturgical
matters in order to guarantee the common good and to ensure that
everything is proceeding in peace and serenity in their Dioceses, always
in agreement with the mens of the Holy Father clearly expressed by the
Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. In cases of controversy or
well-founded doubt about the celebration in the forma extraordinaria,
the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will adjudicate.
14. It is
the task of the Diocesan Bishop to undertake all necessary measures to
ensure respect for the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite, according
to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.
The coetus fidelium (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 1)
15.
A coetus fidelium (“group of the faithful”) can be said to be
stabiliter existens (“existing in a stable manner”), according to the
sense of art. 5 § 1 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, when it is
constituted by some people of an individual parish who, even after the
publication of the Motu Proprio, come together by reason of their
veneration for the Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, and who ask that it
might be celebrated in the parish church or in an oratory or chapel;
such a coetus (“group”) can also be composed of persons coming from
different parishes or dioceses, who gather together in a specific parish
church or in an oratory or chapel for this purpose.
16. In the
case of a priest who presents himself occasionally in a parish church or
an oratory with some faithful, and wishes to celebrate in the forma
extraordinaria, as foreseen by articles 2 and 4 of the Motu Proprio
Summorum Pontificum, the pastor or rector of the church, or the priest
responsible, is to permit such a celebration, while respecting the
schedule of liturgical celebrations in that same church.
17. § 1.
In deciding individual cases, the pastor or the rector, or the priest
responsible for a church, is to be guided by his own prudence, motivated
by pastoral zeal and a spirit of generous welcome.
§ 2. In cases
of groups which are quite small, they may approach the Ordinary of the
place to identify a church in which these faithful may be able to come
together for such celebrations, in order to ensure easier participation
and a more worthy celebration of the Holy Mass.
18. Even in
sanctuaries and places of pilgrimage the possibility to celebrate in the
forma extraordinaria is to be offered to groups of pilgrims who request
it (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 3), if there is a
qualified priest.
19. The faithful who ask for the celebration of
the forma extraordinaria must not in any way support or belong to groups
which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the
Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against
the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.
Sacerdos idoneus (“Qualified Priest”) (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art 5 § 4)
20.
With respect to the question of the necessary requirements for a priest
to be held idoneus (“qualified”) to celebrate in the forma
extraordinaria, the following is hereby stated:
a.) Every Catholic
priest who is not impeded by Canon Law7 is to be considered idoneus
(“qualified”) for the celebration of the Holy Mass in the forma
extraordinaria.
b.) Regarding the use of the Latin language, a
basic knowledge is necessary, allowing the priest to pronounce the words
correctly and understand their meaning.
c.) Regarding knowledge
of the execution of the Rite, priests are presumed to be qualified who
present themselves spontaneously to celebrate the forma extraordinaria,
and have celebrated it previously.
21. Ordinaries are asked to
offer their clergy the possibility of acquiring adequate preparation for
celebrations in the forma extraordinaria. This applies also to
Seminaries, where future priests should be given proper formation,
including study of Latin8 and, where pastoral needs suggest it, the
opportunity to learn the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.
22.
In Dioceses without qualified priests, Diocesan Bishops can request
assistance from priests of the Institutes erected by the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei, either to the celebrate the forma
extraordinaria or to teach others how to celebrate it.
23. The
faculty to celebrate sine populo (or with the participation of only one
minister) in the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite is given by the
Motu Proprio to all priests, whether secular or religious (cf. Motu
Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 2). For such celebrations therefore,
priests, by provision of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, do not
require any special permission from their Ordinaries or superiors.
Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Discipline
24.
The liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria are to be used as they
are. All those who wish to celebrate according to the forma
extraordinaria of the Roman Rite must know the pertinent rubrics and are
obliged to follow them correctly.
25. New saints and certain of
the new prefaces can and ought to be inserted into the 1962 Missal9,
according to provisions which will be indicated subsequently.
26.
As foreseen by article 6 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the
readings of the Holy Mass of the Missal of 1962 can be proclaimed either
solely in the Latin language, or in Latin followed by the vernacular
or, in Low Masses, solely in the vernacular.
27. With regard to
the disciplinary norms connected to celebration, the ecclesiastical
discipline contained in the Code of Canon Law of 1983 applies.
28.
Furthermore, by virtue of its character of special law, within its own
area, the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum derogates from those
provisions of law, connected with the sacred Rites, promulgated from
1962 onwards and incompatible with the rubrics of the liturgical books
in effect in 1962.
Confirmation and Holy Orders
29.
Permission to use the older formula for the rite of Confirmation was
confirmed by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 9 § 2).
Therefore, in the forma extraordinaria, it is not necessary to use the
newer formula of Pope Paul VI as found in the Ordo Confirmationis.
30.
As regards tonsure, minor orders and the subdiaconate, the Motu Proprio
Summorum Pontificum does not introduce any change in the discipline of
the Code of Canon Law of 1983; consequently, in Institutes of
Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the
Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, one who has made solemn profession
or who has been definitively incorporated into a clerical institute of
apostolic life, becomes incardinated as a cleric in the institute or
society upon ordination to the diaconate, in accordance with canon 266 §
2 of the Code of Canon Law.
31. Only in Institutes of Consecrated
Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei, and in those which use the liturgical books of
the forma extraordinaria, is the use of the Pontificale Romanum of 1962
for the conferral of minor and major orders permitted.
Breviarium Romanum
32.
Art. 9 § 3 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum gives clerics the
faculty to use the Breviarium Romanum in effect in 1962, which is to be
prayed entirely and in the Latin language.
The Sacred Triduum
33.
If there is a qualified priest, a coetus fidelium (“group of
faithful”), which follows the older liturgical tradition, can also
celebrate the Sacred Triduum in the forma extraordinaria. When there is
no church or oratory designated exclusively for such celebrations, the
parish priest or Ordinary, in agreement with the qualified priest,
should find some arrangement favourable to the good of souls, not
excluding the possibility of a repetition of the celebration of the
Sacred Triduum in the same church.
The Rites of Religious Orders
34. The use of the liturgical books proper to the Religious Orders which were in effect in 1962 is permitted.
Pontificale Romanum and the Rituale Romanum
35.
The use of the Pontificale Romanum, the Rituale Romanum, as well as the
Caeremoniale Episcoporum in effect in 1962, is permitted, in keeping
with n. 28 of this Instruction, and always respecting n. 31 of the same
Instruction.
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in an audience
granted to the undersigned Cardinal President of the Pontifical
Commission Ecclesia Dei on 8 April 2011, approved this present
Instruction and ordered its publication.
Given at Rome, at the Offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, 30 April, 2011, on the memorial of Pope Saint Pius V.
William Cardinal Levada
President
Mons. Guido Pozzo
Secretary