Traditionalists around the world are appealing to Pope Benedict XVI
not to approve a document rumoured to restrict celebrations of the
traditional Latin Mass.
Dozens of people have already signed a petition at motuproprioappeal.com calling on the Pope to oppose a forthcoming clarification on the 2007 document Summorum Pontificum.
The
site says it has noted signs that the long-awaited instruction will
“take away what you have legally established in th[e] Motu Proprio”.
It
adds: “Any restrictive measures would cause scandal, disunity and
suffering in the Church and would frustrate the reconciliation you so
earnestly desire.”
The petition follows reports on the Rorate Caeli blog that “strange, violent, and dark forces wish to derail the application of Summorum Pontificum”.
According
to the blog, reports from different sources suggest “that
ill-intentioned people within the highest ranks of the Holy See wish to
use the clarification document on Summorum Pontificum as a Trojan Horse,
emptying the Motu Proprio of all its content, especially regarding
parish priests and other members of the diocesan clergy… This is a
dangerous, clear, and credible threat. We must pray, indeed, but all
priests and lay faithful must act.”
Pope Benedict’s 2007 Motu
Proprio allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Mass without the
permission of the bishop.
It made clear that parishes could celebrate
according to the pre-conciliar form if they wanted to – and bishops
would be expected to make provision for it.