A new Vatican instruction
calls on local bishops and pastors to respond generously to Catholics
who seek celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal.
The
instruction said pastors should approve such Masses for
groups of faithful, even when such groups are small or are formed of
people from different parishes or dioceses.
These faithful cannot,
however, contest the validity of the modern Mass or the authority of the
Pope.
“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,”
it said.
The instruction said that, depending on pastoral needs,
bishops should make sure seminarians are trained in celebrating the
Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
At the same time, the Vatican said
the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei would be responsible for
ensuring local Church officials were making the old rite available where
warranted.
The instruction was issued by the Ecclesia Dei
commission and approved by Pope Benedict XVI. It came nearly four years
after the Pope, in an apostolic letter entitled Summorum Pontificum,
relaxed restrictions on use of the traditional mass and said it should
be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire
it.
The new instruction said the Pope’s letter of 2007 had three
main aims: to offer the old rite to all the faithful as a “precious
treasure” to be preserved, to guarantee the use of the old rite “for all
who ask for it” and to promote reconciliation in the Church.
It
said local bishops have the responsibility to make sure liturgical
matters in their dioceses are proceeding in agreement with the Pope’s
expressed desires and in “peace and serenity”.
That includes taking
measures to ensure respect for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite,
it said.
The instruction, in a section listing “specific norms”,
addressed several issues that have arisen as groups of faithful have
petitioned for the scheduling of Masses in the older form:
- The
papal letter had stated that a “group of the faithful” existing “in a
stable manner” could legitimately request celebration of the traditional
Mass. The norms said such a group could be “quite small”, could have
formed after the publication of Summorum Pontificum and could be made up
of Catholics from different parishes or dioceses who want to gather in a
specific parish church or chapel.
- In the case of a priest who
presents himself occasionally in a parish church with some of the
faithful and wishes to celebrate in the Extraordinary Form, the local
pastor should permit it.
- The norms said the Extraordinary Form
should be made available at sanctuaries and pilgrimage sites to groups
of pilgrims who request it, if there is a qualified priest.
- The
faithful who ask for celebration of the traditional Mass must not belong
to or support groups that contest the Pope or the validity of the Mass
and sacraments as celebrated in the ordinary form, the norms said.
Jesuit
Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the language of that
provision made it clear that “there should be no polemical or critical
intent on the part of those people making the request”.
The
instruction also addressed the question of who can celebrate the
traditional Latin Mass.
The papal letter had said that priests who use
the 1962 Roman Missal must be “qualified” to do so, but did not spell
out requirements.
The new document said that every Catholic priest
in good standing is generally qualified to celebrate Mass in the
extraordinary form. A basic knowledge of Latin is needed, enough to
pronounce the words correctly and understand their meaning, it said.
Regarding
the need to know the rite, it said priests are presumed to be qualified
if they present themselves spontaneously to celebrate in the
Extraordinary Form and have celebrated it previously.
Fr Lombardi said learning, or relearning, the rubrics of the old rite could be “demanding”.
“For
example, I wouldn’t have a problem with the Latin. But knowing all the
rubrics that indicate the movements and particular gestures is much more
complex,” he said.
The instruction said the Ecclesia Dei
commission would be in charge of monitoring compliance with the
provisions allowing the use of the 1962 missal, and would have the power
to decide on recourse by groups of faithful against “any possible
singular administrative provision of an ordinary which appears to be
contrary” to the papal letter.
The commission’s decisions can, in turn,
be appealed to the Vatican’s highest tribunal, the Apostolic Signature.
The
Ecclesia Dei commission is led by US Cardinal William Levada, the
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who signed
the instruction.
On other matters, the instruction:
- Said a
group of faithful can celebrate the Easter Triduum services in the
Extraordinary Form if there is a qualified priest. In making a church or
oratory available, the local pastor should not exclude the possibility
of celebrating the Triduum services in both Ordinary and Extraordinary
Forms in the same church.
- New saints and some new prayers for
special occasions can and should be inserted into the 1962 missal. It
said provisions on this question would be issued later.
- All priests have permission to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass alone, without a group of faithful.
-
Masses for the ordination of priests should always use the ordinary
form, except when it involves the small number of religious institutes
with a special dedication to the Extraordinary Form.
The
instruction said use of the older form would also require exceptions
from liturgical norms currently in use that are “incompatible with the
rubrics of the liturgical books in effect in 1962″.
It did not spell out
those exceptions.
Asked if altar girls are allowed to serve at a
celebration of the Extraordinary Form, Fr Lombardi said the question was
not specifically addressed in the new instruction.