Three years after the Traditional Latin Mass was largely banned from parishes, Pope Francis is receiving a lot of mail.
The background to this is the persistent rumours that the Dicastery for Divine Worship wants to enforce an almost complete ban.
The rumours, which were initially spread by the well-connected online medium "Rorate caeli", were given further impetus when the progressive liturgical scholar Andrea Grillo gave an interview to the Roman blog "Messa in Latino". He accused the followers of the old liturgy of having an "ideology" that was incompatible with loyalty to the Pope.
These comments were interpreted in the context of the Pentecost pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres, which set a new attendance record with over 18,000 mostly young pilgrims. Instead of curbing the growth of the traditional movement, the headwind from Rome has apparently strengthened it - which is also reflected in the number of people joining traditional communities.
Recently, for example, the French former volleyball champion Ludovic Duee joined the Abbey of Lagrasse. Cardinal Gerhard-Ludwig Müller, who celebrated the pontifical mass in Chartres on Whit Monday, recently reported in his sermon at a priestly ordination in France that an unnamed employee of the Dicastery for Divine Worship had told him that the "loyalty of young Catholics" in Chartres was by no means a reason to rejoice because the old rite was celebrated there.
In the dicastery, a preference for the old rite is interpreted as an expression of a sterile traditionalism "that is more interested in the theatricality of the liturgy than in the living communion with God that it conveys".
However, Pope Francis has sent out different signals in recent months. In particular, he had established good relations with the leadership of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. It is becoming apparent that the traditionalist institutes of pontifical right are being strengthened by the Pope in their charism of preserving the old liturgy.
After "Traditionis custodes" and once again the Apostolic Constitution "Desiderio desideravi" published in 2022, this was not expected by everyone.
In particular, the constitution, which ranks highly in terms of canon law, led to expectations of further restrictions. In it, the Pope states that the problem is "primarily of an ecclesiological nature".
"I do not understand how one can say that one recognises the validity of the Council - although I am a little surprised that a Catholic can presume not to do so - and not accept the liturgical reform that emerged from Sacrosanctum Concilium and that expresses the reality of the liturgy in close connection with the vision of the Church that was admirably described in Lumen Gentium."
Hermeneutics of rupture - or reform
Not only the traditionalists in the narrower sense are likely to be addressed here, but also the theological heirs of Benedict XVI, who always rejected a hermeneutic of rupture in the interpretation of the Council's decisions. He believed he recognised such a hermeneutic of rupture in the excessive implementation of the liturgical reform around 1970, because it went beyond the liturgical constitution of the Second Vatican Council of 1963 in parts.
His idea of a "reform of the liturgical reform" was fuelled by this - in order to partially repair the breach.
According to Benedict XVI, the aim was a "cross-fertilisation of the two forms of the Roman rite".
Pope Francis initially had Cardinal Robert Sarah continue to pursue this project as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, but then rejected it again. Now, however, Francis' constitution "Desiderio desideravi" appears to follow a hermeneutic of rupture rather than the idea of continuity.
In the Congregation for Divine Worship today, the Curia Cardinal Arthur Roche, who comes from England, holds the office of Prefect. He is concerned with ensuring that the Missale Romanum of 2002 is implemented as uniformly as possible worldwide.
The business is largely in the hands of the Secretary of the Dicastery, Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, who, like Grillo, is associated with the Benedictine College of Sant Anselmo in Rome. Viola, who is said to wear the episcopal ring of the creator of Paul VI's liturgical reform, Archbishop Annibale Bugninis, has so far been identified as the author of the sharp line against the "Tradis". He appears to have powerful supporters in the Curia.
The fact that a positive reception of the current magisterium, its missionary orientation and inspiration from more recent spiritual experiences could also be compatible with the Traditional Latin Mass can be observed in France in particular. One example is the Fraternité de la Miséricorde divine from Toulon, which is also pastorally active in Colmar and Marseille.
It is a diocesan organisation whose founding charism consists of its spirituality, its mission, especially among migrants - and the old liturgy. The latter is now becoming a problem.
Four of the community's priest candidates are about to be ordained to the diaconate. However, the Dicastery for Divine Worship in Rome refuses to grant permission for this.
And the indult for Holy Mass in the old rite is also said to be at risk - although it is celebrated here in a slightly modernised form (congregational participation in the Lord's Prayer, more national language) with the approval of the Vatican.
Bishops now only have very limited powers
"Traditionis custodes" has already demanded that bishops must obtain express authorisation from the Dicastery for Divine Worship for priests if they wish to permit the Traditional Latin Mass.
According to reports, this authorisation is granted extremely rarely. This is an encroachment on the bishop's authority to organise the liturgy in his diocese. Under Benedict XVI, bishops had more freedom.
Three years after the last tightening, the impression is unsatisfactory for both supporters and opponents of the traditional liturgy. Instead of promoting unity and preventing ghettos, measures such as the ban on celebrations in parish churches have had the opposite effect. At the same time, the appeal of the old rite seems unbroken.
Against this backdrop, the French journalist Jean Bernard called for an "end to the war" over the liturgy in "La Croix" last year.