Pope Leo, to whom a copy of the letter was reportedly not sent, will hold on Jan. 7–8 his first Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals, which is a formal assembly of the College of Cardinals.
The consistory reportedly has liturgy as one of the discussions on the agenda. Rome-based journalist Diane Montagna reported Jan. 5 that the letter by Father Louis-Marie de Blignières, who founded the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer religious community, is meant to open the door to constructive dialogue about the liturgy and offer “a stable pastoral framework for communities and faithful devoted to the traditional Roman liturgy.”
According to Montagna, Fr. de Blignières sent hard copies of the letter to 15 cardinals who are “known for their concern for the traditional liturgy” and emailed copies to 100 more cardinals.
Fr. de Blignières proposes that the Holy See establishes an ecclesiastical jurisdiction dedicated to the ancient Latin rite. Churches within the jurisdiction would celebrate the Latin Mass. The jurisdiction would function similarly to Military Ordinariates, such as the Archdiocese of Military Services (AMS).
Unlike most archdioceses, the AMS is not marked by a specific territory; it was established to serve Catholics around the globe who serve in the military and have to frequently move to a new military base.
Fr. de Blignières writes that the faithful who would belong to the Traditional Latin Mass jurisdiction “would not be cut off from their diocese of residence and would retain contact with the local Ordinaries.”
“A traditionalist faithful would be a member of the dedicated ecclesiastical jurisdiction without ceasing to be a member of his diocese, where he could also receive the sacraments,” Fr. de Blignières writes.
Fr. de Blignières has had considerable experience in the field of dialogue with popes about traditionalism. In 1988, shortly after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre — who founded the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) — illicitly consecrated several bishops, Fr. de Blignières contributed to discussions with Pope John Paul II that helped lead to a solution “to reconcile groups attached to the traditional rite,” according to Montagna.
Father Matthieu Raffray, superior of the European District of the Institute of the Good Shepherd and former philosophy lecturer at the Rome-based Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, told Montagna that to his knowledge, the letter was not sent directly to Pope Leo and is not a “request or demand.” Montagna wrote that Fr. Raffray is “familiar with the letter and supportive of its proposal.”
Fr. Raffray spoke with Montagna about what the letter’s proposal would look like on a practical level. He noted that a military ordinariate, which this proposal would be similar to, is “defined not by territory but by the persons who belong to it due to a particular pastoral need.” He said that such a jurisdiction could be set up on a nation-by-nation level, and the bishop who would shepherd the jurisdiction would coordinate with geographically established diocesan bishops regarding local pastoral arrangements.
“A key point in this proposal is that it does not seek to isolate the faithful attached to the traditional liturgy, but rather to offer them a clear and legitimate pastoral framework, accessible to anyone who may benefit from it, whether on a temporary or a long-term basis,” Fr. Raffray said. “Placed under the authority of the Holy See and in harmony with local Ordinaries, such a jurisdiction could thus contribute to a more peaceful pastoral care, in the service of communion and unity within the Church.”
Fr. de Blignières argues in the letter that “according to Saint John Paul II the celebration of the sacraments according to the rites prior to the post-conciliar reforms presents certain characteristics comparable to those of the Eastern rites.”
“The appropriateness of erecting a specific ecclesiastical jurisdiction for the ancient Latin rite is further strengthened by the fact that this group manifests a distinctive identity,” Fr. de Blignières argued, citing a description of this identity given in 2004 by the then-president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos.
Cardinal Hoyos said: “We are often dealing here with a Christian vision of the life of faith and devotion — shared by many Catholic families, often blessed with numerous children — which possesses its own particular features; this vision includes, for example, a strong sense of belonging to the Mystical Body of Christ, a desire firmly to maintain ties with the past — understood not in opposition to the present but in continuity with the Church — in order to preserve the strongest points of anchorage of Christianity, a deep desire for spirituality and sacredness, and so forth.”
Fr. de Blignières writes that his proposal aims to help find a solution to the situation caused by Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which significantly restricted the celebration of the Latin Mass.
According to Fr. Raffay, this proposal would be a different approach than one that some have suggested: returning to the 2007 motu proprio Summorum pontificum, in which Pope Benedict XVI proposed having an ordinary form and an extraordinary form of the Roman rite.
Fr. Raffay said a good solution would be to recognize at least in the de facto sense “the existence of two distinct Latin rites: an ancient or traditional Latin rite, and a reformed Latin rite.”
He said the new ecclesiastical jurisdiction would likely be not simply a pastoral solution, but also “the appropriate institutional expression of a theological reality that has now reached maturity: namely, the existence of two Latin rites called to coexist peacefully, in the service of the unity of the Church and of her evangelizing mission.”