The remarks came in an interview with OSV News, an information agency linked to the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, on March 17.
In this context, Roche avoided a direct ruling on possible changes in the application of Traditionis Custodes, focusing instead on general principles such as the unity of the Church and the need not to raise the liturgy in terms of individual preferences or confrontation between rites.
During the interview, the cardinal recognized some elements that attract faithful to the traditional liturgy, such as silence, music or reverence, although without linking these observations to concrete measures or to a review of current practice. He also avoided explicitly opposing the Novus Ordo and the Vetus Ordo, insisting that “confronting one rite against another” does not contribute to the understanding of the liturgy.
The content of the interview does not introduce substantial changes to its previous position. In particular, there is no rectification of what was supported in the document it prepared for the January consistory, in which it defended the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council and underlined the limited nature of the use of the pre-1970 missal.
In this sense, the emphasis in general categories and the absence of references to specific decisions or policy changes have been interpreted as a lack of definitions at a time when the liturgical debate remains open.
The declarations also occur in a context in which other messages with pastoral nuances have been recorded from the Holy See. Among them, the recent indications of Pope Leo XIV to the French bishops, to whom he has asked to seek formulas to integrate the faithful linked to the Vetus Ordo.
Pending eventual development, the situation remains without policy changes, and the practical scope of these different tones within the Curia remains unrealized.