Greater responsibility for bishops with the new rules in the pre-familiar liturgy

Pope Francis, after consulting with bishops around the world, decided to change the rules governing the use of the 1962 Missal, which had been edited under the name “Exceptional Roman Rite” fourteen years earlier by his predecessor Benedict XVI. Today, the Sovereign Pontiff publishes the topic with the title Delivery guardians, on the use of the Roman liturgy before 1970, accompanied by a letter explaining the reasons for his decision.

The role of bishops

It is the responsibility of the bishop, who oversees the diocesan liturgical life, to organize the celebration according to the customary rite: “It is his exclusive competence to authorize recourse to the Roman Missal of 1962 in his diocese, in accordance with the directives of the Holy See”. The bishop must ensure that the congregations who celebrate the ancient liturgy today “Do not exclude the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform, the writings of the Second Vatican Council and the pontifical authority”.

Masses according to the old rites will no longer be said in parish churches. The bishop will have to determine the church and the days of celebrations. readings will be “in the vernacular”According to translations approved by episcopal councils. The priest must be a priest authorized by the bishop. The latter is also responsible for checking whether or not it is appropriate to maintain the festivities according to the old liturgy, by checking the “Effective Benefit for Spiritual Growth”. It is in fact necessary for the responsible priest to have not only a proper celebration of the liturgy, but also the pastoral and spiritual care of the faithful. Moreover, the bishop “We will be careful not to allow new groups to be created.”.

Permission is necessary for priests

Priests ordained after the publication of the Book of Motu today, who intend to celebrate according to a previously familiar Missal, “A formal request must be addressed to the diocesan bishop who will consult the Holy See before granting permission”. Those who have done so must ask the diocesan bishop for permission to continue. religious institutes, At the time set up by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia DeiFrom now on it falls under the Congregation of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Religions of divine and religious worship will ensure respect for these new provisions.

Francois’ reasons

In the letter accompanying the document, Pope Francis explained that the concessions made by his predecessors to use an ancient Missal were paid above all. “With the desire to promote the reconfiguration of the schism with the movement led by Archbishop Lefevre”. The request to the bishops to welcome generously “Just aspirations” From the faithful who asked to be able to use this liturgy, “So he had an ecclesiastical reason to recreate the unity of the Church”. This college, François notes, “It has been interpreted by many within the Church as the possibility of freely using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Pius V, and specifying a parallel use of the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Paul VI.”.

The Pope states that the decision of Pope Benedict XVI, with Motu Proprio Popes From 2007, with the support of “the conviction that such a measure would not call into question one of the fundamental decisions of the Second Vatican Council, undermining its authority”. Fourteen years ago, Joseph Ratzinger declared that fears of schisms in parish communities were groundless, because the two forms of Roman rite use could enrich each other. But a recent poll conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith among Bishops provided answers that reveal, as Francis wrote, “A situation that bothers me and worries me and assures me of the need to intervene.”, since the desire for loneliness “Very despised” And that the privileges offered were used magnanimously To increase distances, to strengthen dissensions, to build up oppositions that harm and obstruct the Church, and expose it to the danger of division..

Against the Council’s questioning

Pope says he is saddened by abuses in liturgical celebrations “on both sides”, but also The exploitation of the 1962 Roman Missal, marked by a growing rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Second Vatican Council, with the unfounded and unsustainable claim that it betrays tradition and the ‘true Church’. Suspicion of the Council, Francis explains, “It means to question the intentions of the Fathers, who formally exercised their collective authority under Petro et sub Petro during the Ecumenical Council, and, in the end, to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church.”.

François finally adds one last reason for his decision to amend the privileges of the past: “It is increasingly clear, in the words and attitudes of many people, that there is a close connection between the choice of ceremonies according to the liturgical books prior to the Second Vatican Council and the rejection of the Church and its institutions in the name of what they consider to be the ‘true Church’. It is a behavior incompatible with communion, which feeds this tendency to division. […] To which the Apostle Paul reacted forcefully to him. To defend the unity of the body of Christ I see myself compelled to abolish the power bestowed by my ancestors.”.