The following is Pope Francis's document suppressing the Traditional Latin Mass.
Pray for the church on this sad day.
Rome, July 16, 2021
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
as my Predecessor Benedict XVI did with Summorum Pontificum, I too intend to accompany the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes with a letter, to illustrate the reasons that led me to this decision. I turn to you with trust and parrhesia, in the name of that sharing in "concern for the whole Church, which contributes supremely to the good of the universal Church", as the Second Vatican Council reminds us.[1] .
The reasons that moved Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI to grant the possibility of using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Pius V, published by Saint John XXIII in 1962, for the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice are evident to all. The faculty, granted by indult of the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1984[2] and confirmed by Saint John Paul II in the Motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 1988[3] , it was mainly motivated by the desire to favor the recomposition of the schism with the movement led by Archbishop Lefebvre. The request, addressed to the Bishops, to generously welcome the "just aspirations" of the faithful who asked for the use of that Missal, therefore had an ecclesial reason for recomposing the unity of the Church.
That faculty was interpreted by many within the Church as the possibility of freely using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Pius V, determining a parallel use to the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Paul VI. To regulate this situation, Benedict XVI intervened on the question many years later, regulating a fact within the Church, in that many priests and many communities had "gratefully used the possibility offered by the Motu proprio" of St. John Paul II. Underlining how this development was not foreseeable in 1988, the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 2007 intended to introduce "a clearer legal regulation"[4] . To facilitate access to those - including young people - "who discover this liturgical form, feel attracted by it and find there a particularly appropriate form for them, of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist"[5] , Benedict XVI declared "the Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and re-edited by Blessed John XXIII as an extraordinary expression of the same lex orandi", granting a "wider possibility of using the 1962 Missal"[6] .
Supporting his choice was the conviction that this provision would not cast doubt on one of the essential decisions of the Second Vatican Council, thus undermining its authority: the Motu proprio fully recognized that "the Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the lex orandi of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite "[7] . The recognition of the Missal promulgated by St. Pius V "as an extraordinary expression of the lex orandi itself" did not in any way want to disregard the liturgical reform, but was dictated by the desire to meet the "insistent prayers of these faithful", allowing them to "celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass according to the typical edition of the Roman Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962 and never abrogated, as an extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church "[8] . He was comforted in his discernment by the fact that those who wished "to find the form, dear to them, of the sacred Liturgy", "clearly accepted the binding nature of the Second Vatican Council and were faithful to the Pope and the Bishops"[9] . He also declared the fear of splits in parish communities unfounded, because "the two forms of the use of the Roman Rite could have enriched each other"[10] . Therefore he invited the Bishops to overcome doubts and fears and to receive the norms, "ensuring that everything goes on in peace and serenity", with the promise that "ways could be sought to find a remedy", should "serious difficulties come to light" in the application of the legislation after "the entry into force of the Motu proprio"[11] .
Thirteen years later I have instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to send you a questionnaire on the application of the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. The responses received revealed a situation that pains and worries me, confirming the need to intervene. Unfortunately, the pastoral intent of my Predecessors, who had intended "to make every effort so that all those who truly desire unity may be made possible to remain in this unity or to find it again"[12] , it has often been seriously neglected. A possibility offered by Saint John Paul II and with even greater magnanimity by Benedict XVI in order to recompose the unity of the ecclesial body in respect of the various liturgical sensitivities was used to increase distances, harden differences, build contrasts that hurt the Church. and they hinder its progress, exposing it to the risk of divisions.
I am equally saddened by the abuses of both sides in the celebration of the liturgy. Like Benedict XVI, I too stigmatize that "in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not celebrated faithfully, but it is even understood as an authorization or even as an obligation to creativity, which often leads to distortions to the limit of what is bearable "[13]. But nevertheless I am saddened by an instrumental use of the Missale Romanum of 1962, increasingly characterized by a growing rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Second Vatican Council, with the unfounded and unsustainable assertion that it has betrayed Tradition and " true Church ". If it is true that the path of the Church must be understood in the dynamism of Tradition, "which originates from the Apostles and which progresses in the Church under the assistance of the Holy Spirit" (DV 8), the Second Vatican Council constitutes the most important stage of this dynamism. recently, in which the Catholic episcopate listened to discern the path that the Spirit indicated to the Church. Doubting the Council means doubting the very intentions of the Fathers,[14] , and, ultimately, doubting the same Holy Spirit who guides the Church.
The Second Vatican Council itself sheds light on the meaning of the choice to review the concession permitted by my Predecessors. Among the votes that the Bishops have indicated most insistently, that of the full, conscious and active participation of all the People of God in the liturgy[15] , in line with what Pius XII already affirmed in the encyclical Mediator Dei on the renewal of the liturgy[16] . The constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium confirmed this request, deliberating on "the reform and increase of the liturgy"[17] , indicating the principles that were to guide the reform[18] . In particular, he established that those principles concerned the Roman Rite, while for the other legitimately recognized rites, he asked that they be "prudently revised in an integral way in the spirit of sound tradition and given new vigor according to the circumstances and needs of the time"[19] . On the basis of these principles the liturgical reform was carried out, which has its highest expression in the Roman Missal, published in editio typica by St. Paul VI.[20] and revised by Saint John Paul II[21] . It must therefore be assumed that the Roman Rite, adapted several times over the centuries to the needs of the times, has not only been preserved, but renewed "in faithful respect to Tradition"[22] . Anyone wishing to celebrate with devotion according to the antecedent liturgical form will have no difficulty in finding in the Roman Missal reformed according to the mind of the Second Vatican Council all the elements of the Roman Rite, in particular the Roman canon, which constitutes one of the most characterizing elements.
A final reason I want to add to the foundation of my choice: the close relationship between the choice of celebrations according to the liturgical books preceding the Second Vatican Council and the rejection of the Church and its institutions is increasingly evident in the words and attitudes of many. name of what they consider the "true Church". This is a behavior that contradicts communion, nourishing that drive to division - “I am Paul's; I, on the other hand, belong to Apollo; I am from Cephas; I am Christ's ”- against whom the Apostle Paul reacted firmly[23] . It is to defend the unity of the Body of Christ that I am forced to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of them is contrary to the reasons that led them to grant the freedom to celebrate Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962. Since "liturgical celebrations are not private actions, but celebrations of the Church, which is" sacrament of unity ""[24] , they must be done in communion with the Church. The Second Vatican Council, while reaffirming the external bonds of incorporation into the Church - the profession of faith, of the sacraments, of communion -, affirmed with Saint Augustine that it is a condition for salvation to remain in the Church not only "with the body", but also "with the heart"[25] .
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, Sacrosanctum Concilium explained that the Church "sacrament of unity" is such because it is a "Holy People gathered and ordained under the authority of the Bishops"[26] . Lumen gentium, while it reminds the Bishop of Rome to be "perpetual and visible principle and foundation of unity both of the bishops and of the multitude of the faithful", says that you are "visible principle and foundation of unity in your local Churches, in which and starting from which there is the one and only Catholic Church "[27] .
Responding to your requests, I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, concessions and customs prior to this Motu Proprio, and to retain the liturgical books promulgated by the Holy Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, as the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite. I am comforted in this decision by the fact that, after the Council of Trent, St. Pius V also abrogated all rites that could not boast a proven antiquity, establishing a single Missale Romanum for the whole Latin Church. For four centuries this Missale Romanum promulgated by Saint Pius V was thus the main expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite, carrying out a unifying function in the Church. Not to contradict the dignity and grandeur of that Rite, the Bishops gathered in an ecumenical council asked for it to be reformed; their intent was that "the faithful should not attend the mystery of faith as strangers or silent spectators, but, with a full understanding of the rites and prayers, participate in the sacred action consciously, piously and actively"[28] . Saint Paul VI, recalling that the work of adapting the Roman Missal had already been begun by Pius XII, declared that the revision of the Roman Missal, carried out in the light of the most ancient liturgical sources, had the purpose of allowing the Church to elevate, in the variety of languages, "one and the same prayer" expressing its unity[29] . I intend this unity to be re-established throughout the Roman Rite Church.
The Second Vatican Council, describing the catholicity of the People of God, recalls that "in ecclesial communion there are particular Churches, which enjoy their own traditions, without prejudice to the primacy of the chair of Peter which presides over the universal communion of charity, guarantees legitimate diversities and at the same time ensures that the particular not only does not harm unity, but rather serves it "[30] . While, in the exercise of my ministry at the service of unity, I take the decision to suspend the faculty granted by my Predecessors, I ask you to share this weight with me as a form of participation in concern for the whole Church. In the Motu proprio I wanted to affirm that it is up to the Bishop, as moderator, promoter and guardian of the liturgical life in the Church of which it is the principle of unity, to regulate liturgical celebrations. It is therefore up to you to authorize in your Churches, as local Ordinaries, the use of the Roman Missal of 1962, applying the norms of this Motu proprio. Above all, it is up to you to work to return to a unitary celebratory form, verifying case by case the reality of the groups that celebrate with this Missale Romanum.
The indications on how to proceed in the dioceses are mainly dictated by two principles: on the one hand, to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous celebratory form and need time to return to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II; on the other hand, to interrupt the erection of new personal parishes, linked more to the desire and will of individual priests than to the real need of the "holy faithful People of God". At the same time, I ask you to ensure that every liturgy is celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after the Second Vatican Council, without eccentricities that easily degenerate into abuses. To this fidelity to the prescriptions of the Missal and to the liturgical books, which reflect the liturgical reform desired by the Second Vatican Council,
For you I invoke the Spirit from the Risen Lord, so that he may make you strong and firm in the service to the People that the Lord has entrusted to you, so that for your care and vigilance he may express communion even in the unity of a single Rite, in which the great wealth of the Roman liturgical tradition. I pray for you. You pray for me.
FRANCIS