The FSSP have revealed today that Pope Benedict XVI ‘sent a letter of support’ after the Vatican’s crackdown on the Latin Mass in 2021.
The wildly unpopular Motu ProprioTraditiones Custodes is now almost universally regarded as a misstep by Pope Francis, with groups attached to the Latin Mass singled out for suppression and attack.
The attack was seen by many as an attack on Pope Benedict XVI himself, who had revived the Latin Mass with his 2007 Summorum Pontificum.
In a statement released today, the FSSP said that Pope Benedict XVI had reached out to them after the document in order to express his support for them.
It is with sorrow that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter learned today, December 31, 2022, of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who was on several occasions a providential support for our community. As Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he was instrumental in the founding of the Fraternity and even visited its seminary in Wigratzbad for Holy Week in 1990. After his election to the chair of Peter, the personal contact continued, especially with the private audience he granted to his founders and the Superior General on July 6, 2009: it was for us the occasion to thank him for the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.
A few months ago, from his place of retirement at the Mater Ecclesiæ monastery in the Vatican, he sent a private letter of encouragement to the Superior of the Fraternity of Saint Peter following the Motu Proprio Traditiones Custodes.
The priests of the Fraternity, together with the faithful who are close to it, will be ardently praying for the repose of his soul. Requiem Masses with the absolution will be celebrated in the apostolates entrusted to the Fraternity in order to “pray to God that through the Sacrifice offered for the soul of his servant, the Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XVI, and after having raised him in this world to the papal office, he may be admitted into the celestial kingdom in the company of all the saints.” (secret of the Requiem Mass for a Sovereign Pontiff)
