Traditionis custodes

Traditionis custodes Latin for 'Guardians of the tradition' Apostolic letter of Pope Francis
Signature date	16 July 2021 (2021-07-16)
Subject	Revocation of Summorum pontificum Emphasis on the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite
Original language	Latin
Text	In English

Traditionis custodes (Guardians of the tradition) is an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Francis, promulgated on 16 July 2021. It restricts the celebration of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite, sometimes colloquially called "Latin Mass" or "Traditional Latin Mass". It was accompanied by a letter to the bishops of the world.

Background

Vatican II reforms

Main articles: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Mass of Paul VI, and Agatha Christie indult

In 1969, the first new edition of the Roman Missal based on the revisions of the Second Vatican Council was promulgated, instituting a new form of the Roman Rite's Mass liturgy. Often referred to as the Mass of Paul VI, this edition of the Roman Missal was produced in Latin with consideration that it was to be translated into the vernacular. It replaced the Roman Missal of the Tridentine Mass, whose last edition was that of 1962, as well as the various vernacular translations that are often referred to as the "1965 Missal," though themselves not a new form of the Roman Missal. In 1971, the Liturgy of the Hours–also prepared with expectation of translation into the vernacular–was introduced to replace the Roman Breviary as the primary form of prayer for the canonical hours within the Latin Church.

John Paul II

See also: Indult Catholic and Indult

John Paul II in Quattuor abhinc annos (1984) and Ecclesia Dei (1988) liberalised the use of the Tridentine Mass, while still maintaining limitations on its use.

Summorum Pontificum

Main article: Summorum Pontificum

In 2007, Benedict XVI published the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum which stated that while the Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is "the ordinary expression of the lex orandi [rule of prayer] of the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite," the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint Pius V and revised by John XXIII is nevertheless to be considered "an extraordinary expression" of the same lex orandi of the church.

Benedict decreed that "any Catholic priest of the Latin rite" may use either form and "needs no permission" from his bishop or from the Holy See to do so. He concluded then that "these two expressions of the church's lex orandi will in no way lead to a division in the church's lex credendi [rule of faith], for they are two usages of the one Roman rite." Benedict also wrote that faithfuls could complain to their bishop or even to the Holy See if their requests for celebration of the extraordinary form were denied. This apostolic letter of Benedict XVI, in brief, allowed any priest of the Latin Church to celebrate the Tridentine Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 without needing to have his bishop or the Holy See's permission. "Prior to that law, priests and faithful who wished to celebrate the Traditional [Tridentine] Latin Mass had to request explicit permission from their bishop. It could only be offered to those who requested it; it was not allowed to be on the normal Mass schedule for parish churches; and the bishop could set specific days and conditions for its celebration."

Before the publication

In 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to sent a letter to Catholic bishops of the world to ask them to report on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in their dioceses.

In May 2021, less than two months before Traditionis custodes was published, a rumor said that during a "closed-door question-and-answer session" with the members of the Italian bishops' conference, Francis stated that the draft of a text restricting the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass was awaiting his approval.

Traditionis custodes was published two days after Francis returned to the Vatican after nine days in the hospital.

Content

Overview

Traditionis custodes not only repealed the changes liberalising use of the Tridentine Mass in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum issued by Francis' predecessor Benedict XVI in 2007, but Francis also went further to limit the practice of the Tridentine Mass.

Francis, in the apostolic letter, writes that liturgical books issued by popes Paul VI and John Paul II after Vatican II are "the unique expression of the lex orandi [the law of prayer] of the Roman Rite."

Measures

The apostolic letter is divided into 8 articles.

Article 1

In the apostolic letter, Francis writes as first article that liturgical books issued by popes Paul VI and John Paul II after Vatican II are "the unique expression of the lex orandi [the law of prayer] of the Roman Rite."

Article 2

The second article states that it is a diocesan bishop's "exclusive competence" to authorise the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese "according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See."

Article 3

Another measure is that "The bishop of the diocese in which until now there exist one or more groups that celebrate according to the Missal antecedent to the reform of 1970" has "to determine that these groups do not deny the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, dictated by Vatican Council II and the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs."

Moreover, the diocesan bishop has "to designate one or more locations", excluding the parochial churches and without erecting new personal parishes, where the faithful adherents of these groups may gather for Mass. In short, groups practising the Tridentine Mass cannot use regular churches; instead, bishops must find alternate locations for them without creating new parishes.

The diocesan bishop must also establish "the days on which eucharistic celebrations are permitted using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962" and ensure the readings are "in the vernacular language, using translations of the Sacred Scripture approved for liturgical use by the respective episcopal conferences."

Furthermore, the diocesan bishop must appoint a properly trained priest, as his delegate, to perform the Tridentine Mass and supervise groups which practise it. The priest must familiar with the Tridentine Mass and have an understanding of Latin sufficient "for a thorough comprehension of the rubrics and liturgical texts." "This priest should have at heart not only the correct celebration of the liturgy, but also the pastoral and spiritual care of the faithful."

The diocesan bishop also has to "verify that the parishes canonically erected for the benefit of these faithful are effective for their spiritual growth, and to determine whether or not to retain them"

The diocesan bishop must not "authorize the establishment of new groups." The Associated Press paraphrases: "bishops are no longer allowed to authorize the formation of any new pro-Latin Mass groups in their dioceses."

Articles 4 & 5

Priests ordained after the publication of the motu proprio who wish to celebrate masses according to the Tridentine Mass "should submit a formal request to the diocesan bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorization." Priests who already celebrate using the Roman Missal of 1962 "should request from the diocesan Bishop the authorization to continue to enjoy this faculty."

Articles 6 & 7

Institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life that were established by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei - which was created by John Paul II in 1988 and merged into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2019 - now fall under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL).

Both the CICLSAL and the Congregation for Divine Worship "for matters of their particular competence, exercise the authority of the Holy See with respect to the observance of these provisions," the pope said; that means that requests are to be sent to these two dicasteries, and that those two dicasteries exercise the authority of the Holy See in overseeing these provisions.

Article 8 and effect

The last article of the apostolic letter states: "Previous norms, instructions, permissions, and customs that do not conform to the provisions of the present Motu Proprio are abrogated."

The dispositions in the apostolic letter took effect immediately. According to Martin Klöckener, the lack of vacatio legis (a period between the announcement of a regulation and its enforcement) "is often the case with documents of this type".

Accompanying letter

Pope Francis also released a letter to the bishops of the world along with Traditionis custodes explaining his decision, just as Benedict XVI had with Summorum Pontificum.

Introduction

In the letter accompanying the document, Francis explains that the concessions granted by his predecessors for the use of the 1962 Roman Missal were above all "motivated by the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre". The request directed to the Catholic bishops to generously welcome the "just aspirations" of the members of the faithful who request the use of this Missal was also motivated by "the ecclesial intention of restoring the unity of the Church," writes Francis. Francis writes that he believes "many in the Church came to regard this faculty as an opportunity to adopt freely the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and use it in a manner parallel to the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Paul VI".

Francis recalled that Pope Benedict XVI's decision promulgated with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007) was sustained by the "confidence that such a provision would not place in doubt one of the key measures of Vatican Council II or minimize in this way its authority". Francis also noted that Pope Benedict had called in 2007 "unfounded" the fear that parishes would be divided by the use of two forms and believed that the two forms would "enrich one another".

Letter of the CDF

In 2020, Francis asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to send a letter to bishops to ask them about the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. Francis says the bishops' answers "reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me." He explains that "an opportunity offered by St. John Paul II and, with even greater magnanimity, by Benedict XVI, intended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities, was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division."

Vatican II

Francis said that he deplores liturgical abuses "on all sides" and the fact that "in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not observed in celebration, but indeed come to be interpreted as an authorization for or even a requirement of creativity, which leads to almost unbearable distortions." However, Francis adds: "I am nonetheless saddened that the instrumental use of the Roman Missal of 1962 is often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the 'true Church.'" Francis reject that claim and explains that "the path of the Church must be seen within the dynamic of Tradition 'which originates from the Apostles and progresses in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit' (Dei Verbum, 8)." He recalled that "a recent stage of this dynamic was constituted by Vatican Council II where the Catholic episcopate came together to listen and to discern the path for the Church indicated by the Holy Spirit." He added: "To doubt the Council is to doubt the intentions of those very Fathers who exercised their collegial power in a solemn manner cum Petro et sub Petro [with Peter and under Peter] in an ecumenical council, and, in the final analysis, to doubt the Holy Spirit itself who guides the Church."

He said the liturgical reform was carried out "based on the principles" given by the Second Vatican Council and reached "its highest expression in the Roman Missal" published by St. Paul VI and revised by St. John Paul II.

Francis also stated: "Whoever wishes to celebrate with devotion according to earlier forms of the liturgy can find in the reformed Roman Missal according to Vatican Council II all the elements of the Roman Rite, in particular the Roman Canon which constitutes one of its more distinctive elements."

Unity of the Church

See also: Marks of the Church

Francis states his "final reason" for his decision is that "ever more plain in the words and attitudes of many is the close connection between the choice of celebrations according to the liturgical books prior to Vatican Council II and the rejection of the Church and her institutions in the name of what is called the 'true Church.'" Francis adds: "One is dealing here with comportment that contradicts communion and nurtures the divisive tendency—'I belong to Paul; I belong instead to Apollo; I belong to Cephas; I belong to Christ'—against which the Apostle Paul so vigorously reacted." For this reason, he says, "In defense of the unity of the Body of Christ, I am constrained to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of this faculty is contrary to the intentions that led to granting the freedom to celebrate the Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962."

According to Francis, John Paul II in 1988 and Benedict XVI in 2007 were motivated to allow "the use of the Roman Missal of 1962" for the celebration of the Mass "to promote the concord and unity of the church" and "to facilitate the ecclesial communion of those Catholics who feel attached to some earlier liturgical forms." He says that his predecessors "were confident that such a provision would not place in doubt one of the key measures of Vatican Council II, or minimize in this way its authority", but that things did not develop the way his predecessors intended; Francis states that therefore he had to act because the unity of the Church was now threatened.

Comparison with the Tridentine Mass

In this letter, Francis writes: "I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present motu proprio, and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, constitute the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite. I take comfort in this decision from the fact that, after the Council of Trent, St. Pius V also abrogated all the rites that could not claim a proven antiquity, establishing for the whole Latin Church a single Roman Missal."

Francis added that during four centuries, this Roman Missal was "the principal expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite, and functioned to maintain the unity of the Church" until "without denying the dignity and grandeur of this Rite" the bishops "gathered in ecumenical council asked that it be reformed". Francis says that their intention was that "the faithful would not assist as strangers and silent spectators in the mystery of faith, but, with a full understanding of the rites and prayers, would participate in the sacred action consciously, piously, and actively." He adds: "St. Paul VI, recalling that the work of adaptation of the Roman Missal had already been initiated by Pius XII, declared that the revision of the Roman Missal, carried out in the light of ancient liturgical sources, had the goal of permitting the church to raise up, in the variety of languages, 'a single and identical prayer' that expressed her unity. This unity I intend to re-establish throughout the church of the Roman Rite."

Final appeal

Pope Francis concludes his letter by appealing to the bishops, saying: "While in the exercise of my ministry in the service of unity, I take the decision to suspend the faculty granted by my predecessors, I ask you to share with me this burden as a form of participation in the solicitude for the whole Church proper to the bishops."

Reception

Academics

Kurt Martens, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, noted that the term "extraordinary form" is no longer used in the new legislation and that the new motu proprio "establishes that liturgical books promulgated in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite." He adds: "Diocesan bishops are given broad responsibility with regard to the use of the former liturgy."

Christopher Bellitto, professor of Church history at Kean University, said Francis was right to intervene, noting that Benedict XVI's original decision had had numerous unintended consequences that not only split the church but temporarily roiled relations with Jews. "Francis hits it right on the head with his observation that Benedict’s 2007 loosening of regulations against the Latin rite allowed others to use it for division," he said. "The blowback proves his point."

Martin Klöckener, professor of liturgy at the University of Fribourg, welcomed the motu proprio as a necessary correction to Benedict's approach. He noted that it restored some measure of the authority that Benedict had denied to local bishops. He also welcomed Francis's approach that makes the Mass of John XXIII the only form of pre-concilar Mass now permitted. He believes that Francis acted because in the 2020 survey "many bishops spoke a clearer language than was otherwise heard in public".

Journalists

Pope Francis' decision was interpreted by Fr. Raymond J. de Souza as more a "sociological" decision relating to unity in the Catholic Church than a judgement of the Tridentine Missal's spiritual qualities.

Zac Davis of America Magazine approved of the decision to restrict the Tridentine Mass, writing that "There are many good reasons to love the Latin Mass, but given that it has become a demonstrable cause of disunity and rancor within the church, we have to look for the gifts it gives elsewhere."

Michael Sean Winters writes:

Aficionados of the old rite like to talk about how that rite uniquely conveys the sense that each Mass is a part of the one eternal sacrifice of Christ […] If the Eucharist is, as Vatican II taught, the source and summit of the Catholic faith, then we know that when the celebration of the Eucharist fails to serve the unity of the church, something is wrong, and it isn't ever the fault of him whose sacrifice we commemorate.

Catholic Church

Cardinal Burke told National Catholic Register that "he sees as a number of flaws in Traditionis Custodes, saying he could not understand how the new Roman Missal is the 'unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite,' as the new motu proprio states. The Extraordinary Form of the Mass 'is a living form of the Roman Rite and has never ceased to be so,' Cardinal Burke noted." He also could not understand why the motu proprio takes effect immediately, as the decree 'contains many elements that require study regarding its application.'" He added that "in his long experience he has not witnessed the 'gravely negative situation' Francis describes in his letter."

The president of the USCCB, José Horacio Gómez, stated: "I welcome the Holy Father’s desire to foster unity among Catholics who celebrate the Roman Rite. As these new norms are implemented, I encourage my brother bishops to work with care, patience, justice, and charity as together we foster a Eucharistic renewal in our nation."

Traditionalist Catholics

Joseph Shaw, the chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, said that the motu proprio appeared to "undo entirely the legal provisions made for the Traditional Mass by Pope Benedict, and to take us back not only to the situation before the 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, but even before 1988, when Pope John Paul II -- who was canonized by Pope Francis -- described the more ancient Mass as a 'rightful aspiration' of the faithful." He also stated that Traditionis custodes was a "staggering document, exceeding our worst expectations. Pope Francis has completely undone the arrangements of Summorum Pontificum and crested a situation which seems entirely unworkable, banning the Extraordinary Form from parish churches." He also published a blog post on the subject on the Society's website.

Traditionalist Catholics "immediately decried [Traditionis custodes] as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy." The Tablet, a British Catholic publication, reported that many Traditionalist Catholics were angered by Traditionis custodes, further stating that traditionalists expressed concern that certain bishops would use the motu proprio to prohibit the Tridentine Mass within their dioceses.

See also

• Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII
• Mass of Paul VI
• Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963)

External links

• "Apostolic Letter issued 'motu proprio' by the Supreme Pontiff Francis, 'Traditionis custodes': On the Use of the Roman Liturgy Prior to the Reform of 1970". Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 16 July 2021.
• "Letter of the Holy Father to the Bishops of the whole world, that accompanies the Apostolic Letter Motu Proprio data "Traditionis custodes" (16 July 2021)". Vatican.va. 16 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
• "New norms regarding use of 1962 Roman Missal: Bishops given greater responsibility". Vatican News. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)