Saturday, June 14, 2008

Latin Mass to return to England and Wales

The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today.

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In addition, all English seminaries must teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes. Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite.

The announcement by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, will horrify Catholic liberals, including many bishops of England and Wales, who were opposed to the Pope's decree last year removing their power to block the celebration of the old Mass.

Pope Benedict now clearly intendeds to go much further in promoting the ancient liturgy. Asked whether the Latin Mass would be celebrated in many ordinary parishes in future, Cardinal Castrillon said: "Not many parishes – all parishes. The Holy Father is offering this not only for the few groups who demand it, but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist."

In the traditional rite, the priest faces in the same direction as the people and reads the main prayer of the Mass in a voice so low as to be virtually silent. Cardinal Castrillon said that this reverent silence was one of the "treasures" that Catholics would rediscover, and young worshippers would encounter for the first time.

Pope Benedict will reintroduce the old rite – which the Cardinal said should be known as the "Gregorian Rite" - even where the congregation has not asked for it. "People don't know about it, and therefore they don't ask for it," he explained. The revised Mass, adopted in 1970 after the Second Vatican Council, had given rise to "many, many, many abuses," added the Cardinal.

However, the new rite – in which the priest faces the people and speaks in the vernacular – will definitely not be phased out. The Pope wishes to see the two forms of Mass existing happily side by side.

In practice, these sweeping liturgical changes will cause intense controversy. At the press conference, a journalist from the liberal Tablet magazine, which is close to the English bishops, told the Cardinal that the new liturgical changes amounted to "going backwards".

Liberal bishops in England and America have so far attempted to limit celebration of the Pope's 2007 decree by saying that the 2007 rules require a "stable group" of the faithful to request the old Mass. But Cardinal Castrillon said that a stable group could consist of as few as three people, and they need not come from the same parish.

The Cardinal, head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, made his comments as he was preparing to celebrate a traditional Latin Mass at Westminster Cathedral, the first time a cardinal has done so there for 40 years.

The Catholic Church in England and Wales was unavailable for comment.

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