Holy Father had to explain the Decision on the Resumption of the Tridentine Mass
By Zvonimir Despot

After the celebration of the Solemnity of the Holy Cross, i.e. from September 14th of this year, Catholic priests can, according to their own decision, celebrate the Holy Mass in Latin including the ceremony that had been in use in the Church before Liturgy Reforms brought at the Second Vatican Council. That is the result of the latest Apostlic Letter of the «Summorum pontificum» of Pope Benedict XVI .This Papal act had provoked various interpretations when it was announced, and even before it was officially declared. It was accepted as a fact that this was an accommodation to the Traditionalists in the Church that have never reconciled to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, or the changes in the Church or in the world. It could have been expected that the Pope would try to maintain the unity of the Church in this manner, since that is one of his primary tasks. And of course there are comments that this could have been expected from the present Pope since he has already shown an inclination towards the traditional issues.

The Accompanying Letter

The Papal decision is definite. In the document mentioned he stated that, in spite of the liturgy reformations of the Second Vatican Council, in certain areas quite a number of believers remained truly and with sincere zeal devoted to the former liturgical forms that had had deep influence on their culture and spiritual life. Pope John Paul II, inspired by the Shepherd’s concern for the welfare of the populace mentioned, in 1984 and through a special Indult composed by the Congregation for Divine Worship, awarded the allowance for the usage of the Roman Breviary, published in 1962 by the Pope John XXIII. And in 1988, John Paul II initiated the Bishops through a decision, not forced but brought by his own will, to approve generously this possibility to all the believers who might claim it. Pope Benedict XVI claimed that his predecessor had been considering these appeals of his believers for a long time, and following counsel with the Cardinals in the Consistory held on March 23rd 2006 he decided to issue this Document. Even more significant is the accompanying letter in which the Pope spoke of his reasons for this act in an unexpectedly straight manner. For Popes normally do not enclose letters with explanations of their documents, since the documents contain all the data needed.

But Holy Pope Ratzinger was obviously aware of the reactions, so he felt it necessary to explain what does his new decision bring and why. At the very start he points out that the news and judgements made without sufficient information have caused quite a turmoil. He says,˝There are contradictory reactions, scoping from joyful acceptance to strong opposing, related to an enterprise whose content actually was not known.˝

Pope's Explanation

The Pope indicates that there are mainly two misgivings which he wanted to refer to closely in this letter: ˝Firstly there is fear that in that manner the authority of the Second Vatican Council might be undermined, and one of its major decisions, the liturgy reform , might be questioned. Such a fear is groundless. In relation to

The full article can be found on pages 50-53 of Vol 3
2007 issue.