Alison Girone
CV NEWS FEED // A Vatican correspondent and analyst has confirmed that a Vatican document fully banning the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass in dioceses does exist, although its possible publication has not been confirmed.
Vatican journalist Diane Montagna wrote on June 25 for the Remnant, a traditionalist outlet, that the rumored document further restricting the Latin Mass “does indeed exist, is backed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and has been presented to Pope Francis.”
“Well-informed sources have confirmed that the new document, if published, would prohibit all priests other than those belonging to approved ex-Ecclesia Dei institutes from offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the Vetus Ordo, or old rite as it is commonly called,” she wrote.
The document “would also prohibit bishops from themselves celebrating or authorizing the celebration of the Vetus Ordo in their dioceses,” Montagna continued, “and suspend existing permissions” that priests previously received to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass.
Montagna’s sources also said that personal parishes operated by Latin Mass-centered institutes such as the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest or the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter would still have permission to celebrate Mass in the old rite.
As CatholicVote previously reported, leaders of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest met with Pope Francis in a private audience this week. After the meeting, the Institute issued a statement confirming that Pope Francis told them to continue serving the Church through their proper charism, implying that they had the pontiff’s support in continuing to celebrate the Latin Mass.
Montagna noted in the Remnant that although these institutes appear to be protected from the document’s prohibition of celebrating the Latin Mass, questions about how they might still be affected by the document remain.
“It is unclear if and to what extent priests of these institutes would be permitted to administer sacraments such as baptism, confirmation and marriage to the faithful in the traditional form,” Montagna wrote. “While seeming to ‘save and protect’ ex-Ecclesia Dei institutes, it is also unclear whether diaconal and priestly ordinations in the Vetus Ordo would continue to be allowed.”
CatholicVote also recently reported that rumors of this document came at the same time that a prominent lay liturgist in Rome with significant influence at the Vatican, Professor Andrea Grillo, heavily criticized the preference for the Traditional Latin Mass during an interview with an Italian Catholic blog.
“If someone tells me he is faithful at the same time to the Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo, I reply that he has not understood the meaning of tradition, within which there [is] a legitimate and insuperable progress that is irreversible,” Grillo said.
