"Traditionis custodes has failed, and not the pastorally prudent solution of Summorum Pontificum" - editor of leading official Catholic website in Germany

Liturgical diversity enriches the Church – including the "Old Mass"

Pope Francis wanted peace in the Church. Was restricting the Old Mass the right way to achieve this? A leak of bishops' positions on Benedict's reforms could be the impetus for a necessary reform of the reform, comments Felix Neumann.

The leak could be strategic: For years, only the very negative feedback from the French Bishops' Conference on the survey conducted by the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the "Old Mass" was known – entirely in line with Francis's position. No sooner has a new pope taken office than he repeatedly revives traditions abandoned by his predecessor – from the Corpus Christi procession to the transfer of the pallium to new archbishops to the traditional vacation spot – than a new picture emerges.

Francis justified his restriction of the "Old Mass" with the results of the survey he commissioned. If the official summary of the results now published by Vatican journalist Diane Montagna is authentic, he has single-sidedly emphasized the negative: Most bishops seem to have had no objections to Benedict's liberalization. Even the German Bishops' Conference, which is not suspected of traditionalism, is said to have advocated maintaining the coexistence of the ordinary (post-conciliar) and extraordinary (pre-conciliar) forms. Depending on its origin, this leak at an opportune time could therefore either prepare for or attempt to promote a further change in the liturgical status quo by Pope Leo XIV.

Would it be so bad to correct Francis's reform, perhaps by returning to the rules of Benedict XVI? Almost exactly four years ago, the motu proprio Traditionis custodes was published, with which Francis antagonized the friends of the Old Mass. After these four years, the effects are becoming apparent: The hope expressed by the Pope at the time for a pacification of conflicts has not been fulfilled. Positions have hardened – not least due to the fragmented and petty implementing provisions of the Dicastery of Liturgy: Rome even regulated whether Old Masses may appear in parish newsletters. And the fact that banishing them from parish churches does not reduce divisions should have been recognized from the outset.

Today it is clear: Traditionis custodes has failed, and not the pastorally prudent solution of Summorum Pontificum – and given the feedback at the time, this could have been known beforehand. Fears of liturgical variations are unfounded. What divides is not diversity, but exclusion. In fact, the single Roman Rite advocated by Francis already has diverse forms: the ancient variants of the Milanese and Mozarabic Rites exist alongside the new, inculturated forms of Mass in the Congo, Australia, and Mexico. Liturgical diversity enriches the Church. Old and new liturgies can mutually enrich each other. The leak could now be the impetus for Pope Leo XIV, who is open to tradition, to make a new attempt at liturgical peace.

By Felix Neumann

The author

Felix Neumann is an editor at katholisch.de and deputy chairman of the Society of Catholic Journalists (GKP).

Source

Cathcon:  People don't like being lied to.