Danger averted, at least for now. The so-called traditionalists They breathed a sigh of relief at one minute past midnight last Wednesday, when they were certain that the Holy See would not publish the document drastically banning celebrations in ancient rite. July 16, in fact, was considered day X for the release of the new restrictions on the so-called Latin Mass. Not a random day: exactly three years earlier Francis had signed Guardians of tradition, The on its own initiative which repealed the liberalization granted in 2007 by Benedict XVI with Summorum Pontificum.
The Enemies of the Latin Mass
From the exit of Traditionis custodes a season of further division has opened in the Church which should see, according to many rumours, a new chapter with the entry into force of a even more drastic crackdown. Leading the offensive is the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments headed by British Cardinal Arthur Roche, supported by his secretary Monsignor Vittorio Francesco Viola. Vatican sources report that it is these two – at this stage the second one more than the first one – who are insisting on extending the ban to celebrations in Old Order. Guardians of tradition, on the other hand, it arrived just over a month after the retirement of the Guinean cardinal Robert Sarah from the role of prefect. The promotion of Roche, already hostile to the so-called Latin Mass since his mandate in the diocese of Leeds during which he gave arather limiting interpretation of the Summorum Pontificum, It has opened the doors to a series of documents aimed – even contradictorily – at making the celebration in an extraordinary form more difficult.
After Traditionis custodesthe have arrived Answer to a doubt it’s a Rescriptum, in addition to the numerous “no”s from the dicastery to requests to authorize traditional masses around the world. All this, however, must not have seemed sufficient to the supporters of the anti-traditionalist cause now intent on convince the Pope to sign a restrictive document that, according to several Vatican sources, already exists.
Hawks and Doves
In the Curia, however, there are not only those who push Francis to sign the permanent ban to the ancient rite. As often happens, not only “hawks” but also “doves” fly over Santa Marta. Those who turn up their noses at Roche and Viola’s offensive are not only those cardinals who celebrate in the extraordinary form without problems and who Benedict XVI in 2014 defined “great cardinals”, but also those who, for the love of the Pope, want to avoid him from causing unnecessary divisions with a measure destined to be strongly contested. According to what we learn, thework of persuasion of several moderate cardinals would have had some effect on Francis who for the moment would have preferred to leave the document presumably produced by the dicastery for divine worship in a drawer. “Holy Father, but is it convenient for you?” this is the meaning of the moral persuasion which, behind the scenes, some cardinals have tried to exercise.
According to what has been learned, others have instead tried to speak privately with Monsignor Viola to convince him of the inappropriateness of releasing such a document. There are also those who have taken a public position, taking pen and paper and writing to the Pope to implore him to “don’t let this happen“. This was done by Mexican Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Guadalajara and already signatory of the latest Dubia, who in the letter referred to the “Rumors that the Latin Mass of St. Pius V is to be definitively banned” and argued that “what the Church has celebrated for four centuries, the Mass of St. Pius V in Latin, with a rich, pious liturgy, which itself invites us to penetrate the Mystery of God, cannot be an evil.”
Meanwhile, the petition launched on Change.org from the British composer Sir James MacMillan to defense of the Latin mass has reached 15 thousand members.
There are many who think that the mobilization in favor of this cause that came not only from Catholics may have contributed to the temporary halt of a document that was considered imminently due for release on July 16. The game, however, is not over.