| Traditionis custodes | |
| Type: | al |
| Pope: | Francis |
| Language: | Latin |
| Translation: | Guardians of the tradition |
| Papal Coat Of Arms: | Coat of arms of Franciscus.svg |
| Subject: | On the use of the Roman Rite prior to the liturgical reforms of Pope Paul VI |
| Web La: | https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/la/motu_proprio/documents/20210716-motu-proprio-traditionis-custodes.html |
| Web En: | https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/motu_proprio/documents/20210716-motu-proprio-traditionis-custodes.html |
| Acta Apostolicae Sedis: | 113 (8): 793-796 |
| Before: | Antiquum ministerium |
| After: | Essendo trascorsi quasi sei anni |
Traditionis custodes (Guardians of the Tradition) is an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Francis, promulgated on 16 July 2021 regarding the continued use of pre-Vatican II rites. It restricts the celebration of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite, sometimes colloquially called the "Latin Mass" or the "Traditional Latin Mass". The apostolic letter was accompanied by an ecclesiastical letter to the Catholic bishops of the world.
The Congregation for Divine Worship has stated in an official instruction (responsa) that the Latin version of Traditionis custodes "is the official text to be referenced".[1]
See main article: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Mass of Paul VI and Agatha Christie indult. In 1969, the first new edition of the Roman Missal based on the revisions of the Second Vatican Council was promulgated, instituting a new form of the Roman Rite's Mass liturgy. Often referred to as the Mass of Paul VI, this edition of the Roman Missal was produced in Latin with consideration that it was to be translated into the vernacular.[2] The first edition of this missal was published in 1970, around one year after its promulgation.[3] It replaced the Roman Missal of the Tridentine Mass, the last edition of which was promulgated in 1962, as well as the various vernacular translations that are often referred to as the "1965 Missal", though themselves not a new form of the Roman Missal. In 1971, the Liturgy of the Hours – also prepared with expectation of translation into the vernacular – was introduced to replace the 1960 edition of the Roman Breviary as the primary form of prayer for the canonical hours within the Latin Church.[4]
See also: Indult.
John Paul II in Quattuor abhinc annos in 1984 liberalised the use of the Tridentine Mass, while still maintaining limitations on its use. This liberalisation was further expanded by the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei in 1988.[5]
See main article: Summorum Pontificum. In 2007, Benedict XVI published the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum which stated that while the Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is "the ordinary expression of the lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite", the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Pius V and revised by John XXIII is nevertheless to be considered "an extraordinary expression" of the same lex orandi of the church. The Tridentine Mass was thus called the "Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite", and the Mass of Paul VI the "Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite".[6]
Benedict decreed that "any Catholic priest of the Latin rite" may use either form and "needs no permission" from his bishop or from the Holy See to do so. He concluded then that "these two expressions of the church's lex orandi will in no way lead to a division in the church's lex credendi [law of faith], for they are two usages of the one Roman rite".[7] Benedict also wrote that faithful could complain to their bishop or even to the Holy See if their requests for celebration of the extraordinary form were denied. This apostolic letter of Benedict XVI, in brief, allowed any priest of the Latin Church to celebrate the Tridentine Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 without needing to have his bishop or the Holy See's permission. "Prior to that law, priests and faithful who wished to celebrate the Traditional [Tridentine] Latin Mass had to request explicit permission from their bishop. It could only be offered to those who requested it; it was not allowed to be on the normal Mass schedule for parish churches; and the bishop could set specific days and conditions for its celebration".[8]
In 2020, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter to Catholic bishops of the world to ask them to report on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum in their dioceses.[9] The results of this survey were not made public.[10]
In May 2021, less than two months before Traditionis custodes was published, a rumor said that during a "closed-door question-and-answer session" with the members of the Italian bishops' conference, Francis stated that the draft of a text restricting the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass was awaiting his approval.
Traditionis custodes was published two days after Francis returned to the Vatican after nine days in the hospital.[11]
Traditionis custodes not only repealed the changes liberalising use of the Tridentine Mass in the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which had been issued by Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, in 2007,[12] but it also went further to limit the practice of the Tridentine Mass.[13]
The apostolic letter is divided into 8 articles.
In the first article of the apostolic letter, Francis writes that the liturgical books issued by Popes Paul VI and John Paul II after Vatican II are "the unique expression of the lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Roman Rite".
The second article states that it is a diocesan bishop's "exclusive competence" to authorise the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese "according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See".
Another measure is that "[t]he bishop of the diocese in which until now there exist one or more groups that celebrate according to the Missal antecedent to the reform of 1970" has "to determine that these groups do not deny the validity and the legitimacy of the liturgical reform, dictated by Vatican Council II and the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs".
Moreover, the diocesan bishop has "to designate one or more locations", excluding the parochial churches and without erecting new personal parishes, where the faithful adherents of those groups may gather to perform Tridentine Mass. In short, bishops must find alternate locations for groups practising the Tridentine Mass without creating new parishes.
The diocesan bishop must also establish "the days on which eucharistic celebrations are permitted using the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962" and ensure that the readings are "in the vernacular language, using translations of the Sacred Scripture approved for liturgical use by the respective episcopal conferences".
Furthermore, the diocesan bishop must appoint a properly trained priest as his delegate to perform the Tridentine Mass and supervise groups that practice it. The priest must be familiar with the Tridentine Mass and have an understanding of Latin sufficient "for a thorough comprehension of the rubrics and liturgical texts". "This priest should have at heart not only the correct celebration of the liturgy, but also the pastoral and spiritual care of the faithful".
The diocesan bishop also has to "verify that the parishes canonically erected for the benefit of these faithful are effective for their spiritual growth, and to determine whether or not to retain them".
The diocesan bishop must not "authorize the establishment of new groups". The Associated Press paraphrases: "bishops are no longer allowed to authorize the formation of any new pro-Latin Mass groups in their dioceses".
Priests ordained after the publication of the motu proprio who wish to celebrate Mass according to the Tridentine Mass "should submit a formal request to the diocesan bishop who shall consult the Apostolic See before granting this authorization". Priests who already celebrate using the Roman Missal of 1962 "should request from the diocesan Bishop the authorization to continue to enjoy this faculty".
Institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life that were established by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei – which was created by John Paul II in 1988 and merged into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2019 –, now fall under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL).
Both the CICLSAL and the Congregation for Divine Worship "for matters of their particular competence, exercise the authority of the Holy See with respect to the observance of these provisions", which means that requests are to be sent to those two dicasteries, which exercise the authority of the Holy See in overseeing those provisions.
The last article declares: "previous norms, instructions, permissions, and customs that do not conform to the provisions of the present Motu Proprio are abrogated".
The dispositions in the apostolic letter took effect immediately.
Pope Francis also released an ecclesiastical letter to the bishops of the world along with Traditionis custodes explaining his decision, the same way Benedict XVI had done with Summorum Pontificum.[14]
In the letter accompanying the document, Francis explains that the concessions granted by his predecessors John Paul II and Benedict XVI for the use of the 1962 Roman Missal were above all "motivated by the desire to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre". The request directed to the Catholic bishops to generously welcome the "just aspirations" of the members of the faithful who request the use of this Missal was also motivated by "the ecclesial intention of restoring the unity of the Church", writes Francis. He adds that he believes "many in the Church came to regard this faculty as an opportunity to adopt freely the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and use it in a manner parallel to the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Paul VI".[15]
Francis recalled that Benedict XVI's decision promulgated with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007), as well as John Paul II's decisions promulgated by Quattuor abhinc annos and Ecclesia Dei, were sustained by the confidence that "such a provision would not place in doubt one of the key measures of Vatican Council II or minimize in this way its authority". Francis also noted that Pope Benedict had called in 2007 "unfounded" the fear that parishes would be divided by the use of two forms and believed that the two forms would, Benedict said, "enrich one another".
In 2020, Francis asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to send a letter to bishops to ask them about the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. Francis says the bishops' answers "reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me". He explains that "an opportunity offered by St. John Paul II and, with even greater magnanimity, by Benedict XVI, intended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities, was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division".
Francis said that he deplores liturgical abuses "on all sides" and the fact that "in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not observed in celebration, but indeed come to be interpreted as an authorization for or even a requirement of creativity, which leads to almost unbearable distortions". However, Francis adds: "I am nonetheless saddened that the instrumental use of the Roman Missal of 1962 is often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the 'true Church. Francis rejects that claim and explains that "the path of the Church must be seen within the dynamic of Tradition 'which originates from the Apostles and progresses in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit' (Dei Verbum, 8)". He recalled that "a recent stage of this dynamic was constituted by Vatican Council II where the Catholic episcopate came together to listen and to discern the path for the Church indicated by the Holy Spirit". He adds: "To doubt the [Vatican II] Council is to doubt the intentions of those very Fathers who exercised their collegial power in a solemn manner cum Petro et sub Petro [with [[Saint Peter#Papacy|Peter]] and under Peter] in an ecumenical council, and, in the final analysis, to doubt the Holy Spirit itself who guides the Church".
He said the liturgical reform was carried out "based on the principles" given by the Second Vatican Council and reached "its highest expression in the Roman Missal" published by Pope Paul VI and revised by Pope John Paul II.
Francis also stated: "Whoever wishes to celebrate with devotion according to earlier forms of the liturgy can find in the reformed Roman Missal according to Vatican Council II all the elements of the Roman Rite, in particular the Roman Canon which constitutes one of its more distinctive elements".
See also: Four Marks of the Church. Francis states his "final reason" for his decision is that "ever more plain in the words and attitudes of many is the close connection between the choice of celebrations according to the liturgical books prior to Vatican Council II and the rejection of the Church and her institutions in the name of what is called the 'true Church. Francis adds: "One is dealing here with comportment that contradicts communion and nurtures the divisive tendency—'I belong to Paul; I belong instead to Apollo; I belong to Cephas; I belong to Christ'—against which the Apostle Paul so vigorously reacted". For this reason, he says, "[i]n defense of the unity of the Body of Christ, I am constrained to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of this faculty is contrary to the intentions that led to granting the freedom to celebrate the Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962".
According to Francis, John Paul II in 1988 and Benedict XVI in 2007 were motivated to allow "the use of the Roman Missal of 1962" for the celebration of the Mass "to promote the concord and unity of the church" and "to facilitate the ecclesial communion of those Catholics who feel attached to some earlier liturgical forms". He says that his predecessors "were confident that such a provision would not place in doubt one of the key measures of Vatican Council II, or minimize in this way its authority", but that things did not develop the way his predecessors intended; Francis states that therefore he had to act because the unity of the church was now threatened.
In this letter, Francis writes: "I take the firm decision to abrogate all the norms, instructions, permissions and customs that precede the present motu proprio, and declare that the liturgical books promulgated by the saintly Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, constitute the unique expression of the lex orandi [law of prayer] of the Roman Rite. I take comfort in this decision from the fact that, after the Council of Trent, St. Pius V also abrogated all the rites that could not claim a proven antiquity, establishing for the whole Latin Church a single Roman Missal".[16]
Francis added that during four centuries, this Roman Missal was "the principal expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite, and functioned to maintain the unity of the Church" until "without denying the dignity and grandeur of this Rite" the bishops "gathered in ecumenical council asked that it be reformed". Francis says that their intention was that "the faithful would not assist as strangers and silent spectators in the mystery of faith, but, with a full understanding of the rites and prayers, would participate in the sacred action consciously, piously, and actively". He adds: "St. Paul VI, recalling that the work of adaptation of the Roman Missal had already been initiated by Pius XII, declared that the revision of the Roman Missal, carried out in the light of ancient liturgical sources, had the goal of permitting the church to raise up, in the variety of languages, 'a single and identical prayer' that expressed her unity. This unity I intend to re-establish throughout the church of the Roman Rite".
Pope Francis appeals to the bishops in his letter, saying: "While in the exercise of my ministry in the service of unity, I take the decision to suspend the faculty granted by my predecessors, I ask you to share with me this burden as a form of participation in the solicitude for the whole Church proper to the bishops".
Francis gave explicit instructions to the bishops to take measures to strongly limit the use of the Tridentine Rite, with the clear goal of getting all Catholics to eventually celebrate only the reformed liturgy which followed Vatican II. Francis wrote: "Indications about how to proceed in your dioceses are chiefly dictated by two principles: on the one hand, to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration and need to return in due time to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II, and, on the other hand, to discontinue the erection of new personal parishes tied more to the desire and wishes of individual priests than to the real need of the 'holy People of God.[17]
Francis adds that he asks the bishops "to be vigilant in ensuring that every liturgy be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses. Seminarians and new priests should be formed in the faithful observance of the prescriptions of the Missal and liturgical books, in which is reflected the liturgical reform willed by Vatican Council II".
On 18 December 2021, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW),