World News

Paul Waddington reports on reactions to Responsa ad dubia

On 18 December 2021, Archbishop Roche, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued a document intended to clarify some aspects of Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’ Motu proprio. Entitled Responsa ad dubia, it was set out in the form of 11 questions and answers. The clarifications gave a strict interpretation of the original document and went as far as introducing additional restrictions to the celebration of Mass and the other Sacraments in the older form. The more significant provisions include: offering the Sacraments in their older forms using the Rituale Romanum and the Pontificale Romanum is not permitted; Bishops cannot authorise newly ordained priests to celebrate the older form of the Mass without receiving specific authorisation from Rome (the Motu proprio only required that bishops should consult Rome); priests authorised to celebrate the older form of the Mass can only do so within the territory of the diocese of the authorising bishop; a priest cannot celebrate Mass in both forms on the same weekday, or celebrate the older form of the Mass twice on the same day.

Germany

Pro Missa Tridentina, the German equivalent of the Latin Mass Society, said: the “form and content of Responsa ad dubia could not be accepted by traditional Catholics”. The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer said:

“The Supreme Authority of the Church cannot go back on its word given to the members of the Ecclesia Dei communities: it is impossible for the members of our institutes to abandon their liturgical customs.”

Netherlands

Bishop Rob Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands said, in his New Year message: “The ‘pope of mercy’ shows little mercy for those who embrace the Traditional Latin Mass.”

Chicago

On 27 December, an article appeared on Vatican News, a Vatican controlled website, announcing a series of measures being taken by Cardinal Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago, to regulate the provision of the older form of the Mass in his Archdiocese. These measures, which were to come into effect on 25 January, were draconian, and in some instances went beyond the clarifications in Responsa ad dubia. Most notably, the celebration of Mass ad orientem is to be banned, and the first Sunday of every month is to be added to the list of days when the older form of the Mass is prohibited.

The actual document is entitled: Policies for the Implementation of Traditionis Custodes in the Archdiocese of Chicago and goes into some detail. The provisions that could have the greatest impact on traditional life in the Archdiocese of Chicago include:

• “Priests and those groups that receive permission from the Archbishop of Chicago to celebrate the Mass using the Missal of 1962, are bound on the first Sunday of the month to celebrate Mass only using the Missal of Paul VI. If Latin is used, then the faithful should be provided the means to participate in the responses. Mass is also ordinarily to be celebrated versus populum…” • “…if the CDWDS, after receiving a request from the archbishop, grants the favour by way of exception to a parish church to celebrate Sunday Mass using the Missal of 1962, the parish must also provide a full schedule of Masses on that same Sunday, using solely the Roman Missal of Saint Paul VI.” • “If the favour of celebrating the Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 on selected weekdays is granted, by way of exception by the CDWDS, the parish must provide on that same weekday at least one Mass in the vernacular, versus populum, using the Roman Missal of Saint Pope Paul VI on those days and celebrated by a priest other than the one celebrating Mass according to the Missal of 1962.”

Throughout the document, permission to offer the older form of the Mass is described as a “favour” and is often qualified with the phrase, “by way of exception”. This is exemplified by the explanation:

“There is no intention in these provisions to marginalise the faithful who are rooted in the previous form of celebration: they are only meant to remind them that this is a concession to provide for their good.”

It has been widely observed that it is unusual, if not unprecedented, for a document relating to a single diocese to be covered on a Vatican website. Furthermore, the report on Vatican News occurred on the same day as the document became available in Chicago. Many commentators have suggested this is evidence of collaboration between the Archbishop of Chicago and the Congregation for the Doctrine for Divine Liturgy.

France

In the town of Saint-Germain-enLaye, near Paris, Christmas Midnight Mass was offered in the older form at a temporary altar erected on the steps of the parish church, due to the local bishop refusing admission to the church.

Slovenia

In recent years, the hierarchy of Slovenia has only permitted one Traditional Mass per month in the whole country. That Mass, which was in Ljubljana, attracted a congregation of around 300. However, in August 2021, the regular celebrant was replaced by another who failed to abide by the rubrics and introduced a number of novelties. These were described as abuses by the traditionalist blog, Ad Dominum, which advised against attendance at that Mass. As a consequence of this advice, or perhaps because individuals made their own decision, the congregation declined dramatically.

A letter from the Liturgical Commission in response to enquiries about the implementation of Traditionis Custodes made by the St Joseph Group (which was the original promoter of the Ljubljana Mass) takes a hard line against those involved in promoting the Latin Mass in Slovenia.

The overall message of the letter is clearly indicated in the final paragraph:

“I firmly believe that - as some bishops around the world have done - the preconciliar rite should be entirely forbidden and that we should strive for greater unity and oneness in the Catholic Church in Slovenia. A growing number of young people are attracted to this ‘liturgical independence’ which could give birth to even greater confusion in future pastoral work. I am glad that Pope Francis finally took decisive action and made it clear he wishes to abolish the ‘parallel Church and parallel liturgies’.”