The Rescript: Press Release

On Tuesday 21st February the Holy See Press Office published a Rescript confirming, for the Dicastery for Divine Worship, certain legal points in relation to the interpretation of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Traditionis Custodes.

The key point is that from now on permission for the use of a parish church for celebrations of the 1962 Missal may only be granted by the Dicastery. The Rescript makes reference to Canon 87.1 which states that bishops may lift the obligations of universal law for the good of souls in their diocese: this no longer applies, as the matter is ‘reserved to the Holy See’.

The effect of this ruling will depend on the degree to which current provision for the celebration of the 1962 Missal depends on the use of parish churches in a particular locality; the willingness of bishops to seek permission from the Dicastery for celebrations in such churches to continue; and the response of the Dicastery to these requests.

If bishops all over the world seek permission for all the celebrations of the 1962 Mass taking place in parish churches in their dioceses, the Dicastery will be faced with many hundreds of cases to consider, raising the question of the practicability of them discharging their role.

The Latin Mass Society and the FIUV would like to express its dismay that authority over a matter of such pastoral sensitivity has been centralised in this way.

Serious pastoral harm will follow if permission is not granted where alternative places of worship are not readily available for the use of communities attached to the older form of the Mass.

Instead of integrating them into parish life, the restriction on the use of parish churches will marginalise and push to the peripheries faithful Catholics who wish only to worship, in communion with their bishops, with a form of the liturgy permitted by the Church. This desire was described as a ‘rightful aspiration’ by Pope John Paul II, and this liturgy was described as representing ‘riches’ by Pope Benedict XVI.

We call upon all Catholics of good will to offer prayer and penances this Lent for the resolution of this issue and the liberty of the ancient Latin Mass.

Pray for the TLM this Lent

 Appeal for prayers and penances

for the Liberty of the Traditional Mass in Lent

From Una Voce International and others

Una Voce International and other organisations, groups and individuals concerned with the Traditional Latin Mass would like to appeal to all Catholics of good will to offer prayers and penances during the season of Lent, particularly for the intention: the liberty of the Traditional Mass.

We do not know how credible rumours of further documents from the Holy See on this subject may be, but the rumours themselves point to a situation of doubt, conflict, and apprehension, which is severely harmful to the mission of the Church. We appeal to our Lord, through His Blessed Mother, to restore to all Catholics the right and opportunity to worship according to the Church’s own venerable liturgical traditions, in perfect unity with the Holy Father and the bishops of the whole Church.

Una Voce International (Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce, FIUV,) https://fiuv.org

Some commentary on this project from the President can be found here.

This initiative has the support of The Remnant newspaper, Preserve the Latin Mass, the many member associations of Una Voce International, and others.

Other language versions: French

Requiescat in pace, Pope Benedict: statement of the FIUV

FIUV Statement on the death of Pope Benedict XVI

Photo byt Peter Nguyen,
via Wikipedia Commons

Una Voce International (the FIUV) learns with profound grief of the death of the Pontiff Emeritus, Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger.

In every corner of the world, Catholics attached to the Traditional Mass owe Pope Benedict an immense debt of gratitude, for his great gift to the Church, his Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum (2007). In this he set out a way of achieving liturgical peace, after decades of conflict, allocating a permanent and honoured place in the life of the Church for the older liturgy. This was fittingly symbolised by the celebration of the Traditional Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, with increasing solemnity as the years passed, for international gatherings, first of the FIUV, and then of the International Pilgrimage ad Sedem Petri, ‘Summorum Pontificum’.

It has been a direct effect of Pope Benedict’s document to make it possible for many tens of thousands of Catholics, including many priests, to discover the enduring value of the ‘older liturgical tradition’. This is something whose effects will long endure.

The Federation has asked for Masses to be said for Pope Benedict, and calls on its member associations to arrange Requiem Masses of suitable solemnity for him in due course.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

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FIUV Liturgical Ordo for 2023 available

Since the PCED and its successor, in the form of the 4th Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, lost its responsibility for the Traditional Mass, the Ordo it used to publish for the 1962 Missal has also ceased to appear.

As a service to the Church, the International Una Voce Federation (FIUV) has taken up this task, with the help of Peter Day-Milne.

We are pleased to present, therefore, an Ordo for the calendar year 2023: to be exact, it runs from the First Sunday of Advent 2022 to the Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord, 1st January 2024. 

Ordo Divini Officii recitandi sacrique peragendi secdundum antiquam Ritus Romani Formam, pro Anno Domini 2023.

This is the Ordo of the Universal Calendar: that is, without any of the feasts specific to particular parishes, dioceses, nations, or religious orders. These should be taken into account when using it: for example, the Patronal Feast of a parish church is a First Class feast in the parish, and the same is true of the primary Patron of a diocese, so these take precedence over many other feasts in that parish or diocese.

It is in Latin, following the conventions used by the old PCED Ordos.

Printed copies of the FIUV Ordo can be purchased from the

Latin Mass Society's online shop; 

it can also be viewed online for free.

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Gregorius Magnus, magazine of the FIUV, Winter 2023

A new edition of our biannual magazine Gregorius Magnus is published! The magazine is free and available to all; you can read it online, we handed out 150 copies to participants of the Summorum Pontificum Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage in Rome, and a small number will receive it in the post.

Gregorius Magnus 14, Winter 2023, is now available as a PDF, and on ISSUU, optimised for mobile devices.

In issue 14, we have features on some summer pilgrimages, ordinations for the FSSP, and news from India, the United States, Ireland, and France.

Gregorius Magnus is generously sponsored by the Latin Mass Society (England and Wales).

For past issues see here; see the same link to contribute or advertise in it.

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Pilgrimage Ad petri sedem 2022

Cardinal Zuppi processes into the Pantheon for Vespers

The Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage 'ad Petri Sedem' (to the seat of Peter) took place as usual this year, and with the personal permission of Pope Francies, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, officiated at the traditional Vespers in the Pantheon which began the Pilgrimage, and Monsignor Marco Agostini, one of the Pope’s Masters of Ceremonies, celebrated High Mass in the Chapel of the Throne in St Peter’s.