Cardinal Sarah on the importance of Summorum Pontificum

A series of Tweets sent but Robert, Cardinal Sarah, @Card_R_Sarah, at 12pm on 8th July 2021 (translated from French).

History will remember Benedict XVI, not only as a great theologian but also as the Pope of Summorum Pontificum, the Pope of liturgical peace, who built an ecumenical bridge with the Christian East by means of the Latin-Gregorian liturgy.

 

He will be remembered as the Pope who had at heart the desire to find again the Christian roots and unity of Europe. He opposed meaningless secularism [laicisme] and the disintegration of European culture.

 

Following the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, despite difficulties and resistance, the Church embarked on a path of liturgical and spiritual reform, which, though slow, is irreversible.

 

Despite intransigent clerical attitudes in opposition to the venerable Latin-Gregorian liturgy, attitudes typical of the clericalism that Pope Francis has repeatedly denounced, a new generation of young people has emerged in the heart of the Church.

 

This generation is one of young families, who demonstrate that this liturgy has a future because it has a past, a history of holiness and beauty that cannot be erased or abolished overnight.

 

The Church is not a field of battle where one plays to win by trying to harm the spiritual sensitivity of ones brothers and sisters in the faith.

 

As Bendict XVI said to the French bishops: “In the Church there is room for everyone,” because we know how to treat each other with respect and live together, praising the Lord in His Church and remaining in the one true Faith.

 

The liturgical crisis led to the crisis of faith. In the same way, respect for the two forms of the Latin liturgy, ordinary and extraordinary, will imbue us with a missionary impetus for evangelisation, and we will finally be able to escape of the “tunnel of crisis”.

Reactions to the FIUV advert in La Repubblica

I gather together here some news and comment reactions to the FIUV advert: this post may be updated. In terms of the news cycle, the fact that it appeared on the day of Pope Francis’ admission to hospital must have dampened responses. (Please pray for Pope Francis, in true meantime.)

In advance of the Federation’s advert, the most comprehensive report of the rumours about possible changes to Summorum Pontificum came from Diane Montagna in The Remnant.

In English, our announcement of the advert was cross-posted directly on the Rorate Caeli blog.

The first report seems to have been on the Catholic News Agency and Gloria TV.

Church Militant (Jules Gomes) picked it up with a quote from FIUV Secretary Joseph Shaw:

Shaw urged bishops and priests with concerns about the TLM to "come and meet the congregations attending these Masses and the young people and families who have been inspired to live their faith more deeply by this liturgical form." 

So did Robert Moynihan in Inside the Vatican: 

Clearly, this is an attempt to change the terms of the debate, terms which have been unfairly forced upon “traditionalists” by many of their “modernist” critics.
Catholics who love tradition, especially in the liturgical realm, do not love tradition in the way the modernists claim they do, Una Voce is saying.
No, they do not love the old Mass out of a kind of “sclerotic, fearful grasping for the stuffy securities of the past” in a time of change, but rather because, in this very time, in the 2020s, the old ways and old words of the traditional liturgy have somehow begun to seem “newer” than the words of the 1960s.
This is a critical point.
In fact, it is the decisive point.
What this appeal is really saying is that the old Mass, in its venerable antiquity, rooted in prayers and hymns from the very first centuries of the Church, actually seems “newer,” “fresher,” “more alive” than many of the prayers of the “new Mass,” which, 50 or 60 years later, because rooted in the trendy, time-bound certainties of that age, is starting to seem “old.”

LifeSiteNews published an article by Joseph Shaw on the advert and the threat to Summorum Pontificum, and a follow-up article on the issue of concelebration,

The Catholic Herald (which may be paywalled depending on where you are) has a news article taken from the Catholic News Agency and comment piece by its US Editor David Mills, which is worth reading. Mills writes: 

The apologists for suppression claim that the people who want the old Mass are divisive. If that is true, and it is sometimes, the obvious answer is to remove the reason for their alienation. Extend to them the care, and the concessions, you extend to other marginal groups. Some will remain cranky and disgruntled, but the Church has room for the cranky and disgruntled. 

The apologists also claim that only the very old and maladjusted young people want it. That’s wrong as a matter of fact, but even if it were true, why not give the elderly (who deserve our deference) and the maladjusted (who deserve our care) what they want and need? It hurts no one and it clearly helps many.

In German, it was reported by the website Summorum-Pontificum.de, and elsewhere:

Pro Missa Tridentina:  https://www.pro-missa-tridentina.org/news/news_564.htm

Kath.net: https://kath.net/news/75669

CathWalk.de: https://www.thecathwalk.de/2021/07/03/pfarrer-rodheudt-im-interview-uber-die-alte-messe-man-wird-nicht-im-ernst-erwarten-dass-man-sich-durch-restriktionen-einschuchtern-lasst/

Katholiscb.de: https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/30472-traditionalisten-in-sorge-kommt-das-aus-fuer-die-alte-messe

Gloria TV: https://gloria.tv/post/L7ELaTgLVRbd6wtjJKsNPyzUK

Gloria TV also has the report in French: 

https://gloria.tv/post/GfWfe3ez8ZbJ1cMZ9vZEkBk9S

And other languages:

https://gloria.tv/post/htGAGYrWzoE44hvBQMou34FzP

https://gloria.tv/post/XCvysRvxsAYX3LpkSGzjQvNoS

FIUV Statement in La Repubblica

The Una Voce Federation has taken out an advert in the mass-circulation Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, appearing today, Sunday 4th July.

The English text is as following (for other languages see here):

Living the faith, living the future:

The Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite

Declaration of the International Federation Una Voce

The International Federation Una Voce (FIUV), founded in 1965, brings together associations of the lay faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (the Traditional Latin Mass).

In 2007, the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum recognised the vitality of the traditional liturgy, the freedom of priests to celebrate it, and of the faithful to request it. This has led to an ongoing increase in the number of celebrations of the ancient Latin Mass, and of its spiritual fruits.

During 2020 the FIUV conducted a worldwide survey of the faithful on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. From this survey, which included results from 364 dioceses in 52 countries, we found:

•    The ancient Latin Mass is deeply appreciated by groups of faithful of all ages, especially families with children, young people and converts, found in all social and cultural environments, on all continents and in an ever increasing number of countries.

• In many areas the increased availability of this Mass has favoured the normalisation of relations between the faithful attached to it and their bishops, relations increasingly characterised by mutual understanding and respect.

Nevertheless, we have noticed that, contrary to the previous policy of the Holy See, there are still people within the Church, including some bishops, who would like to see the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite explicitly suppressed, or subject to further restrictions. For this reason, the FIUV, in view of the faithful who adhere to the Latin Mass, feels the duty to express its opinion, encouraged by Pope Francis' exhortations to the members of the Church to use parrhesia with the necessary humility.

The growth of interest in the traditional liturgy is not due to nostalgia for a time we do not remember, or a desire for rigidity: it is rather a matter of opening ourselves to the value of something that for most of us is new, and inspires hope. Pope Francis has characterised the ancient liturgy in terms of a "sense of adoration" (Press conference of 28 July 2013), we can also apply his words to it: a "living history that welcomes us and pushes us forward" (Evangelii Gaudium 13).

Today we only wish to be part of that "great orchestra" of "unity in variety" which, as Pope Francis said (General Audience of 9 October 2013), reflects the true catholicity of the Church. The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum continues to transform the conflicts of the past into harmony: long may it to continue to do so.

Felipe Alanis Suarez, President                                                                                        www.fiuv.org

Ends

Some details from the international survey are set out in here.

Summorum Pontificum Congress

 The Fœderatio Internationalis Una Voce is happy to invite you and all interested people to the forthcoming Summorum Pontificum Congress to be held in the city of Guadalajara, México, and transmitted real-time through videoconferencing systems.

More information and tickets on the Event's official web page: 

https://summorumpontificum.mx/

New article on mitigating infection risk in the liturgy

Sergey Budaev, "Safety and Reverence: How Roman Catholic Liturgy Can Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic" Journal of Religion and Health (2021), published 24th May 2021.

Among many interesting observations of this article, which cites a great many studies, is that while reception on the tongue does not appear to be more dangerous than reception in the hand, reception kneeling is clearly preferable to reception standing. We reproduce a key passage below; the whole article can be read here (or download the pdf here).

The Holy Species used in the Latin Rite is nearly dry and therefore is likely to have low adhesion of outside particles, further reducing the infectious risk. While receiving the Holy Bread, the communicant normally extends the tongue forward, requiring to hold breath for a while. This reduces possible respiratory output. The traditional manner of receiving Communion on the tongue is therefore unlikely to incur a high risk of infection transmission.

Traditional reverent practice of the Catholic Church incorporates additional elements making it even less risky in the current COVID-19 pandemic. The kneeling position of the faithful while receiving the Host would provide spatial distancing about 50 cm (Fig. 1a): the communicant’s face is located at the level of the chest of the Eucharistic Minister. Provided the communicant stays silent, uses nasal breathing, and the duration of the interaction is short (very few seconds), this would not incur a high risk to the Eucharistic Minister (usually the priest whose safety is prioritized, see above). Furthermore, reduced verbal response of the communicant directs the droplets and aerosol towards the chest of the Minister, which is by far a lower risk than in the face.

Walking Pilgrimages in Spain and England

Although the Chartes Pilgrimage will not be taking place as normal in 2021, a victim in part of its taking place relatively early in the year as we emerge from epidemic restrictions, I'm delighted to bring to a wider public information about a traditional walking pilgrimage in northern Spain, 24th to 26th July, 2021, which everyone should be able to join.

I should also mention that the the Latin Mass Society's annual walking pilgrimage to Walsingham is also open for booking. The dates for this are 26th to 30th August. See here for information and registration.

Nothing will make you feel like a human being and a Catholic again quite like participation in a three-day walking pilgrimage!

Here is more information about the Spanish pilgrimage, which has the support of Una Voce Seville.

Gregorius Magnus 11

The latest edition of Gregorius Magnus is now available, for Spring 2021.

Gregorius Magnus 11 pdf download

On the ISSUU platform

It includes a report on the events in Rome last October, in place of the usual Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage.

It also includes a key passage from the French Bishops' summary report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum, in an English translation published for the first time.

As usual it also includes translations of articles from the quarterly magazines of Una Voce France and Pro Missa Tridentina of Germany, as well as an article from the Latin Mass Society's Mass of Ages, and news and reflections first published here, from Croatia, Romania, and Poland.

It is free to download as a pdf, or to view on the ISSUU website and app for mobile devices.