Latin Mass Archives

A potpourri of nuggets from a week on the Vatican beat

Sometimes on the Vatican beat in a given week, what you get isn’t one grand narrative but lots of little ones. This was one of those weeks, so here’s a potpourri of nuggets on contrasting antidotes for different diseases, counter-intuitive patron saints, and what to make of papal press conferences in terms of the pontiff’s own personal priorities.

Latin Mass fans celebrate 10-year anniversary, without pope

At a conference Thursday marking the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s decree liberalizing use of the Latin Mass, the meeting organizer, Father Vincenzo Nuara, didn’t even mention Francis in his opening remarks. The current pope was mentioned in passing by the second speaker, and ignored entirely by the third.

Transcending Catholic tribalism

The old phrase, “lex orandi lex credendi” (how you pray is how you believe) gives weight to the observation that the external differences are the manifestation of a deeper divide. In other words, Old Order Catholics and New Order Catholics behave differently because they believe differently. Can the chasm be bridged by liturgical rapprochement?

Why does the Catholic Church still care about Latin?
- Catholic News Agency, Vatican
- April 20, 2017
The Latin language has been dead for hundreds of years, so what are the reasons behind the bond between this ancient language and the Catholic Church? Father Roberto Spataro, secretary of the Pontifical Academy for Latin, answers that not only is Latin the language of many important Catholic texts but it also serves as a connection to the Church’s long heritage.
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Vatican okays a Fatima feast day for traditional Latin Mass
- Catholic News Agency, Pope in Fatima, Vatican
- April 6, 2017
Churches celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass will be able to have a special Mass for the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. The Vatican has issued a decree allowing the celebration of a Votive Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on May 13, instead of the commemoration of St. Robert Bellarmine found in the 1962 Roman Missal.
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Ten years in, is the old Latin Mass becoming a separate ‘rite’?
- Commentary, Global Church
- February 3, 2017
When Pope Benedict XVI liberalized permission for celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass in 2007, he insisted he was creating two forms of the one Roman rite. Ten years later, however, it’s legitimate to ask if we actually have two separate rites.
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