Has Pope Francis banned the traditional Latin Mass? Is there still an option for those who prefer the pre-Vatican-II liturgy? What informed the Pope's decision? Here's our overview of Traditionis Custodes and its immediate impact: catholic.com/magazine/onlin…
Under the provisions of Benedict XVI’s 2007 document Summorum Pontificum, the individual priest was the primary decision-maker concerning when Mass would be celebrated according to the older form. Under the new document, the bishop has this responsibility.
Although there are not as many opportunities to celebrate the traditional liturgy as when every individual priest could decide to perform it, there is no sudden end to its celebration.
Instead, bishops whose dioceses have groups of faithful for whom the 1962 liturgy is celebrated are “to designate one or more locations where the faithful adherents of these groups may gather for the eucharistic celebration” according to the older form.
In these celebrations, the document prescribes, “the readings”—presumably the single epistle reading and the Gospel reading—“are proclaimed in the vernacular language, using translations of the Sacred Scripture approved for liturgical use by the respective Episcopal Conferences.”
The new locations specified aren’t to be in ordinary parish churches, but they may be in “personal parishes” already erected for this purpose. Although no new ones are to be erected, the existing ones haven't been suppressed (though it's up to the bishop whether to continue them)
Bishops in dioceses with the traditional liturgy also are directed “to appoint a priest who, as delegate of the bishop, is entrusted with these celebrations and with the pastoral care of these groups of the faithful. . . .
"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 pope is thus not stopping the celebration of the traditional liturgy altogether, but mandating a space for it separate from the parish churches and addressing the pastoral care of the faithful who prefer it.
There are other details to the current regulations, but these are the ones that have the most immediate impact on the ordinary faithful who prefer the traditional liturgy. For more on why Pope Francis chose to implement these changes, see the rest of the article 👆
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