Gozo - For everyone except for the Latin Mass

According to Fr David Wright (the new Anglican Chancellor at St. Paul’s Pro Cathedral in Valletta): 

“Relationships between the Anglican and Catholic communities in the Maltese islands are strong and cordial, with both denominations joining other Christian groups in the ecumenical group known as Christians Together in Malta. Another example of this warm friendship is that the Gozo Anglican congregation worship in the chapel of the Sacred Heart Seminary in Rabat.”

The Gozo Diocese, then under Bishop (now Cardinal) Mario Grech, has also made available the chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes (that stands on a promontory overlooking Mġarr Harbour) to the Italian community for the past eight years. Here, Novus Ordo Mass in Italian is celebrated at the chapel on Sundays and feasts of obligation at 10:00, while catechism lessons for those receiving the First Holy Communion and Confirmation are also held at the chapel. In addition, the community organises social and cultural activities for Italian residents.

What a pity that the same is not applied by the Gozo Diocese to Tridentine Roman Catholics. Different requests for Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite since 2007 were met with silence or refusals. 

BREAKING NEWS: Summorum Pontificum will NOT be abrogated - NOT YET

 

In the past days, several traditional Catholic websites have stated that a number of Italian Bishops have attacked Summorum Pontificum, and want the Tridentine Mass abrogated. This Blog would like to state the following, thanks to our sources inside the Holy See:

 

• It is true that this attack on the motu proprio has taken place, BUT;
• Pope Francis, as was advised and posted here, will not dare to abrogate the Tridentine Mass, at least NOT YET;
• The current upheaval inside the Vatican has postponed the massive liturgical changes that were to occur this year;

So, what is the real strategy? It is based on the following steps:

 

• Start the liturgical changes as was envisaged initially, but only after the waters have calmed down;
• Reach the agreement with the SSPX, i.e. creating a personal prelature so that the biggest traditional Catholic group is harnessed and silenced;
• If Benedict XVI dies (let's pray this will be in the distant future), there will be no problem for the current Pope to abrogate the motu proprio. This seems to be taken from 2 perspectives - Francis genuinely has respect for Benedict XVI, whilst at the same time the accusation that Francis isn't Pope because Benedict XVI was forced to abdicate, will die a natural death. 

This Blog will continue to follow developments in this area. In the meantime, it is hoped that traditional Catholic groups, in particular the FIUV, start piling up pressure on the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

Remembering St. Pius V's Quo Primum

Philip Agius, Pro Tridentina (Malta) member, next to St. Pius V monument in Valletta.

Quo Primum is a papal bull decreed by Pope St. Pius V on 14 July, 1570, which set in stone for all time the exactness of the holy sacrifice of the Mass to be said in the mother tongue of the Church, i.e. Latin.

A papal bull is a solemn instrument that popes use for various questions such as doctrinal decisions, canonizations, disciplinary questions, jubilees and the like. Only occasionally have they been used for the liturgy.

Quo Primum is above all a legal document although it also contains some doctrinal elements. As such it is not intended to be definitive in the same way as a doctrinal definition would be and would not bind St. Pius V himself or future popes if they decided to further fine-tune the missal.

The saintly Pope's concern was to ensure as much unity as possible for the liturgy in a time when such unity was sorely needed. Even so, the same bull contains a clause exempting any Church which had its own ordo more than 200 years old. Many local Churches could have availed of this concession but most preferred to adopt the new missal for practical reasons. Some religious orders and some dioceses such as Lyon in France and Milan in Italy did opt to legitimately maintain their own rite.
 

A couple of years after publishing Quo Primum, St. Pius V added the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary to the missal following the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. This slight change indicates that, except in matters of faith and morals, a pope's disciplinary decrees in matters such as the non-essential elements of liturgical rites are never "set in stone" and can be changed by a subsequent Supreme Pontiff whenever he believes that the duty of feeding Christ's flock requires it.

(Adapted from EWTN Q&A)