Rumors are flying around that the Pope signed a document authorizing wider use of the older, "Traditional" Mass, the so-called "Tridentine" Mass in the 1962 edition of the Missale Romanum (the last edition before the Council began).
I don’t know (yet) if these rumors are true and some of my usual sources are a little coy at the moment, which leads me to think that something is up. What, however, we won’t know for a while.
On one site called Archvium Liturgicum we read this:
NUNTIO VOBIS GAUDIUM MAGNUM: HABEMUS MISSAM
Non si conoscono ancora i termini di queste concessioni, ma pare che preludano alla riconciliazione con i membri della Fraternita’ Sacerdotale San Pio X.
My trans:
I announce to you a great joy: we have the Mass
"According to authoritative sources, His Holiness of Our Lord, Benedict XVI, now happily reigning, signed a Decree yesterday by which he concedes a wide freedom in the celebration of the Tridentine liturgy. The terms of these concessions are not yet known, but it seems that they are a prelude to a reconciliation with the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X."
So, Rorate Caeli posts a link to a ACPRESNA story in Spanish which Rorate translated as (not my trans. but my emphasis):
VATICAN – March 30, 2006 (ACI) – The Missal of Saint Pius V, which the Catholic Church used up to 1962 and which was replaced by the "Novus Ordo" (New Order) liturgy approved as a consequence of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council, could be approved for universal use, according to sources close to the Vatican.
The decision, regarding which Pope Benedict XVI consulted with the cardinals and with the heads of the Vatican dicasteries, could be announced after the April 7 meeting of the Pontiff with the "capidicasterio" [Heads of dicasteries].
…
The universal approval would mean that the old rite Mass may be freely celebrated throughout the world by the priests who wish to do so.
The measure is not directly related to the problem of the Lefebvrist schism, for, as a theologian, the Pontiff always expressed his wish to recover this liturgy.
ACIPRENSA is not wholly reliable, but this is interesting.
As I have said many times in the last few years, I will believe it when I see it.
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What’s the Italian for “April Fools Day”?
Hello, Father. We are glad you stopped at our blog.
My position is of guarded optimism… There certainly is something in the Roman air…
Yes, but I would hate to tell you what it is.
“Yes, but I would hate to tell you what it is.”
Go ahead, Father, we can take it.
As with anything in the Church, I have to repeat:
“Remains to be seen.”
I’m hopeful, but not overly so.