Over at Petrus (coincidently the name of a very good Bordeaux) there is a report by Bruno Volpe that the Holy Father will publish the Motu Proprio before he leaves the Apostolic Palace in Rome for his summer break in favor of the residence at Castelgandolfo in the castelli romani.
Here are the main points in the piece, which I have in Italian below (with my emphases).
- The document is ready and signed.
- It is being translated.
- It will be issued before the Pope’s summer break.
- There is a long explanatory letter from the Pope, of a theological nature to the bishops of the world to help the MP’s reception.
- There will be a press conference with Cardinals Arinze (CDWDS), Castrillon Hoyos (P.Comm. Ecclesia Dei) and Herranz (PC Leg. Texts – retired).
- The delay resulted from strong opposition of bishops conferences.
- A friend of the Pope, Msgr. Nicholas Bux (a well-known author I respect on traditional matters), says it is a matter of days.
I would have expected at the press conference the present President of PC Legislative Texts, H.E. Archbp. Francesco Coccopalmerio, but who knows.
Esclusivo: firmato dal Papa il "Motu Proprio", imminente la liberalizzazione della Messa in latino
di Bruno Volpe
Il “Motu Proprio” papale per la liberalizzazione della Messa in latino secondo il rito tridentino di San Pio V è pronto, sta per essere tradotto in diverse lingue e sarà pubbblicato poco prima della partenza di Benedetto XVI per le vacanze estive. Il testo è stato già firmato dal Pontefice, che ha anche redatto una lunga carta esplicativa, di carattere teologico, "indirizzata a tutti i vescovi del mondo", così come si può leggere nell’introduzione, "perché possano accogliere con serenità e pazienza questo documento". Il Papa chiede quindi ai vescovi, al clero e ai fedeli un clima sereno nell’accettare il “Motu Proprio”, che sarà presentato con una conferenza stampa dai Cardinali Francis Arinze, Dario Castrillon Hoyos e Julian Herranz. Il ritardo nella pubblicazione del documento pare si debba a forti resistenze in alcuni settori del clero (specialmente da parte della Conferenza episcopale francese). Il teologo e collaboratore della Congregazione per la Dottrina della fede, Monsignor Nicola Bux (amico personale del Santo Padre), afferma: "Potete scriverlo tranquillamente, il Papa Benedetto XVI ama la concertazione e la collaborazione e non vuol decidere tutto da solo, per questo ha ascoltato vari e ripetuti pareri, ma il Motu Proprio per la liberalizzazione della Messa in latino è stato firmato ed è imminente la sua pubblicazione, direi che è questione di giorni". …
There was more, but that is the business end of the piece.
The comments of Msgr. Bux are interesting. He explains that the Pope likes both a tussle and collaboration. He doesn’t want to decide everything on his own. For this reason he listened to various points of view. Still, the MP is signed and will come out "in a matter of days".
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Thanks that’s fantastic! Fr. Z but I would still like to know the date of the Holy Father’s departure.
I agree with His Excellency Bishop Bernard Fellay who advises us to be like St. Thomas when it comes to the Motu Proprio – “Believe it when you see it.”
Mr. Capaldi–
And what did Our Lord say in response to St. Thomas?
“Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet believed.”
Not a very good argument on the part of Bishop Fellay, IMHO.
Over at Rorate, it says that the Holy Father will be at Castelgandolfo July 9-27.
Fr. Pecoraro:-
Over at Rorate Caeli they say that: “The Pope’s vacation this summer will take place in a small villa of the property of the Diocese of Treviso, in the tiny hamlet of Lorenzago di Cadore, Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region, in the July 9-27 period.”
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/
It’ll happen on the 4th of July… the birthday of America… It’s all about America. There is a theological argument there somewhere but I just don’t have time to look for it right now… Also… I will be in the Wednesday Angelus Papal audience on the 4th! That’s it! I’ll have champagne regardless of what happens. Best, Jeffry
Brian:-
We’re on the same wavelength. You’re just faster!
It’ll happen on the 4th of July… the birthday of America.
Yes, It is always about “us”. LOL!
It’ll happen on the 4th of July… the birthday of America.
Yes, It is always about “us”. LOL!
Thanks all
Yes, July 4th, without a doubt. In fact, I have heard, albeit not from a first hand source, that the accompanying letter quotes the Declaration of Independence in a discussion of the need to be free from liturgical tyranny.
Note though that the Italian text says “sta per essere tradotto,” which means “it is about to be translated” — suggesting the translation process still has a ways to go.
I put this on another blog combox
WOW, this is BIG…
Isnt it interesting that every time we get “bad news” reported (eg today’s Kath.net), the NEXT DAY there is a major break through of info? Seriously, look back at every time there is a “important figure” that says either the MP doesnt exist or that it will come out next year…and BAM the next day a Cardinal comes out and confirms it or something. Coincidence?
“…before he leaves the Apostolic Palace in Rome for his summer break…”
Which summer? Was there a specific year mentioned? (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Patiently waiting…
Those’d be fireworks, eh? I don’t think it will be the 4th of July because even if it is directed at us, it’s not all about us. Besides, I don’t think somehow the pope is into that much schadenfreud.
Is this really it? I’d love to think it is, but I’ve seen the run up soooo many times.
I pray that this is it and that the “delays” come to an end. We really do not know what the text will say nor the loop holes the infamous bishop’s conferences will do to try to pull the teeth out of it. They have managed to do this with the new GIRM and other things. Now is not the time to stop praying and doing penance. We are still not at the light at the end of the tunnel, though it does appear to be a little brighter. May God guard and protect our Holy Father.
Sounds reasonable, presuming that the bishops’ conference from Antartica doesn’t have a cow and delay the MP even longer!
Let em have a cow. It’s getting to be quite a spectator sport watching them.
You Americans are too conceited, the MP isn’t going to come out on the 4th of July. It’s coming out on July 1st – Canada Day.
The pope’s vacation is not the same as his stay at Castelgandolfo, which really isn’t a vacation. In August there isn’t much going on in Rome, which is an oven. So he goes to the Alban Hills, which is maybe 30 minutes away. He might also go there for an afternoon or part of a weekend.
Castelgandolfo is a bit like Camp David.
You Canadians are too conceited, the MP isn’t going to come out on Canada Day. It’s coming out on July 1 – Newfoundland’s Memorial Day.
Why bother translate it? If we leave it in Latin, that’ll force the anti-Latin bishops either ignore it or take Latin seriously :)
I hate to nitpick when it risks making you look like a candidate to the Sour Grapes Award but:
“…il Motu Proprio per la liberalizzazione della Messa in latino è stato firmato…”
if I hear the vetus ordo called that way one more time I’m gonna come unglued. I wouldn’t be surprised if a journalistic editing of actual words intervened here out of sheeer ignorance. In any event – even though I’m getting A LITTLE impatient – I’ll keep praying that the MP is issued the way and the moment that helps its full success. We don’t need short-term moral victories that last as long as newspaper headlines, we need the little winds of change to become an unstoppable, long lasting storm.
If it comes out on July 2 (Feast of the Visitation), we’ll all have a new reason to sing the Magnificat.
I’ve seen too much false hopes raised to get too terribly excited about this news even when it comes from sources which our host has had reason before to find credible.
The time to be excited is when it’s released and after going into the details, to discern exactly what its provisions are. Even then, still, the question will remain: what will the Holy See do to give backing to priests who want to utilize its provisions in spite of the hostility of their bishops? You don’t think that a Cardinal Mahony, an Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown (the diocese of my birth), and others like them are going to refrain from underhanded intimidation of such priests??
I don’t think there’s any reason to be disheartened – it really does seem like a done deal from where I am sitting…
Fr Z, they should have YOU translate it. I worry that whoever does the
English translation will screw it up like they did Sacramentum Caritatis.
BMP
I worry that whoever does the English translation will screw it up like they did Sacramentum Caritatis.
I am beginning to wonder if someone should go back and re-translate the documents of Vatican II and help us laypeople find out what they really say…
Brian: Don’t worry. We’ll be watching. And the Latin version is what really counts.
Somerset 76,
“what will the Holy See do to give backing to priests who want to utilize its provisions in spite of the hostility of their bishops? You don’t think that a Cardinal Mahony, an Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown (the diocese of my birth), and others like them are going to refrain from underhanded intimidation of such priests??”
Whatever happened to Reggie Foster (John Paul’s Latinist)? He could have translated it on sight.
sorry- Somerset76 I don’t think that the Holy See will do much in defense of persecuted priests, A bishop may get a letter through the Nuncio but once the hostility is opened it is there and will remain. There is little that can be done since the Holy See usually doesn’t discipline bishops. I think that once the Moto Proprio is issued then the real struggle will begin, and will continue for another 20-30 years.
Whatever happened to Reggie Foster (John Paul’s Latinist)? He could have translated it on sight.
Yes, but I don’t get the impression that he is particularly keen on the liberalisation of the Traditional Latin Mass.
“the name of a very good Bordeaux”
That is still an understatement.
Notice that, according to this article, the OFFICIAL LATIN TEXT OF THE M.P. IS READY AND SIGNED. The work still under way is for preparing the translations into the “diverse lingue” (“several languages”), i.e., the vernacular editions that appear in the Vatican website.
“a very good Bordeaux”
And at least for a time, the most expensive wine in the world.
_I don’t think there’s any reason to be disheartened – it really does seem like a done deal from where I am sitting…_
As I’ve commented before, there are those who will not believe the Motu Proprio has been published even if they see it with their own eyes or even attend the Vatican press conference. They will go on believing that the True Motu Proprio has been suppressed by the Vatican, or some crucial passages are being hidden away by the wicked conspirators in the Roman Church. Some people are only happy when they’re miserable.
Persecution of pro-MP priests by their anti-MP bishops? Be glad you have pro-MP priests in your dioceses. What Fr Finnigan (http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2007/06/bashing-secularism.html)
says about the North of England is three times as true of Scotland. (someone tell me I’m wrong, please!)
Craigmaddie
That is a very interesting suggestion …
Berenike:
Fr Berg, the Superior of the FSSP, was in Edinburgh last night and he didn’t seem to think that the situation in Scotland was going to improve any time soon. Which isn’t surprising as, at the moment, even the presence of some Latin and/or Gregorian Chant in the modern rite of Mass is greeted with barely-disguised hostility by a large number of priests here.
“I’ll believe it when I see it”
Clearly the Pope has a sense of humour and
it will come out on July 3.
(Feast of St. Thomas the apostle)
Pax Christi,
Well, if it’s already signed, wouldn’t it also have been dated at that time? If so, we would have to speculate about significant liturgical feasts/solemnities in the *past* month or so, not in the immediate future. Right? Or am I off base on this?
PC
Yes, PC, I suspect it was signed on some special day in the Church’s calendar, perhaps in April or May. Maybe it was April 30 or May 5 after all?
If the rumors are correct, and the Pope is leaving for vacation on July 9th…then?
Papal Vacation Set for July 9-27
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 24, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The Pope will spend this summer’s holidays in Lorenzago di Cadore, in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy.The Holy Father will stay July 9-27 in a house owned by the Diocese of Treviso, located in the Dolomites, an Alpine mountain range.
The Vatican’s press office confirmed Saturday that on July 15 the Pope will deliver his traditional Sunday address and recite the Angelus at Castello di Mirabello.
On July 22, the Angelus will be recited by the Holy Father in the piazza of Lorenzago di Cadore.
There will be no Wednesday audiences on July 11, 18 and 25. The general audiences will begin again on Aug. 1.
On July 27, the Pope will travel to the summer papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, located some 30 kilometers (18 miles) south of Rome.