At the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in thanksgiving for what the Holy Father has done for the Church by Summorum Pontificum it was made knows that the Holy Father sent a message:
Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, in the name of the Holy Father, to the participants, has also been made public:
On the occasion of the international pilgrimage assembled in Rome for the 5th anniversary of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI sends his cordial greeting to all participants, assuring them of his fervent prayer.
By this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father desired to respond to the expectations of the faithful attached to the ancient liturgical forms. Truly, as he wrote in his Letter to the bishops to present the Motu Proprio, it is good to preserve the riches that grew within the faith and prayer of the Church and to give them their just place, while recognizing fully the value and holiness of the ordinary form of the Roman rite. In this Year of Faith, promulgated as the Church celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the II Vatican Council, the Holy Father invites all the faithful to display in a particular fashion their unity in the faith; they will thus be efficacious agents of the new evangelization.
Entrusting all the participants of the pilgrimage to Rome to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Father grants them his heartfelt Apostolic Blessing.
+Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Secretary of State of His Holiness
” The Holy Father invites all the faithful to display in a particular fashion their unity in the faith; they will thus be efficacious agents of the new evangelization.” This is key to the implementation of the Moto Proprio.
Sigh! Must every expression of support for the TLM, no matter how slight, always be immediately followed by a quick disclaimer of how equally wonderful is the accursed Norvus Ordo?
Oops! Excuse the typo. “Novus Ordo”.
Maybe we should do the same with regards to the Novus Ordo. “Father, that was a beautiful Mass. Of course you know the value and holiness of the extraordinary form.”
Interesting observation, Tradster.
“In this Year of Faith, promulgated as the Church celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the II Vatican Council, the Holy Father invites all the faithful to display in a particular fashion their unity in the faith; they will thus be efficacious agents of the new evangelization”.
With all due respect to the Holy Father, and I mean that, which faith is he talking about?
The Catholic Faith that once boldly proclaimed the reality of Satan or the faith that shows signs that it no longer believes in “Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls”?
When the Catholic Faith in its entirety is once more proclaimed from the rooftops of the Vatican and from the pulpits, then the laity really will have the chance to become efficacious agents of the new evangelisation.
Because to evangelise means to “proclaim the Gospel – the Good News”. All the Good News. Not half the Good News. Or three-quarters of the Good News.
ALL OF IT – only then will the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ make any sense.
And in my experience, when people can make sense of something, it’s one huge step on the road to believing.
I hope I’m making sense. Apologies if I’m not.
St Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Excellent homily, StWinefrede! Have you considered teaching homiletics? LOL.
Heilige Vater Vielen Dank fur Summorum Pontificum. We can rebuild the Church with this law. Many that were lost are coming back.
We would need the obedience of the 4700 Bishops that have not yet participated in or allowed an every-week EF mass in their dioceses. The key is to have EF form weekly in the same parish so a stable community can develop.
Even in Rome the Institute of Christ the King will lose its 10 am Solemn mass at the Chiesa de Jesu e Maria in Via dl Corso, the heart of Rome, at the end of this month. This is a scandal! How can something like this happen? A fabulous Solemn EF mass to be subtitutedy a vernacular mass in Portughese!
Holy Father, it is essential that all your 5000 bishops be commanded to allow at least one every-week EF mass in their dioceses. If not, said bishops should not be promoted. Generous promotions should be available for the 300 bishops that have obeyed Summorum Pontificum so far.
It may seem petty, but why was the statement given in the name of the Holy Father by Cardinal Bertone, instead of by Pope Benedict XVI himself? Since I saw nothing of the Mass, and it was in honor of Summorum Pontificum, was His Holiness not there? I had hoped that EWTN would show it live, but no. Pictures you tried to send, Fr. Z, in your blog did not come through – at least on my computer. Perhaps I’ve missed something, but did the Holy Father meet with any of the pilgrims?
“Must every expression of support for the TLM, no matter how slight, always be immediately followed by a quick disclaimer of how equally wonderful is the accursed Novus Ordo?”
So long as people refer to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite as “accursed”, then yes.
StWinefride, all I can say is “preach it sister!”
Geoffrey: if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it’s a duck.
It is interesting that EWTN did not promote this, not surprising but interesting. I have been thinking about this some and want to know what others think. The TLM is coming back but how is the best way to promote it? To have one mass a week or a month at individual parishes or to move to a separate Rite or prelature, similar to the Opus Dei for the traditional mass. It is not simply the mass but a whole different consept of parish life, catechisis and even calender. Would it not be better to have a parish or a couple of parishes in a Dioceses that are dedicated to the traditional Catholisism? The mass by itself is not enough it is a whole package deal. Then from those parishes to evangilize it out to groups that are looking to have it in their parishes. It seams like by having little groups in parshes fighting for the TLM against the storm of progressives in most parishes is rather daunting. Have these little groups unit at one parish then work back out into the Dioceses. Just rambling but wanted to get some opinions.
@Geoffrey – your comment is ‘spot on’. Based on the quacking spirit evindenced in many of the comments here, it would seem the TLM will continue to find itself to be only complaisantly and prudently humored as it’s true pride of place.
what a pathetic, weak as water, limp lily, half baked, near death statement issued through a subordinate! B16 hasn’t got the guts or interest (or maybe strength and conviction) to say the Old Mass in public.
Tradster: I assume you feel the TLM is a beautiful form of the mass, and I personally agree and feel very grateful at being able to attend myself. Now every priest has the opportunity and encouragement to learn it, with the proper support. In the meantime, however, the majority of priests have been celebrating the NO. To infer that the NO is not also wonderful, or that it doesn’t have it’s own ” value and holiness” would seem to me to be rather discouraging and upsetting to those who have never done anything else. I look forward to the day when everyone can choose which mass they would like to attend, have that choice available, and put an end to the accusations of snobbery from those who attend the NO towards the EF attendees, as they see for themselves. Change can make some people very uncomfortable and need stroking. Just IMHO.
Disturbing comments on this thread.
CatholicMD I view the comments here more enlightening than disturbing.
kallman- A little charity towards the Holy Father would get you a better hearing. None of us knows the mental, physical, or spiritual state of the Holy Father, and I suggest we refrain from making rash judgments about his motivations. I too would like to see the EF enjoy it’s pride of place, but these kind of comments hinder our desires from being recognized.
Praying for Our Holy Father
By their fruits shall you know them: attended my first NO Mass in a year. The last one had scores of Altar Girls. This one was a funeral Mass for a friend’s son. He died at 27 from an OD. The priest canonized him from the pulpit, even to the point of suggesting that we pray to him for intercession!
I, for one, will be keeping this kid in my prayers, since no one else will…..