Interesting development. I hope this is true.
Interesting! The Nuncio just addressed England Bishop’s plenary. Pope Leo says any bishop who requests dispension for TLM will have it granted!
— Mark Lambert (@sitsio) November 13, 2025
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That is a great step in the right direction. May it be so! My hope is that this will evolve into “…any priest who wishes…”
Very much to be hoped for. If true, it’s a very hopeful sign of things to come.
Not let me splash cold water on it: After Francis’s 12 years, after all of his pursuit with gusto and meanness upon bishops who didn’t kowtow and touch knuckle to the forehead for every preference and wish of his Vatican, and after his slicing off recalcitrant bishops at the knees without public explanation, after his doubling down on anyone who tried to interpret Traditionis Custodes lightly, will ANY bishop take such a risk? What gain could they anticipate that justifies the risk Sensible bishops will, at most, merely not do anything NEW against TLM groups that they didn’t already do to impose the harshest reaches of TC upon them.
A much more hopeful sign would have been a word to the effect “take no new steps on TC, until we decide what should be done.” Even if not issued as a definite instruction in law, but only an announced policy in news blurbs.
Interesting that it was said by the nuncio to the UK. I’m curious how it’ll play out in the U.S., as we’re clearly TC’s intended audience.
TC is mainly controversial in the U.S. and France, because those are the countries where there’s a sizable group that feels strongly about the Mass of St. John XXIII and where there’s a mixing of both secular right-wing politics and church politics associated with its celebration. If we’re being blunt, the obvious intent was to kneecap the traditionalist movement in the U.S., which had been a thorn in the side of Rome for the better part of a decade. Yes, I’m aware traditionalist communities exist elsewhere as well, but if you read TC and the accompanying letter it was clearly dreamt up with the Americans, and to a lesser extent the French, in mind.
The leaks coming out about DDW’s approach in the U.S. makes it seem like the dispensations are meant to give the bishops time to push traditionalists to a more reverently celebrated version of the Mass of St. Paul VI. Not sure it’ll work, but the preference of the Holy Father is clearly that Catholics stop fighting and that there be a common, well celebrated, liturgy.
We need to remember that Holy Father is both an American and was also the cardinal prefect who oversaw the investigation and firing of +Strickland. He’s intimately aware of the challenges of the US church and probably doesn’t really disagree with Pope Francis that much in principle. What you’re seeing is the “you catch more flies with honey” approach to try to resolve the issues that have separated Rome and the US since 2013.
In my humble opinion, I prefer that these transitions, unless absolutely necessary, are done slowly, gradually. The constant feeling that one pontifex will randomly undo in one day what the previous one did, is not healthy for the life of the Church.
Some wish Benedict XVI had done more, but I think he was wise in not pushing more. Perhaps (obviously I cannot know) if he had been more “generous, ” the reaction in the opposite direction would have been stronger.
I’ll take whatever vine they throw us but will remain skeptical until TC is retracted.
It’s not “complicated”.
It isn’t clear to me whether this statement applies to the English and Welsh bishops only, or to all Latin Rite bishops worldwide. (The tweet isn’t very carefully worded.) The former would be great, the latter even better, as it would mean TC is effectively sidelined.
If this is true, is it really good news?
Even under SP it appeared that some Bishops would move priests who offered the VO from one church to another. (I may be wrong but it looked like in the Diocese of Knoxville this was being done several years ago.). The real reason for SP was that Bishops were not being generous with allowing the VO to be offered. So suppose this is true, does anyone expect the Bishops who recently crushed the VO in there diocese to ask for permission for it to be offered? If they do, would it be surprising for them to secretly ask that the request be slow-walked or lost in the mail?
This is a positive development. In dioceses where the ordinary desires a trad pogrom, the narrative now necessarily shifts from “Roma locuta, causa finita” to “Ego locutus, causa finita.” And that’s a tougher sell that only the most strident and shameless among the episcopate will attempt.
“that only the most strident and shameless among the episcopate will attempt”
[Bishop Martin has entered the chat]
Very welcome news for us in England&Wales. And I say this as someone seeking peace and harmony who has not attended a “TLM” for many years. There have, as far as I know, been very few problems here, and those caused by priests who disregarded the needs of their own flock to offer shelter to people from other parishes seeking ‘the old Mass’, a problem caused by the unrestricted rights of a priest under SP.
Fr. Reader rightly notes:
The constant feeling that one pontifex will randomly undo in one day what the previous one did, is not healthy for the life of the Church.
So true. The popes SHOULD be ready to recognize what their predecessors have done, and move slowly to make changes.
“Should” being the key word: as practiced, this “should” is only ever actually followed by those who love tradition, and never even acknowledged much less followed by the progressives. Francis, God save him, not only turned SP right on its head, defiantly repudiating the entire concept that Benedict declared, but he ordered obedience to TC immediately, published on a Friday and not granting even a week’s delay. Paul VI, at least, gave until the beginning of the new liturgical year to begin the use of the NO missal issued in April, a 7-month delay. It should have been a 3 year delay with a 10-year phase in, but no, they had to do it right away, causing unnecessary bewilderment along with massive disorders and uncertainty about many details. (The disorders and uncertainty were actually by design, not bugs for the real agenda, but let’s pretend not.)
Some wish Benedict XVI had done more, but I think he was wise in not pushing more.
This has been the mantra of the cautious, not to rock the boat too much. It has also been the bold declaration of the mouse who scurries away when the light switch is turned on. Not rocking the boat too much, when the progressives have had control of the bishoprics, chanceries, universities and seminaries for 6 decades, is what has gotten us the mess where 70% of “Catholics” don’t believe in the real presence, and 90% reject the teaching on contraception. Maybe that tactic is no longer strategically sound?
Perhaps (obviously I cannot know) if he had been more “generous, ” the reaction in the opposite direction would have been stronger.
Perhaps if he had kicked out 2/5 of the worst cardinals, and appointed sound men of real faith and holy practice, we wouldn’t have progressivist popes who sneer at tradition? It turns out that Leo HAS made his decision, to support TC but give 2-year delays:
ope Leo XIV does not intend to overturn Pope Francis’ limits on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass but will grant two-year dispensations to bishops who ask, a nuncio said.