Preconciliar rites after the Second Vatican Council

"Extraordinary Form", "Usus antiquior", "Tridentine Rite", "Gregorian Rite", and "Universal indult" redirect here. For the Tridentine Mass that belongs to the preconciliar rites, see Tridentine Mass.
Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal by a priest of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in 2017

In the Catholic Church, preconciliar Latin liturgical rites ("preconciliar": before the Second Vatican Council, which began in 1962) coexist with postconciliar rites.[1][2] In the years following the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI initiated significant changes.[3][4] Some of Paul VI's contemporaries, who considered the changes to be too drastic, obtained from him limited permission for the continued use of the previous Roman Missal.[5] In the years since, the Holy See has granted varying degrees of permission to celebrate the Roman Rite and other Latin rites in the same manner as before the council.[6] The use of preconciliar rites is associated with traditionalist Catholicism.[7]

In the decades immediately after the Second Vatican Council, each of the various grants of permission to use the preconciliar Roman Rite Mass was in the form of an indult (i.e. a concession). The term universal indult was used to describe a hypothetical broadening of these concessionary permissions, but in his 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI went even further than the proposed "universal indult" by elevating the status of the preconciliar forms beyond that of a concession.[8] In 2021, Pope Francis reinstated restrictions on the use of the Tridentine Mass with his apostolic letter Traditionis custodes.[6]

  1. ^ Zinkula, Thomas (February 3, 2022). "Pre-conciliar Mass policies updated in diocese". The Catholic Messenger. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  2. ^ Thavis, John (May 16, 2011). "Cardinal: Pope's 'reform of the reform' to continue". National Catholic Reporter. Catholic News Service. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  3. ^ Sarah, Robert; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (January 25, 2019). "Decree on the inscription of the celebration of Saint Paul VI, Pope, in the General Roman Calendar". Retrieved May 2, 2022. [Pope St. Paul VI] exercised his Supreme Magisterium ... promoting ... the liturgical reform, approving Rites and prayers at once in line with tradition and with adaptation for a new age. By his authority he promulgated the Calendar, the Missal, the Liturgy of the Hours, the Pontifical and nearly all of the Ritual for the Roman Rite with the purpose of promoting the active participation of the faithful in the Liturgy.
  4. ^ Bać, Tomasz (2013). "The Renewal of the Ambrosian and the Hispano-Mozarabic Liturgy after the Second Vatican Council" (PDF). Ruch Biblijny i Liturgiczny [pl]. 66 (3): 197–216.
  5. ^ Turley, K.V. (November 5, 2021). "The Mystery of the 'Agatha Christie Indult'". National Catholic Register. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Johnston, William (October 1, 2021). "Traditionis Custodes: How Did We Get Here?". Church Life Journal. University of Notre Dame. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  7. ^ Bratten Weiss, Rebecca (September 21, 2021). "Contrary to traditionalist claims, many Catholics are fleeing Latin Mass parishes". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  8. ^ Tierney, Kevin (July 7, 2014). "Summorum Pontificum and the Case for Spiritual Renewal". Catholic Exchange. Retrieved May 2, 2022. Instead of a 'universal Indult', Benedict released Summorum Pontificum. This was not a mere concession to existing liturgical law: it was a rewriting of it. ... While it is viewed as 'different' from the ordinary, [the Extraordinary Form] is given almost all the same rights as the ordinary.