For some, Pope Francis’s apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes came as a bolt from the blue. Pope Benedict XVI had relaxed the restrictions that Pope John Paul II had made when he authorised the celebration of the Tridentine Mass in some special cases. Pope Francis withdrew most of these permissions.

This news passed practically unnoticed in Malta because the celebration of the Tridentine Mass – the liturgical rite celebrated before Vatican Council II – is not an issue for most members of the Maltese Catholic community. However, for some groups within other Catholic communities, especially in the US and Britain, this was traumatic.

At the end of the Council – as had happened at the end of every Council – some were not happy with the outcome. Usually these are referred to as “traditionalists”. The replacement of the Tridentine Mass with a new rite was one of the salient issues. The traditionalists felt the new rite deprived Mass of the sense of mystery underscored in the Tridentine Mass through the use of Latin, the prayers said sotto voce, the railing separating the people from the altar, and through the priest facing the altar and giving his back to the congregation.

Pope Paul VI did not allow the celebration of the Tridentine Mass except in the case of elderly priests, “not because it was not valid,” he insisted, “but because many were using the celebration of the Tridentine Mass as a sign of not having accepted the Council.” Archbishop Marcel Lefevre and his followers were one such dissenting group. Pope Francis reiterates this argument in his apostolic letter.

Pope Benedict XVI was very concerned about a split that was growing in the Church and he thought that allowing people to celebrate the Tridentine Mass more freely would foster unity. Unfortunately, the traditionalists exploited this permission to encourage disagreement and to proselytise. Pope Francis wants to heal this wound.

Some people are attracted to the Tridentine Mass because they feel it expresses the mystery better than the new rite. Experiencing the mystery is important. After all, God is the ‘totally other’, the transcendent. However, God is also the Emmanuel, ‘God-with-us’. During Mass we celebrate the redemptive Passion and Resurrection of our Lord – God with us and for us.

As for the sense of mystery experienced through the use of a language little understood by the public, it should be kept in mind that before being celebrated in Latin, Mass was celebrated in Greek, the lingua franca of the time. Pope Damasus, in the fourth century AD, decreed that Latin should be used because the lingua franca of the Western Roman Empire then had become Latin and was no longer Greek.

The argument for this change was that where the people do not understand the language of the Mass, the Church risks becoming a mere mystery religion in which the people would seek feelings of mysteriousness rather than rejoice in the fact of Christ’s sacrifice, the true mystery.

This explains the change of rite brought about by the Council. The new rite is more participative, the altar railing is gone, and the priest faces the people who can understand every single word he says. Now Mass has become a true celebration by the whole community, with the sacrificial offering of Christ at the centre.

ajsmicallef@gmail.com

Fr Alfred Micallef, member, Society of Jesus