Scottish Catholic Observer

This morning the Vatican published it’s long awaited instruction on the application of Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio which aimed to facilitate celebration of the Mass in the extraordinary form, the Liturgy that was in effect prior to the Second Vatican council.

The instruction—approved by Benedict XVI and signed by Cardinal William Levada (above) and Mgr Guido Pozzo, respectively president and secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei—strongly affirms the motu proprio and aims to clarify and resolve difficulties that have arisen in its implementation since it was published.

The instruction is accompanied by an explanatory note, by the director of the Vatican press office Fr Frederico Lombardi SJ, in which he writes that the Instruction ‘reaffirms the purpose of the motu proprio’ and has now been sent to every bishop in the Church.

Fr Lombardi then goes through nine topics covered under the heading of ‘Specific Norms’. These include the reaffirmation of the competence of the diocesan bishops in implementing the motu proprio, and the issue of coetus fidelium, the group of faithful who may request Mass in the extraordinary form.

The explanatory note highlights that the instruction proposes ‘a spirit of generous welcome towards groups of faithful who request the forma extraordinaria.’

Fr Lombardi goes on to say that the instruction seeks to promote ‘the peaceful use of the liturgy that predates the reform by those priests and faithful who feel a sincere desire for their own spiritual good, indeed, which aims to ensure the legitimacy and effectiveness of such use as much as reasonably possible’.

In this spirit the instruction also stresses that those who request the extraordinary form ‘must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy’ of the forma ordinaria, or are ‘against the authority of the Pope’.

“This would be in flagrant contradiction to the the motu proprio’s very aim of reconciliation”, Fr Lombardi writes.

Read the instruction in full at http://sconews.co.uk/opinion/universae-ecclesiae-on-summorum-pontificum/