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‘Letter from the Americas’ urges Pope Francis to stop Latin Mass bans

Peter Pinedo By Peter Pinedo for CNA

Priest celebrating the traditional Latin Mass at the church of St Pancratius, Rome / Thoom/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 16, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).

As worries mount over a possible ban against the Traditional Latin Mass, prominent Catholic and non-Catholic artists, activists, and leaders have come together in a letter to urge Pope Francis to refrain from any further restrictions against the extraordinary form of the Mass.

Published on Monday and titled “An Open Letter from the Americas to Pope Francis,” the letter calls the Latin Mass a “magnificent achievement of civilization” and “part of the common cultural heritage of humanity.”

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who vocally supported a similar letter advocating for the Latin Mass published last week in the U.K., has endorsed the letter from the Americas, sharing it on his social media account.

Among the signatories are Dana Gioia, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, who organized the letter through the Benedict XVI Institute; Frank La Rocca, composer, “Mass of the Americas”; David Conte, chair and professor of composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; Larry Chapp, theologian and founder of Dorothy Day Workers Farm; Eduardo Verástegui, film producer and actor; Nina Shea, international religious freedom advocate; and Andrew Sullivan, writer and author.

The authors of the letter respectfully ask that “no further restrictions be placed on the Traditional Latin Mass so that it may be preserved for the good of the Catholic Church and of the world.”

What is the Latin Mass and what is going on?

The Latin Mass, also known as the Mass offered using the 1962 Roman Missal, was codified following the Council of Trent in the 16th century and is believed to have ancient origins.

Though the Vatican has not issued a comprehensive ban on the Latin liturgy, the Holy See has in recent years significantly restricted its use. In July 2021, Francis issued the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes that placed restrictions on Latin Masses.

The authors acknowledge the sacredness of the novus ordo (post-Vatican II) Mass and are careful to distance themselves from Latin Mass supporters who have been antagonistic toward Francis. The Catholic signees further explicitly pledge their continued “filial loyalty” to the pope.

However, in the letter they strive to make their case: “To deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty, and contemplation of the sacred seems shortsighted,” they argue.

“We come to you with the humility and obedience but also the confidence of children, telling a loving father of our spiritual needs,” the authors wrote. “All of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, recognize that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the work of Palestrina, Bach, and Beethoven and generations of great artists, is a magnificent achievement of civilization and part of the common cultural heritage of humanity. It is medicine for the soul, one antidote to the gross materialism of the postmodern age.”

‘Beauty evangelizes’

In a July 8 commentary piece in the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, Cordileone said that the beauty of the Latin Mass is an important part of the Church’s ministry in a “de-Christianized age that is becoming increasingly inhospitable to any traditional sense of religion.”

He pointed to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council on the importance of reading the signs of the times, saying that “one sign staring at us right now in large block letters is: Beauty evangelizes.”

“We live in an age when we need to leverage the power of beauty to touch minds, hearts, and souls, for beauty has the quality of an inescapably real experience, one that is not subject to argument … In an age of anxiety and unreason, beauty is thus a largely untapped resource for reaching people, especially young people, with the Gospel message of hope,” Cordileone wrote.

In a statement to CNA, Shea explained her decision to sign the letter, emphasizing that the Latin Mass is “part of our cultural heritage.”

Shea mentioned that one of her most memorable experiences with the Latin Mass was attending a liturgy celebrated by Chinese Cardinal Ignatius Kung shortly after his release from 33 years of communist imprisonment.

“He did not speak English, but we were able to unite in our prayers through our shared ancient liturgical language and in a way that was not unfamiliar to me,” she explained.

“I don’t often go to Latin Masses, but I have appreciated its beauty and the thought that my ancestors worshipped that way for centuries,” Shea said. “I think we Catholics should learn about and preserve our core ancient traditions passed down through the ages. Nothing is more central to that tradition than liturgical practice.”


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15 Comments

  1. Is the idea that the Latin Mass “oppresses” and “offends” others? And it’s gooddness must be supressed? So the answer is totalitarian culural Marxism? Where dividing peple eventually leads to a relatively small “elite” number of people enforcing “equality”? Reflect on the 20th Century: China, USSR, Cuba? Lately, Nicaragua! Note how totalitarian states brought about by violence is atheistic. Cannot believe in God in a controlled population.
    Noteworthy, that Argentina, of all places, has had enough.

  2. Restricting the TLM is an illegal action. Read Pius V’s Quo Primum https://lms.org.uk/quo-primum

    To wit:
    “We likewise order and declare that Prelates, Administrators, Canons, chaplains and other secular priests, by whatsoever name they are called, or regular priests of any order, may not be obliged to celebrate Mass in any other way than that which we have ordered; and that they cannot be forced or compelled by anybody to change this missal, and that this present letter cannot at any time be revoked or modified, but that it shall always remain firm and valid in its force.”

    And…
    “No man whatsoever may have permission to infringe these provisions containing our permission, statute, ordinance, mandate, precept, concession, indult, declaration, will, decree and prohibition, or be so rash as to oppose them. But if anyone should presume to attempt this, he must know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of his Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.”

  3. The Latin Mass is an existential threat…..oh wait, that’s Trump. Sometimes I get the narratives confused (%).

    • It’s getting so that you cannot believe much of what is said or written. What a different world we’d have if people but spoke the truth (“Let your Yes mean yes and your No mean no.”).

  4. A further thought for TLM priests and seminarians to consider if the worst does happen…

    At Nuremburg/Nürnberg, the defense “I was only following orders” did not carry any exonerating weight. The Allies soundly rejected that defense because a person in authority (in this case a priest) has a duty and an obligation to refuse to execute an illegal or immoral order. Sworn obedience ends where an illegal or immoral order begins.

  5. Permit me to put in my bid for this week’s ‘Captain Obvious’ award:

    Banning the Latin Mass makes absolutely no sense from any perspective, and the very fact that the Pope is trying to do it is many things – at this point there is a plethora of descriptive adjectives clamoring for recognition and after much deliberation I’ll just settle for this one – sad.

    P.S. – Plethora is a word I like but don’t get to use much so now I feel better, and I am now in search of the opportunity to use the opposite – dearth.

    I’ll be back

  6. Compare and contrast:

    Celebrating a valid Mass in the manner it has been celebrated for more than a thousand years… and…

    Sexually abusing dozens of sweet, virtuous, vulnerable nuns.

    One of these things earns the ire of this pope and his Dark Vatican, and one of them is apparently a-okay.

    It’s revolting.

  7. And at the same time, let us put our efforts into the Music Ministry in the Novus Ordo. We do not want the banal modern hymns; we do not want the accompanying guitars and piano; we want the organ at Mass. and we want our beautiful old hymns back again.

  8. Given that the smothering of the Mass of the Ages is in no small part a shot at North America, I’m not sure that a “Letter from the Americas” will do anything but cause celebration at the Vatican.

  9. Glad to see Archbishop Cordileone’s comments on the letter. While many U.S. bishops are sympathetic to the TLM, it is distressing is that no American bishops seem to be willing to address Traditionis Custodes directly with Pope Francis and, with fraternal charity, say to him, for example,

    “Holy Father, with respect, you do not have a clear picture of the Church in the United States. Most people who attend the Latin Mass also attend Novus Ordo Masses. They do not reject Vatican II. They simply want to be immersed in the rich tradition of the Catholic Church and the Holy Mass that dates back at least to the pontificate of Gregory the Great in the sixth century. Holy Father, in the United States, the Latin Mass is responsible for gaining many converts to the Catholic faith as well as bringing back Catholics who had fallen away from the faith. Furthermore, Latin Masses are filled with young married couples and their children. These families are strengthening the Church. Holy Father, please do not turn your back on them.”

    Unless some American bishops show the testicular fortitude required to address this issue directly with Pope Francis, those loyal Catholics who want to experience the rich tradition of the Latin Mass will continue to be hurt and excluded by the bishops who are supposed to be their spiritual fathers. Jesus asked which father, if his son were to ask for a fish, would hand him a snake. Unfortunately, the Holy Father has handed his spiritual sons and daughters a snake in the form of Traditionis Custodes. American bishops should not remain silent.

  10. Completely agree with you all in this stream! (Perhaps a first)! For the comic relief, thank you, Windswept Hs, MrsCracker and Martin. (Sad but true parallels of evil in church and state. MrsC, I love OrwelI’s Animal Farm, too! And Martin, is your version of “— fortitude” possibly a “Cardinal virtue”? Lol)

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