Traditional Latin Mass in "All the Parishes"

Damian Thompson, a writer for the Telegraph of London, has dropped a bombshell on his indispensable blog, "Holy Smoke." During a visit to London on Saturday, June 14, 2008, Dario Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, the president of the Pontifical Council Ecclesia Dei, held a press conference at which Thompson and three other journalists were present.

In his post, Thompson writes that "the Cardinal completely demolishe[d] liberal interpretations of Summorum Pontificum," the motu proprio released by Pope Benedict XVI on July 7, 2007, that restored the Traditional Latin Mass as one of the two approved forms of the Mass. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos also declared that the Traditional Latin Mass should be referred to as the "Gregorian Rite," since it was first standardized by Pope St. Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century.

But the biggest surprise came when Thompson asked the question, "So would the Pope like to see many ordinary parishes making provision for the Gregorian Rite?" The cardinal's answer is worth quoting in full:

All the parishes. Not many—all the parishes, because this is a gift of God. He offers these riches, and it is very important for new generations to know the past of the Church. This kind of worship is so noble, so beautiful—the deepest theologians’ way to express our faith. The worship, the music, the architecture, the painting, makes a whole that is a treasure. The Holy Father is willing to offer to all the people this possibility, not only for the few groups who demand it but so that everybody knows this way of celebrating the Eucharist in the Catholic Church.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyo did note that much education of both priests and laymen will be necessary in order for all parishes to celebrate the Gregorian Rite properly. He also assured a reporter from the liberal English Catholic paper the Tablet that the Holy Father's desire "is not going back: it is taking a treasure which is present, but was not provided." In other words, the older rite will not replace the Novus Ordo, but be offered alongside it.

In response to the common criticism that Pope Benedict is "going against the Second Vatican Council" by promoting the Gregorian Rite, the cardinal declared:

That is absolute ignorance. The Fathers of the Council, never celebrated a Mass other than the Gregorian one. It [the Novus Ordo] came after the Council … The Holy Father, who is a theologian and who was in the preparation for the Council, is acting exactly in the way of the Council, offering with freedom the different kinds of celebration.

The excerpts from the interview are well worth reading; they provide a clear exposition of the Holy Father's liturgical vision. You can more about the Traditional Latin Mass and how it compares with the new Mass in "Differences Between the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo."