Saturday, July 07, 2007

Motu Propio Released!

I interrupt this hiatus to bring you the following news:

Vatican has released the Motu Propio, liberating the Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 missal. Here's the official Latin version. It was released today, the 7th of July, in the year of Our Lord 2007.

And apparently, the 1962 Missal was never abrogated to begin with!

I think this is good news for the furtherance of the continuing Orthodox/Roman Catholic relations. With the widespread celebration of the ancient Roman rite in Roman Catholic parishes, it will signal to the Orthodox that the Catholics are serious about liturgical piety and the mystical and transcendent nature of the Mass. Monsignor Klaus Gamber (+Requiescat in Pace) talked quite a bit about this.

This could mean the reconcilliation of the Society of Pius X with the Holy See. This, along with ROCOR's reconcilliation with the Moscow Patriarchate (effective May 18, 2007) would be nothing but good news.

Mind you, the road to reunion between Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches is still a long, crooked road, and it should continue with honesty on both sides. The long-awaited restoration of the old mass is a step in the right direction, in my humble opinion.

Now back to my dissertation!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From the Catholic side I can say "Amen" to all you have said. Not one realistic Catholic I know thought this would actually happen. Rome has not had the iron hand that some would like to believe. Now if the Catholics and Orthodox could just start acting like we have more in common than differences we could solve many things. May The Holy Ghost guide us all and The Holy Mother always pray for us. We are a sorry lot!
Annie