After the election of His Holiness, Pope Leo, everyone noticed the shift in the use of the Roman tongue in the Roman rite according to the Mass of Pope St. Paul VI. More conspicuously in regards to the ancient Roman Rite – the “Latin Mass” – early in his pontificate His Holiness welcomed various bishops who had been viewed as “cancelled” under the pontificate of the late Pope Francis I.
One of those individual prelates was His Eminence, Cardinal Burke, who has continually defended not only the purity of the Roman faith, but fought for the preservation of the ancient Roman Rite. This was very conspicuous in the first year of Pope Leo’s reign when His Eminence offered the ancient Roman Rite in the most venerable Roman church, St. Peter’s Basilica, last year, as a part of the annual Latin Mass pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, shortly before that happened, the Holy Father explicitly expressed openness to listening to, and understanding the Latin Mass movement. Let’s recall what he said at that time:
There is another issue, which is also another hot-button issue, which I have already received a number of requests and letters [about]: The question about, people always say ‘the Latin Mass.’ Well, you can say Mass in Latin right now. If it’s the Vatican II rite there’s no problem. Obviously, between the Tridentine Mass and the Vatican II Mass, the Mass of Paul VI, I’m not sure where that’s going to go. It’s obviously very complicated.
I do know that part of that issue, unfortunately, has become – again, part of a process of polarization – people have used the liturgy as an excuse for advancing other topics. It’s become a political tool, and that’s very unfortunate. I think sometimes the, say, ‘abuse’ of the liturgy from what we call the Vatican II Mass, was not helpful for people who were looking for a deeper experience of prayer, of contact with the mystery of faith that they seemed to find in the celebration of the Tridentine Mass. Again, we’ve become polarized, so that instead of being able to say, well, if we celebrate the Vatican II liturgy in a proper way, do you really find that much difference between this experience and that experience?
I have not had the chance to really sit down with a group of people who are advocating for the Tridentine rite. There’s an opportunity coming up soon, and I’m sure there will be occasions for that. But that is an issue that I think also, maybe with synodality, we have to sit down and talk about. It’s become the kind of issue that’s so polarized that people aren’t willing to listen to one another, oftentimes. I’ve heard bishops talk to me, they’ve talked to me about that, where they say, ‘we invited them to this and that and they just won’t even hear it’. They don’t even want to talk about it. That’s a problem in itself. It means we’re into ideology now, we’re no longer into the experience of church communion. That’s one of the issues on the agenda (emphasis added).
It is not clear if those discussions did indeed happen as Pope Leo had hoped for, or if they did happen, what became of them.
Since that hopeful movement the greatest events in Pope Leo’s pontificate in regards to the traditional movement have been the tragedy of the break in Eucharistic Communion with the SSPX bishops and priests, of which OnePeterFive readers are fully aware. During all this sad saga, the Holy Father made very few remarks regarding the Latin Mass or the movement, other than some passing, vague comments about the problems with the SSPX clerics not accepting the Ecumenical Council Vatican II.
Now we hear the news that the players in the Vatican have removed permission for the ancient Roman Rite to find a home again in the Roman basilica of St. Peter’s at this year’s Latin Mass pilgrimage in October for that month’s feast of Christ the King.
From Mr. Michael Haynes:
Sources close to the pilgrimage organisers told this correspondent that the Mass at the Vatican had been canceled for this year and that news of this was communicated via the Secretariat of State.
Instead, Cardinal Roland Makrickas – the archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore – offered the pilgrimage to celebrate Mass in his church.
Pilgrims will now process to the Vatican to venerate the relics of St. Peter, before making their way across the city to have Mass in the basilica of St. Mary Major.
Makrickas is a public friend of the traditional Mass and the communities that celebrate it. Under his tenure as archpriest the traditional Mass has quietly made a gradual return in St Mary Major. It was he who granted permission for the Institute of Christ the King to celebrate a solemn Mass inside the basilica in May 2025, coincidentally on the very day that Pope Leo XIV was elected in conclave.
The immense size of the pilgrimage last year surprised Vatican staff, who were unprepared for the large numbers of attendees at the Mass. Many pilgrims came from far abroad in order to support the event, encouraged by the sight of Cardinal Burke offering the Mass and understanding it as an impending change in circumstances for the traditional liturgy.
But sources close to the event told this correspondent last year that the immense media focus on the Mass risked backfiring, as opponents of the traditional liturgy in the Vatican would take umbrage at such widespread coverage. The Mass was a singular event, sources noted. Whilst very welcome, it was not a firm indication of any overturning of Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional liturgy.
AdVaticanum talked to an inside source about this media attention:
A Vatican source told AdVaticanum that the decision followed difficulties in obtaining access and permission for the celebration at St Peter’s this year. According to the source, who is familiar with the negotiations, last year’s Mass was viewed within the Pope’s “circle” and among staff at St Peter’s Basilica as “gloating”.
“That perception was not well received,” the source said.
The source described the decision as “one step forward and two steps back”, arguing that last year’s permission had been followed by a celebration whose scale and tone were interpreted as a triumph by those overseeing access to the basilica.
A concession was granted in 2025 when the traditional Mass returned to St Peter’s Basilica, but the subsequent reaction has now resulted in more restricted access for this year’s pilgrimage.
It is important to remember that what happens in Vatican City is a result of dozens and hundreds of bishops, priests, and lay faithful who make decisions about all sorts of various issues. Some things that happen in Vatican City are a result of the Holy Father’s personal actions. Some are not. We do not know what the Holy Father thinks of these things, or if he was involved in the decision about the Latin Mass in St. Peter’s.
We do know that the ancient Roman Rite has many friends and allies in Rome in high places, like Cardinal Roland Makrickas, as well as those who helped Miss Diane Montagna last year (“Traditionis Custodes: The Narrative Is All Lies“).
Therefore Pope Leo’s own wisdom can help guide the traditional movement at this stage in the new pontificate, pointing out a breakdown in charity as a central problem: “I’ve heard bishops talk to me, they’ve talked to me about that, where they say, ‘we invited them to this and that and they just won’t even hear it’. They don’t even want to talk about it. That’s a problem in itself. It means we’re into ideology now, we’re no longer into the experience of church communion.” Let us live, speak, and act from our one Eucharistic Communion at the one altar in communion with that of St. Peter, for the Eucharistic Heart is our only heart, and the One Thing Necessary which binds every Catholic and is the “source and summit” of the Christian life.
Let us allow His Eucharistic Heart to rule and govern all of our hearts.
VIVA CRISTO REY!
T. S. Flanders
Editor
St. Nicholas Tolentino