The former prefect of the Vatican’s liturgy office has urged Pope Leo to image Pope Benedict XVI’s policy regarding the Latin Mass.
Cardinal Robert Sarah has made a fresh appeal for Leo XIV to abandon restrictions on the traditional Mass and return to the style of Pope Benedict XVI.
“It is a tragedy — indeed, a true sin — that on an essential issue such as the liturgy there is a sort of war.” So said Cdl. Sarah – the former prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship – in a new interview with Il Foglio.
The Guinean cardinal is among a vocal body in the College of Cardinals who have, following Traditionis Custodes, consistently urged a return to the policy of Pope Benedict XVI regarding the traditional Mass, as implemented via Summorum Pontificum.
The Catholic liturgy “is the source of the Church’s communion, and it is unthinkable that on liturgical matters – or rather, ritual matters – there should be such a clash and such fierce opposition,” lamented Sarah.
He also warned against the supposition that individuals in the Church have the authority of life and death over liturgy: “No one has authority over the rites, which stem from the Church’s centuries-old history. Rites cannot be arbitrarily abolished, and no one can declare that a rite no longer exists from one day to the next.”
In Sarah’s assessment, the Church needs to return to the liturgical offering envisaged by Pope Benedict in Summorum Pontificum, thus liberalising the traditional Mass from the restrictions which have been placed on it over the past five years:
“I believe we must give serious consideration to this issue, returning to the balanced, pastoral, and theologically grounded position of Benedict XVI, who allowed both forms of the Latin rite to coexist, to influence one another, and to be known by the holy people of God, who, over the decades, will be able to choose which form best corresponds to their own needs for faith, silence, and spirituality.
He sought to present a nuanced take regarding “excesses” in the old rite and “abuses” in the new, opining that the former were “in part justified” by the “dramatic and widespread” liturgical “abuses” in the Novus Ordo.
To this day, the Novus Ordo “is often not celebrated as the Council would have intended and as the liturgical reform itself suggests,” he added.
Sarah’s interview was published just days after The Tablet published an interview with Cardinal Arthur Roche, who succeeded Sarah as prefect at the DDW. During his conversation, Roche attested that Leo XIV would not lift the restrictions of Traditionis Custodes, and also that Summorum Pontificum would not make a return.
In Roche’s view, those asking for wider availability of the traditional Mass should be content with the provision already in place. “Well, the Holy Father has given you that, so what’s the problem?,” he questioned.
But for Sarah, the liturgy is not under the purview of an individual to dispense or alter according to personal whims. “The liturgy is not the property of the celebrant, whoever he may be: priest, bishop, or cardinal. The liturgy belongs to God; we enter into it, and no one is its master.”
This is not the first time that Sarah has made a plea for a return to Summorum Pontificum, nor is he the only one to do so. The number of prelates and other prominent figures urging Leo to return to Summorum has greatly increased in light of the episcopal consecrations carried out on July 1 by the Society of Saint Pius X.
One such figure, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, was recently named to join the Apostolic Signatura, and speaking to Raymond Arroyo about Roche’s comments last week he stated that the traditional Mass “is unstoppable. It’s what is drawing young people in & will continue to do so.”
Some days prior, respected New York canonist Father Gerald Murray had done likewise: “You want peace in the Church right now – tell the Pope it’s time to derestrict the traditional Latin Mass.”
Much rhetoric from the Vatican accompanying Traditionis Custodes attested that Pope Francis’ restrictions were necessary based on the results of a survey carried out by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; but revelations of the responses from the global episcopate demonstrated that no such restrictions were called for or even deemed helpful. In fact, the majority thought quite the opposite.
It was entirely “superfluous”, Cardinal Gerhard Müller told the Catholic Herald recently.
Whilst Sarah and others have urged Leo to implement something akin to Summorum Pontificum, others have warned against this since it would continue the trend Francis began – namely directly abrogating a predecessor’s document.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider has suggested that Leo avoid just issuing “an anti-Motu Proprio against Traditionis Custodes, but simply a more solemn document above the Motu Proprios.” This advice he gave to the pontiff directly, during a private audience in December.
As the fallout from the SSPX’s episcopal consecrations continues to be determined, Rome’s response regarding the freedom of the traditional rite will be closely watched by many.
Michael Haynes is an English journalist in the Holy See Press Corps. He serves as Vatican Correspondent for the Catholic Herald, while readers can follow him at Per Mariam and on X @MLJHaynes.
