Jacob Rees‑Mogg calls Latin Mass hatred “the peculiarity of a few ageing liberals”

Jacob Rees‑Mogg, the Member of Parliament for North East Somerset from 2010 to 2024, has described hatred of the Latin Mass as a “peculiarity of a few ageing liberals”.

In a diary piece for The Spectator, he describes keeping quail, bumping into the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, attending Henley Regatta for the first time, and guessing that on the day of the Resurrection “we will all pop up and fiddle with our cufflinks before ruminating on the beautiful Somerset countryside.”

However, he also reflects on the new papacy, and describes it as “reassuring to have a Pope who believes in the papal office”, expressing hope that “traditional liturgies will no longer be persecuted”, whose hatred “is the peculiarity of a few ageing liberals”.

He also notes the phenomenon of young Catholics being drawn to the Traditional Latin Mass, mentioning his nephew David, who is a seminarian at the Institute of Christ the King’s international seminary in Gricigliano, Italy, as one of the young Catholics “flocking to the Old Rite”.

Rees‑Mogg, the second youngest child of William Rees‑Mogg, a member of the House of Lords and Editor of The Times from 1967 to 1981, married his wife Helena, a British aristocrat and former journalist at Argus Media, in Canterbury Cathedral. The service, with permission from both Churches, was in the traditional form of the Church of England and followed by a Roman Catholic Latin Mass. The Catholic Mass was offered by the Abbot of Downside Abbey, Father Aidan Bellenger, who had also attended Rees‑Mogg’s stag night at the Garrick Club.

The father of six has been open about his Catholic faith during his career in public life, particularly as a Member of Parliament. He made the choice to vote in accordance with Church teaching, opposing both assisted suicide and abortion. Notably, in 2015, he voted against Rob Marris’s assisted dying bill, describing it as a “money-saving scheme”. He was also a member of the All‑Party Parliamentary Pro‑Life Group and made headlines when he called abortion a “cult of death”.

Since leaving Parliament, he has remained a front-liner on GB News, hosting the programme State of the Nation. He has also hinted at continuing his political career, saying that he is “very strongly” considering standing at the next general election. 

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(Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Discovery+)

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