Roche implements further Vatican crackdown on the Traditional Latin Mass: but why?

Pope Francis embraces Cardinal Arthur Roche after his elevation to the cardinalate on 27 August 2022. (Getty Images)

The dust is beginning to settle on the rescript of the motu proprio Traditiones Custodes which was issued in Rome on the afternoon of Shrove Tuesday, 21 February, after Cardinal Arthur Roche, the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, was received in audience by the Holy Father. Diocesan bishops will no longer be given the agency and final authority over whether new parishes within their dioceses should be permitted to host celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).