Rorate Caeli

50 years on: "Good Pope John" was also "Traditional Pope John"

December 1962
The Mass of John XXIII,
The true Mass of the Council:
The Traditional Latin Mass

As we have often affirmed here, the time is long past for us to reclaim Pope John XXIII, who died exactly 50 years ago today: in the Sacred Liturgy, in liturgical practices, in traditional devotion, in the promotion of the Latin language and culture, few recent Popes were as traditional as the "Good Pope". This can be readily noticed in so many of his texts, as in the "Little Collection of Devout Meditations on the Mysteries of the Rosary", whose full translation we first made available in 2011, and in which the Missale Romanum and the Breviarium Romanum are quoted several times. We can easily see how the documents of the Council would have turned out if he had been able to lead it with all his intellectual faculties by the beautiful decisions of the Roman Synod of 1960and the very traditional original schemata (drafts) of the Conciliar documents, and the strong words of the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia. As his predecessors in the 20th century, Leo XIII, Saint Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, he was a good Pope. But he was our Good Pope. He was also a man of his age, marked by the optimism and regrets of the post-war generation, but always a son of Our Lady.

Once again, we make our translation available to you in a special PDF booklet format.