[Update: not anymore…]
When Traditionis Custodes was promulgated last year, that disturbing document had as its central theoretical point the following definition, in article 1: that the Paul VI liturgical books, "are the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite."
The document simply abolished the notion created by Benedict XVI (rejected even by many Traditionalists, but very useful legally) that there are two forms of the Roman Rite: the most prevalent one now (the Novus Ordo), called Ordinary Form, and the Traditional one, called Extraordinary Form.
So, it came as a surprise that the document expected since the beginning of the pontificate, regarding the reorganization of the Roman Curia, the Apostolic Constitution named "Praedicate Evangelium", was released yesterday -- Italian text only -- with the following attributes among those granted to the Congregation for Divine Worship:
Art. 93
Il Dicastero si occupa della regolamentazione e della disciplina della sacra liturgia per quanto riguarda la forma straordinaria del Rito romano. [The Dicastery is charged with the regulation and discipline of the sacred liturgy regarding the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite.]
Of course, this specific attribution had already been made clear in Traditionis custodes, and it augurs not very good news liturgically, considering who is in charge... But it is good to see the name and perennity of the Traditional Rite once again recognized, and in one of the major documents (and an actual Apostolic Constitution) of the pontificate.
