Father Danziec writes for French weekly newsmagazine Valeurs Actuelles on the Pontifical Mass of the Rome pilgrimage celebrated on October 25, 2025, by Cardinal Burke in the Vatican Basilica
Leo XIV: Liturgical pacification in Rome?
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Yesterday, a Latin Mass was celebrated in the traditional rite at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Attended by a huge crowd of faithful, the ceremony was authorized by Pope Leo XIV. A sign of détente?
This morning, the Italian daily newspapers La Verità and Il Tempo, to name but two; on Friday, a double-page spread in La Croix; yesterday evening on television, an entire segment on RAI 1's 8 p.m. news program, the Italian equivalent of France 2. Each of these media outlets gave prominence to an event that stands out at the beginning of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate and which will probably leave more of a mark than a quick, distracted glance would suggest. On Saturday, October 25, a traditional, pontifical, and solemn Mass was celebrated by American Cardinal Raymond Burke at the altar of St. Peter's Chair in the Vatican's major basilica. This celebration in Latin, according to the pre-Vatican II liturgy, followed an international symposium organized the day before, on Friday, October 24, by Pax Liturgica.
For fourteen years now, this association has been working to bring together in the capital of the Church those baptized, priests, and faithful who are connected to the traditional Mass. “Originally, we organized this pilgrimage as an act of thanksgiving. Our goal was to thank Benedict XVI for his concern to establish liturgical peace in a fractured Church,” explains Father Barthe, chaplain of the gathering. After the change in style and direction of Pope Francis' pontificate, the event has become a Roman platform for taking stock of the missionary dynamism of the traditional Mass throughout the world.
More than 115 nations represented and many families in attendance
Looking closely at this event, it is certainly the number of participants—their youth and the cosmopolitan nature of the gathering—that is impressive. “It's really lovely of the Vatican to organize a Mass for young people in St. Peter's in Rome,” says an English-speaking faithful, with a touch of mischief. Beyond the media coverage, within the Church, of this annual gathering of faithful attached to the traditional world, these two days are a powerful testimony to the vitality and international character of the ancient Roman rite.
For fourteen years now, this association has been working to bring together in the capital of the Church those baptized, priests, and faithful who are connected to the traditional Mass. "Originally, we organized this pilgrimage as an act of thanksgiving. More than sixty years after the liturgical reform, its appeal remains strong, and more than three thousand faithful took part in the grand procession through the streets of Rome, followed by the pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. More than 115 flags from different nations flew above the crowd, not to mention the nearly three hundred clerics from all continents who surrounded the celebrant at the altar. Never before had the Pax Liturgica pilgrimage gathered so many people. According to the organizers, “the expectations at the beginning of this pontificate and the hopes linked to the unifying personality of Leo XIV are immense.”
After the unusual restrictions imposed on celebrations in the old rite (known as the “traditional” or “rite of St. Pius V”), restrictions put in place in July 2021 by Pope Francis' motu proprio Traditionis Custodes (which some Vaticanists believe was undoubtedly overtaken on the left by pressure groups, of which only Rome can claim to be the scene), has the time come for dialogue, peace, and, finally, harmony among Catholics? This gathering of lovers of the Latin Mass may have offered the beginnings of an answer. First of all, there was the agreement given by Leo XIV himself for two cardinals, and not the least important ones, to participate actively: Cardinal Burke, an American, eminent canonist, classified as conservative, both manifestly filial towards the papacy and at the same time concerned with authentic liturgical justice, and Cardinal Zuppi, president of the influential Italian Bishops' Conference, archbishop of Bologna, papabile at the last conclave and a figure usually classified as left-wing.
Then, in what was certainly one of the highlights of this pilgrimage organized by Pax Liturgica, these two crucial figures in the last conclave, despite the differences suggested by their personal trajectories, exchanged long and meaningful embraces before and after Vespers, celebrated on Friday in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, very close to the Spanish Steps. These two personalities, whom overly Cartesian minds would readily oppose, thus found themselves on the same page on an issue of importance for the future of the Church: liturgical peace. In political politics, as in ecclesiastical politics, there are gestures that cannot be misinterpreted. The ancient liturgy as a possible point of union and a place of authentic charity.
“May the whole Church come to an ever greater understanding and love of the prodigious gift of the sacred liturgy”: Cardinal Burke
Another notable event was the speech given by 97-year-old Albanian Cardinal Simoni during the pontifical mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Created cardinal in 2016 by Pope Francis, he had previously been imprisoned for 18 years in communist jails between 1968 and 1981. This living martyr of Catholicism did not hesitate to support the event with his presence and his prayers. During his homily, Cardinal Burke gave thanks to God for Benedict XVI's openness and asked that, through his intercession, “the whole Church may come to an ever greater understanding and love of the prodigious gift of the sacred liturgy, as it has been handed down to us without interruption by holy tradition and the apostles and their successors.” The American prelate did not fail to salute the faithful “who, throughout the Christian centuries, have encountered Christ and deepened their lives in Him, thanks to this venerable form of the Roman rite.” According to him, how can we not “thank God for the way in which this venerable form of the Roman Rite has brought so many people to the faith and deepened the faith life of so many who have discovered its incomparable beauty for the first time”?
These powerful words from Cardinal Burke, spoken beneath the vaults of St. Peter's Basilica, echoed the testimonies of converts who, the day before, had had the opportunity to share their journeys at the international conference organized by Pax Liturgica. One testimony in particular, from a Brazilian woman who had come from a background of spiritism and Protestantism, made a strong impression.
This event, whose key themes were undoubtedly youth and hope, showed that the fruitfulness and dynamism of traditional methods of teaching the faith can only contribute to the common good of the universal Church. The coming months will tell whether this sentiment is shared at the highest levels.
(Source,,in French)
