Towards a "normalization" of the Tridentine Mass?
Those Catholics who pray in both Latin and French
La CroixMatthieu Lasserre & Eve GuyotDecember 14, 2025
While Gregorian chants still resonate inside Saint George's, in Old Lyon, several fathers are already on the church square, letting their children get some fresh air. Among them is Grégoire, 31 years old. This Lyon native began attending the parish five years ago to follow his wife, a devotee of the Latin Mass. Full of preconceived notions about "this world of traditional Catholics," he now alternates between the ordinary rite without any problem: "First, there's the place of silence, which fosters my contemplation, and, more strangely, the power of Latin."
The language, which had distanced him from religion during his time at a traditionalist school in his adolescence, ultimately reconnected him to his faith. "As an adopted child, I was also very afraid of not belonging here, but I was completely wrong," he insists, explaining that he has found "true diversity" there.
As the Mass draws to a close, the profile of the parishioners emerges at the door: numerous families with young children, a handful of elderly people, a few foreigners passing through the city. But also, and above all, young adults. "More and more of them are coming here, but without preventing themselves from attending Mass elsewhere and in other ways," observes Father Mathieu Grenier, chaplain of Saint-Georges.
A youth of both rites
The priest's observations extend beyond the capital of Gaul. According to a Bayard-La Croix study conducted by Ifop, 9% of regular churchgoers say that the Latin Mass is their preferred Mass, and 25% indicate that they like "the Latin Mass as much as the Mass in French." In total, 67% of Catholics who attend Mass every week state that they have at least no objection to the Tridentine Rite.
Thus, in recent years, a generation of "bi-ritualists" has emerged, Catholics who appreciate both missals, far removed from the historical divisions between traditionalists and those who follow the Second Vatican Council. The record attendance at the Chartres pilgrimage at Pentecost attests to this trend: the gathering now attracts people far beyond the "traditionalist" sphere.
La Croix wanted to understand this phenomenon: how can the two rites be complementary and nourish the faith of both groups? And above all, who are these Catholics capable of alternating between the liturgies, from one day or week to the next? Most of the faithful interviewed are young adults, under 35 years old, living mostly in large cities – where the availability of Masses offers them a choice. Rejecting labels of affiliation, they do not recognize themselves in the danger of a "parallel Church" that Pope Francis invoked in 2021 to restrict the celebration of the Mass in use before the Second Vatican Council.
This is the case of Robin, a 33-year-old Parisian. Converted about ten years ago, he attends both the Tridentine Mass at Saint-Eugène-Sainte-Cécile (9th arrondissement) and the ordinary Mass at Saint-Roch parish in central Paris, where both forms of Mass are celebrated. His only criterion: the beauty of the celebration. "Beauty is part of the Church's mission, and I want, for one hour on Sunday, to be able to pray in this way," he declares. "We need beauty, Latin, music that touches the soul, and to be on our knees. Our minds are not always worthy of God, but the liturgy helps us to experience the divine." Like him, 20% of those attending Mass want the liturgy to be "a return to more tradition and sacredness."
Prayer, silence, and community
If Robin moves from one rite to another, it's because he finds spiritual benefits in each. "I prefer the homilies of the Mass of Paul VI, which engage with my daily life," adds the young father. "In the Tridentine rite, on the other hand, there is a symbolic dimension that encourages me to delve more deeply into the mystery: the covered statues, the flowers in the church, the colors of the vestments... It's a catechism at my fingertips." Each of them thus affirms varying the forms to find what suits them, provided that the celebration is carefully conducted.
Born into a non-practicing family, Florence, a 27-year-old engineer, discovered the Tridentine Mass through online encounters. "I felt inwardly moved by a version of the sacred focused on meditation," the young woman explains. In the Mass of Paul VI, she also appreciates the community aspect of the celebration and the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament to the faithful. Nevertheless, a sign of these Catholics' need for a sense of transcendence, Florence, like others, insists on receiving communion on the tongue, from the priest's hands, as is systematically done in the Tridentine rite.
