By Paix Liturgique (Christian Marquant)
Nicola Spuntoni, in an article published in Il Giornale on December 16, reveals that the Pope, who has convened an extraordinary consistory for January 7 and 8, will be sending the cardinals a letter before Christmas outlining the three-point agenda for this consistory: their participation in the governance of the Church, synodality, and the liturgical question.
It goes without saying that, on this last point, the status of the Traditional Latin Mass after Traditionis Custodes will not be the only topic of discussion, but it is clear that it will be an important one, if not the only raising a debate among the cardinal. This is the opinion of Spuntoni, who is particularly well-informed. It is easy to imagine Cardinals Müller and Burke, and probably Cardinal Brandmüller as well, and others too—Zuppi? Aveline?—advocating for calm. In fact, the media frenzy surrounding that event, not significant in itself but of symbolic importance, as the international press pointed out, which was the authorization of a Mass in St. Peter's for the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage, has shaken, perhaps even unsettled, Rome and the Holy Father.
And the Curia knows, from information coming from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, that Traditionis Custodes has not only failed to bury the problem but has exacerbated it, or at least it revealed that it is unsolvable: the liturgical question must necessarily be addressed. This is clearly evident in France. La Croix set the tone in a December 11 article by Matthieu Lasserre and Ève Guyot, “These Catholics Who Pray Just as Well in Latin as in French,” based on an Ifop poll for Bayard-La Croix. The poll indicated that 33% of regular church-goers (the survey specifies: those who attend Mass every Sunday) have no objection to the Latin Mass; 9% say the Tridentine Mass is their favorite; 25% like both equally; and 67% have no objection against the Tridentine Rite. Yes, now it is La Croix that is stating these figures, which Paix Liturgique has been publishing for quite some time.
And then there is the live survey of the “Tridentines”: La Croix journalists attended a Sunday Mass in Lyon, at the Church of Saint-Georges. Upon leaving, they observed: numerous families with young children; only a handful of older people; some foreigners passing through; and, above all, many young adults. These young people "who like the Traditional Latin Mass," as the bishops of France repeatedly point out with concern.
The bishops are particularly worried about this phenomenon of the “mixing”, which La Croix analyzes extensively: many parishioners attend both rites. Clearly, the contagion is spreading from the Traditional world to that of Paul VI, but perhaps also somewhat in the other sense, in as far as the style of ordinary parishes is spreading to traditional parishes: "Many parishes have been 'traditionalized,'" notes a young couple from Lyon who "eat at both tables," while at the same time some “tradi” parishes are also changing a bit their style with regard to some things.
To better understand the phenomenon, Matthieu Lasserre and Ève Guyot focused on practicing Catholics who resisted the "contagion" (those who, for example, leave their parish to find another when the Lord's Prayer begins to be sung in Latin). These people explained that an important element of this "traditionalization" is the new profile of young priests, which necessarily aligns with that of young practicing Catholics, since they come from their midst: rigorous preaching, ritualistic practices, and the encouragement of kneeling and receiving communion on the tongue.
One of these parishioners, who complains that some make them feel "responsible for the collapse of faith," agrees that there is a fundamental problem, a problem of faith itself. This is precisely what Pope Francis clearly stated when trying to explain the abolition of Summorum Pontificum. We always come back to the adage lex orandi, lex credendi: opting for the liturgy of the past necessarily means opting for the faith it expresses, the faith of the past. Underneath the criticism of Paul VI's Mass we find that of the Council.
Furthermore, if, as is possible, there were a de facto relaxation of the repression against the traditional liturgy, this would inevitably be accompanied by the customary warning, heard since 1984: “You may choose the Traditional Latin Mass, but only on the condition that you recognize the Council.” It remains to be seen what “recognize” means, and even what exactly this Council is, which, unlike councils of the past, did not excommunicate anyone, but which, on the other hand, demands a very particular reverence: as if it were no longer communion, but about the Council itself to be received on one's knees. It is to be feared (if there was anything to fear in this…) that this Council will become obsolete along with synodality, through which it was intended to rejuvenate it. It is clear that the more attempts are made to suppress free theological debate, the more it will flourish.
In any case, sixty years after the close of Vatican II, the liturgical question is more inescapable than ever.
