‘Traditionis Custodes’ 3 Years On: Pope Francis’ Latin Mass ‘Motu Proprio’ Has Generated Division, Not Unity, by Larry Chapp

By Larry Chapp, EWTN News, July 8, 2024

Larry Chapp Larry Chapp received his doctorate in theology from Fordham University in 1994, with a specialization in the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar. …

COMMENTARY: Three years later, liturgical wars rage on…

Three years after the promulgation of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, imposing severe restrictions on the celebration of the Mass in Latin, controversy over the use of the old Latin Mass is as strong as ever.

Therefore, if Pope Francis’ text was intended to bring some measure of peace to the liturgy wars by increasing liturgical homogenization around the Mass of Paul VI, it has been a failure. The rise of the popularity of the Mass of St. John XXIII (traditional Latin Mass) was caused, at least in part, by a strong sense of dissatisfaction with the Mass of St. Paul VI (or Novus Ordo) among a broad cross section of regular-Mass-attending Catholics. And the move to suppress the Latin Mass has done nothing to change that entrenched reality, especially in light of the fact that the Vatican did nothing at the same time to reform the new liturgy in order to address in a truly pastoral way the legitimate sense of disaffection that many have. …