Question first appeared on June 17, 2007
Last week the Associated
Press reported that Pope Benedict will abandon the Vatican II modern
Mass and decree that Roman Catholics world-wide will utilize the older,
pre-Vatican II Tridentine Mass in the vernacular (not Latin). Doesn’t
this eliminate one of several impediments to ecumenical talks between
Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics?
The expected authorization from the
Vatican is that Roman Catholic priests will be permitted to celebrate
the Mass of St. Pius V, commonly known as the Tridentine Mass, at any
time without seeking prior approval of the local bishop. And, this mass
will be served in Latin, not the vernacular.
Following Vatican II in 1969, the Latin
Tridentine Mass was replaced with a newer version that is served in the
vernacular language of the people. Some time ago, a revision was issued
that the Tridentine Mass would be permitted again but only under special
circumstances and with prior approval of the local bishop. Under this
proviso, this historic mass has been celebrated on occasion here in
Charleston and elsewhere around the world. This new authorization will
expand the use of the Tridentine Mass at the discretion of the local
priest.
I
don’t foresee this step opening any new doors in ecumenical relations
between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Our differences are
not liturgical, they are theological, primarily over the two main issues
of “primacy of Peter” and the “filioque,” the procession of the Holy
Spirit.
©Very Rev. Fr. Olof Scott, Sunday Bulletin, June
17, 2007
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