Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos praises the traditional rite of Mass
Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos praises the traditional rite of Mass and gives notice that Rome is preparing a new juridical guarantee in its favour
In two newly-published interviews, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has warmly praised the traditional rite of Mass; has confirmed that the rapidly-growing number of those attached to it are increasingly-important in Rome’s thinking and that proposals will soon be made for a new juridical guarantee to ensure a wide provision of the rite.
1. In an interview with The Latin Mass, the main traditionalist magazine in the USA, and published in the current issue, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos confirms that the traditional rite of Mass has not been abrogated and points to his own celebration of that rite in St Mary Major, Rome in May 2003 as proof. He goes on to confirm that the traditional rite is now celebrated again in St Peter’s on the instructions of John Paul II.
Cardinal Hoyos then confirms the great affection which John Paul II has for the traditionalist faithful and that Rome has noticed that traditionalists constitute a ‘vast group of faithful’ – growing rapidly with many young families and children. Cardinal Hoyos states that traditionalists ‘should be protected in their right to be able to express their faith and piety…’ He then points to the success of the special arrangements in Campos, Brazil, where the traditionalist Bishop Rifan ministers to over 30,000 traditional faithful in collaboration with the local episcopates.
Cardinal Hoyos finishes by saying that because diocesan bishops are still reluctant to implement the Pope’s request for generous permissions for the traditional rite, Rome is preparing a new ‘juridical guarantee’ of the rights of the traditionalist faithful.
2. In an interview with the Italian newspaper, Il Giornale, published 31 May, Cardinal Hoyos confirms that traditionalists are not to be seen as ‘second class’ citizens in the Church.
After first discussing the recent Vatican document, Redemptionis Sacramentum, to correct abuses in the new rite, the Cardinal again confirms that traditionalists offer ‘a dynamic Christian view of the life of faith and devotion’ and calls for intransigence towards them to stop and to be replaced by ‘even greater understanding’. Cardinal Hoyos confirms that he is grateful to traditionalists ‘for the effort that they make to maintain a historical memory that should be strongly respected’. Finally, he states that traditionalists are ‘recognised as legitimate by the Pope’ and their sensibility ‘has to be protected in the best possible way’.
3. To add to the pressure in favour of the traditional rite which is now growing strongly in Rome, Robert Moynihan, editor of the respected international Catholic monthly, Inside the Vatican, has published an editorial in the May 2004 issue calling explicitly for the return of the traditional Mass.
In a trail-blazing article he pinpoints Rome’s problems with the new rite as being in the nature of the rite itself: ‘The New Rite has turned out to be a rite too rapidly produced and too influenced by the rampant secularisation of the 1960s’. The only answer to stop the innovation and experiment is the return of the ‘ancient sacrificial offering of the Mass’ – the traditional rite. He then dismisses objections to such a move, saying instead that the return of the traditional rite ‘would mark the beginning of a great renewal in Church life’.
John Medlin, Development Manager of the Latin Mass Society, said, ‘These are astonishing days for traditional Catholics and all those longing for reverence and devotion in the Church’s liturgical life. Rome is signalling that it is prepared to use the transcendent nature of the traditional Mass as a standard to reign in abuse in the new rite. It has noticed that traditional congregations are youthful and growing with many children, and it is prepared to protect them by bringing forward a new juridical guarantee in favour of the traditional Mass and Sacraments. We are beginning to hear the death knell of liberalism in the Church and not before time.’
For further information, please contact John Medlin, Development Manager, or Yvonne Windsor, LMS Office Manager, on (T) 020 7404 7284;
(F) 020 7831 5585; (E mail) thelatinmasssociety@snmail.co.uk
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