With the latest attack on the roots of our Catholic identity the Church is one step closer to becoming a punchline. Wherein Fr. Z rants. | Fr. Z's Blog

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With the latest attack on the roots of our Catholic identity the Church is one step closer to becoming a punchline. Wherein Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 14 August 2021 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From Le Figaro via National Catholic Register… with my emphases and comments… by the great Robert Card. Sarah.

On the Credibility of the Catholic Church

Doubt has taken hold of Western thought. Intellectuals and politicians alike describe the same impression of collapse. Faced with the breakdown of solidarity and the disintegration of identities, some turn to the Catholic Church. [If there were ever a time for the Church to be coherent in her messaging….] They ask her to give a reason to live together to individuals who have forgotten what unites them as one people. They beg her to provide a little more soul to make the cold harshness of consumer society bearable. When a priest is murdered, everyone is touched and many feel stricken to the core. [If you didn't know, a priest in France was recently murdered by an (illegal?) immigrant who also set fire to the Cathedral of Nantes last year.]

But is the Church capable of responding to these calls? Certainly, she has already played this role of guardian and transmitter of civilization. At the twilight of the Roman Empire, she knew how to pass on the flame that the barbarians were threatening to extinguish. But does she still have the means and the will to do so today?  [It's not looking good.  Not when people like Jeffrey Sachs are on the Vatican short list and the body of Chinese Catholics have been sacrificed to Mammon.]

At the foundation of a civilization, there can only be one reality that surpasses it: a sacred invariant. Malraux noted this with realism: "The nature of a civilization is what gathers around a religion. Our civilization is incapable of building a temple or a tomb. It will either be forced to find its fundamental value, or it will decay."

Without a sacred foundation, protective and insuperable boundaries are abolished. An entirely profane world becomes a vast expanse of quicksand. [This is why there cannot be a "state Church".] Everything is sadly open to the winds of arbitrariness. In the absence of the stability of a foundation that escapes man, peace and joy — the signs of a long-lasting civilization — are constantly swallowed up by a sense of precariousness. The anguish of imminent danger is the seal of barbaric times. Without a sacred foundation, every bond becomes fragile and fickle.  [At this point you should be chanting Lex Orandi… Lex Credendi… Lex Orandi… Lex Credendi…. Save The Liturgy… Save The World…Save The Liturgy… Save The World….] 

Some ask the Catholic Church to play this solid foundation role. They would like to see her assume a social function, namely to be a coherent system of values, a cultural and aesthetic matrix. But the Church has no other sacred reality to offer than her faith in Jesus, God made man. Her sole goal is to make possible the encounter of men with the person of Jesus. Moral and dogmatic teaching, as well as mystical and liturgical patrimony, are the setting and the means of this fundamental and sacred encounter. Christian civilization is born of this encounter. Beauty and culture are its fruits.  [Change the setting and you change the encounter.]

In order to respond to the world's expectations, the Church must therefore find the way back to herself and take up the words of Saint Paul: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and Jesus crucified." She must stop thinking of herself as a substitute for humanism or ecology. These realities, although good and just, are for her but consequences of her unique treasure: faith in Jesus Christ.

What is sacred for the Church, then, is the unbroken chain that links her with certainty to Jesus. A chain of faith without rupture or contradiction, a chain of prayer and liturgy without breakage or disavowal. [What was that, again?] Without this radical continuity, what credibility could the Church still claim? In her, there is no turning back, but an organic and continuous development that we call the living tradition. The sacred cannot be decreed, it is received from God and passed on.

This is undoubtedly the reason for which Benedict XVI could authoritatively affirm:

"In the history of the liturgy there is growth and progress, but no rupture. What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful. It behooves all of us to preserve the riches which have developed in the Church's faith and prayer, and to give them their proper place."

At a time when some theologians are seeking to reopen the liturgy wars by pitting the missal revised by the Council of Trent against the one in use since 1970, it is urgent to recall this. If the Church is not capable of preserving the peaceful continuity of her link with Christ, she will be unable to offer the world "the sacred which unites souls," according to the words of Goethe.

Beyond the quarrel over rites, the credibility of the Church is at stake. If she affirms the continuity between what is commonly called the Mass of St. Pius V and the Mass of Paul VI, then the Church must be able to organize their peaceful cohabitation and their mutual enrichment. If one were to radically exclude one in favor of the other, if one were to declare them irreconcilable, one would implicitly recognize a rupture and a change of orientation. [NB] But then the Church could no longer offer the world that sacred continuity, which alone can give her peace. By keeping alive a liturgical war within herself, the Church loses her credibility and becomes deaf to the call of men. Liturgical peace is the sign of the peace that the Church can bring to the world.

What is at stake is therefore much more serious than a simple question of discipline. If she were to claim a reversal of her faith or of her liturgy, in what name would the Church dare address the world? Her only legitimacy is her consistency in her continuity.

Moreover, if the bishops, who are in charge of the cohabitation and mutual enrichment of the two liturgical forms, do not exercise their authority to this effect, they run the risk of no longer appearing as shepherds, guardians of the faith they have received and of the sheep entrusted to them, but as political leaders: commissars of the ideology of the moment rather than guardians of the perennial tradition. They risk losing the trust of men of good will.

A father cannot introduce mistrust and division among his faithful children. He cannot humiliate some by setting them against others. He cannot ostracize some of his priests. The peace and unity that the Church claims to offer to the world must first be lived within the Church.

In liturgical matters, neither pastoral violence nor partisan ideology has ever produced fruits of unity. The suffering of the faithful and the expectations of the world are too great to engage in these dead-end paths. No one is too much in the Church of God!

There is great depth here.

Card. Sarah gives voice to something I have written about for many years now, in the wake of Benedict XVI's "Emancipation Proclamation" Summorum Pontificum.

I think Benedict had a Marshall Plan for the Church in the "modern world".  (BTW… the young Ratzinger was a critic of Gaudium et spes).

After the devastation WWII these USA helped to rebuild Europe in order to foster trade and support a bulwark against Communism.  In the wake of the devastation caused by a hermeneutic of discontinuity after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Benedict tried to revitalize our Catholic identity as a bulwark against the dictatorship of relativism.

The renewal of our Catholic identity requires a realigning of the Roman Rite.  How we pray has a reciprocal relationship with what we believe.  This realignment requires the Traditional Roman Rite.  There is no way around it.  We have to renew our liturgical worship in order to be who we are within Holy Church, so that we can have an impact, as Catholic disciples of the Lord, on the world around us.

The Traditional Roman Rite is an antidote to the secularization of the Church.

Find a bishop or priest who resists, forbids the Traditional Rite, and you find a priest or bishop for whom the Church is an NGO.

If we don't know who we are, no one will pay attention to us or what we might have to offer in the public square.  If we are incoherent, for example giving Communion to radically pro-abortion Catholics, why should anyone pay attention to anything we have to say on any other issue?  Bishops have squandered out moral capital for decades.

Given the demographic disaster that we face, the sinkhole opening up under the Church, we have to face the fact that changes are necessary. Great swathes of "Catholics" will soon disappear.  Those left will be of a traditional leaning together with converts from Evangelical backgrounds and well-rooted charismatics who are enthusiastic about their Faith.  There will be some frictions, but these groups will find each other out of need.  The result, I predict, will be amazing.

The Traditional Latin Mass is the key to the future.

It must become widespread and frequent and beautifully executed.  All attempts to sideline or repress it must be met with firm, humble resolve and resistance.

We need all the devotions and other rites as well.

WE ARE OUR RITES.

With the latest attack on the roots of our Catholic identity, Traditionis custodes, the Church is one step, one giant leap, closer to becoming a punchline.

The revitalization for the Church through a restoration of our Catholic identity will require nearly heroic courage from priests.  An alarmed Enemy is fighting back and fighting hard.

Priests will need to work harder than ever to acquire tools that they were systematically cheated out of in their formation.  They will be intimidated.  They will fear that they can't do it.  At first they may have to quietly seek out instruction and then lock their doors to practice. Samizdat. They can do it, but it will take hard work and support from others.  Graces will be given in this undertaking, because the connection of the priest and the altar is fundamental to the Church's life.  No other thing that the priest does is more important.

Priests must also be willing to suffer attacks from libs, many of whom are not malicious but who are blinkered and nearly brainwashed.   There is a parallel, I think, between the way some people in the Church perceive every wafting word from the Umbilicus Mundi in Rome and the way some people wear their COVID masks while riding alone in their cars or riding bicycles.   There is a parallel between the way some people would jail those who don't want "the jab" and the animus of some in the Church for the Traditional Mass.

It all goes to demonstrate how important it is that we shed unhealthy papalotry and preserve our liturgical worship.

The near future is going to require nearly heroic courage and a spirit of sacrifice from lay people who must support their priests and encourage them in projects that they will be reluctant to undertake.  Lay people must also be ready to engage in their parishes and with their priests on a new level.   Remember what  Fulton Sheen said:

"Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, and the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops act like bishops."

Remember, friends, that we are our rites.  As the Church prays, so do we believe and live.

Be a CUSTOS.  HERE

RORATE CÆLI: The Witness of the Laity to the Traditional Roman Mass:The Heart of the Matter

https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-witness-of-laity-to-traditional.html?m=1#more

The Witness of the Laity to the Traditional Roman Mass:The Heart of the Matter

I received a copy of the letter which follows from a parishioner at the diocesan Parish of St. Pius X, in Fairfield, Connecticut.  The letter was written to the pastor of the parish to express his thanksgiving for the presence of the Traditional Roman Mass in his life and that of his whole family. The letter touched me deeply for its understanding of faith, of Tradition, and the genuine expression of joy in having discovered a pearl of great price in the parish celebrations of the Traditional Roman Mass.  This letter is the best antidote to the harsh and crude Motu Proprio, Traditionis Custodes that was recently published with Pope Francis' signature. Mr. Li is putting into practice St. John Henry Newman's understanding of the "heart of the matter" role of the laity in the Church.  The clergy have their role to play in the struggle to be faithful to Catholic Tradition, at whose heart is the Roman Mass of that Tradition.  But it is the faithful laity who will form the backbone of the effort to shape the future of the Church by regaining an understanding of and love for the Tradition of the Catholic faith.  I hope each of you who reads this letter will send it along to family and friends, especially those who do not know the Beauty that lies at the heart of the Mass of Catholic Tradition.

Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla

_______________________________________________________

Dear Father Sam,

I am a parishioner of St. Pius X in Fairfield.  My wife and I received our Confirmations here at SPX, before which we were not Catholic, and our three children were all baptized here. We are young and still growing in our faith. We attend the 9am Sunday Mass regularly with our children, and I make effort to attend daily Mass near work, wherever that might be—most frequently at St. John's Basilica in Stamford. Lisa and I both grew up far removed from the Catholic faith, and we continue to be alone in this faith without our parents' blessing or extended family's participation.   

When I saw the Solemn High Mass at St. Pius three years ago, I witnessed for the first time our priests in a different light, not just as scholars, teachers, or administrators but as God's priests offering properly-ordered prayers and sacrifices on the altar. It was a moving moment in my faith journey. When I heard the Credo III chanted with such reverence, the mysteries of the faith came alive, not in the sense that they became any clearer or more understandable or more articulate, but in the sense that they became more vivid, more intimate, while still remaining a mystery… beyond what words can describe. That, in turn, made all the other Masses I attend daily and weekly take on more weight and meaning. In a paradoxical way, having witnessed the Extraordinary Form only increased and intensified my experience with other forms of prayer and Mass, whether it is at Sunday Mass with screaming children or at a 15-minute morning Mass before work. Knowing and studying the Extraordinary Form draws me closer to all other aspects of the faith, not exclusively the Latin Mass itself. 

 

I grew up in communist China in the early 90s and experienced the very tail-end of the fallout from Mao's Cultural Revolution when hundreds of millions of people killed each other, all old paintings were destroyed, and old buildings and books were burned to make way for the new and modern. Yet, after all of that, by the grace of God, students continue to be required to memorize at least 300 to 500 ancient poems in a form of classical Chinese that no one speaks anymore. We all asked the same questions when facing that task in school: What is the point of reciting that many thousand-year-old poems about full moons and trees and birds? What is the point of learning and drawing that complex and obsolete Chinese character that describes a river or a piece of rock wall? Today, China feels like that young kid on the block with all its westernized new buildings and shiny modern industries, and it is hard to see China with its own 5000 years of history. It is hard to feel any pride or connection to five centuries of Chinese dynasties when we visit, and it is hard to find any well preserved paintings or artifacts from ancient China. But I can guarantee that when the full moon rises anywhere in the world, millions of Chinese scattered around the globe reach back in time through five little words a poet wrote down hundreds of years ago, and they experience the weight of that tradition and history.

The coolest thing for me when Fr. Sam started to offer Monday and Thursday evening Latin Masses was precisely this sense of reaching back into history. I did not grow up with any Christian traditions, and generations of my family were not even aware of such things. I go to these additional Latin Masses to experience it together with many saints and holy men and women throughout history and to reach far beyond a few decades back, breaking the boundaries of the linear laws of time while remaining firmly in our specific time.

We teach our three young children Latin at home, and I planned offer them the opportunity to attend these evening Masses as a reward when they made notable progress. Frankly, they have absorbed more Latin than I.  When I see my daughters at ages 4 and 5 sing the Salve Regina, I see them decades later when they are grown up, remembering not just the meaning and words of that moment but something special we did together as a family that was very different from day-to-day life, in a different language and in a setting that is set aside from the world in dramatic, obvious ways. I see tremendous grace unfolding over their lifetimes beyond any clear meanings and teachings that were communicated in these words and set prayers, though their sense of wonder and their shared experience with real people who lived generations ago.

We might not look up and wonder about the beauty of the moon every day, but it is wonderful that short poem about that full moon thousands of years ago was not preserved only among a few historians and classical language scholars. Instead, it is still alive for billions of people, passed down through the generations, and no one is deprived of experiencing that beauty and that connection to history.

Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero.

https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2021/07/latin-mass-society-canonical-notes-on.html?m=1#more

Latin Mass Society -- Canonical Notes on the Application of Traditiones Custodes (Guide for Priests and Faithful)

In this document we wish to give some brief indications of what the Apostolic Letter does and does not do in terms of the canonical obligations of bishops and priests, in light of the advice we have received from more than one canonist.

The Authority of the Bishop

The Apostolic Letter emphasises the authority of the bishop in each diocese over the liturgy.

Art. 2. It belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular Church entrusted to him, to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese. Therefore, it is his exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See.

This article footnotes (inter alia) Vatican II's Decree on the Office of Bishop, Christus Dominus 11, which states:

Therefore bishops are the principal dispensers of the mysteries of God, as well as being the governors, promoters, and guardians of the entire liturgical life in the church committed to them.

A similar point is made by Vatican II's Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.

The Apostolic Letter takes, therefore, this principle already well-established in the discipline of the Church, and concludes ('therefore') that the bishop has authority over the 1962 Missal in his diocese. This is reminiscent of the comment in Pope Benedict XVI (2007) Letter to Bishops Accompanying Summorum Pontificum:

I very much wish to stress that these new norms do not in any way lessen your own authority and responsibility, either for the liturgy or for the pastoral care of your faithful.  Each Bishop, in fact, is the moderator of the liturgy in his own Diocese (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 22).

The Apostolic Letter is, at this point, not making any innovation, or investing bishops with special authority, but merely reiterating the existing legal situation, which had itself not been altered by Summorum Pontificum. 

The Rights of Priests and Faithful

Pope Benedict's Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum Article 1 notes, as a historical fact, that the 1962 Missal has never been abrogated. It goes on to confirm the legal implications of this fact: that priests of the Latin Rite have the right to celebrate according to this Missal, and that the faithful have the right to attend it.

Nevertheless, the exercise of the right of priests to celebrate the 1962 Missal impacts the question of the liturgical life of the diocese, and for this reason comes under the authority of the bishop. Thus, for example, Summorum Pontificum limits the celebration of the older Easter Triduum (Art. 2). 

The provisions of Traditionis Custodes must be understood in the same way. It does not abrogate the 1962 Missal, and thus leaves the right of priests to celebrate it intact. It does regulate the way this right can be exercised.

It should be noted that the Apostolic Letter says nothing about the right of the faithful to attend the 1962 Mass, the celebration of the other sacraments according to the older Roman Ritual, or the saying of the older Divine Office by priests in public or in private: accordingly, all of these things remain permitted. It is general principle of Canon Law that laws which restrict things are to be interpreted narrowly rather than widely:

Can. 18: Laws which establish a penalty, restrict the free exercise of rights, or contain an exception from the law are subject to strict interpretation.

'Groups' attached to the 1962 Missal

Article 3 concerns 'groups that celebrate according to the Missal antecedent to the reform of 1970'. With sight only of vernacular translations of the Apostolic Letter, the context of this terminology is harder to clarify, but the way the term is used indicates that the Apostolic Letter has a formal association in mind. These are entities which might have settled views about the liturgical reform (Art 3.1), have a right to pastoral care (3.4), and up to the time of the Apostolic Letter could be 'authorised' by the local Ordinary (3.6). The provision in 3.5 concerning 'parishes canonically erected for the benefit of these faithful' reinforces this impression.

This corresponds to the use of the term 'group' (in the English translation) in Summorum Pontificum Articles 5 and 7. In those articles, 'groups' of the faithful attached to the older Missal had the right to request a regular celebration of this Missal (Art. 5) and, if denied by a parish priest, to appeal to the bishop and then to the Holy See (Art. 7). Relatedly, it authorises bishops to erect 'personal parishes' (Art. 10).

The Instruction Universae Ecclesiae (2011) tried to establish a fairly informal understanding of what was required for the existence of a 'group' (see Universae Ecclesiae 15), in order to make it easier for them to claim the rights attached to the concept of a group in Summorum Pontificum. The notion of a 'group' being subject to 'authorisation' in Traditionis Custodes nevertheless suggests a fairly formal understanding. 

The regulation of the celebration of the 1962 Missal for such 'groups' is the sole preoccupation of Traditionis Custodes Article 3. Bishops where these groups currently exist are instructed to find places for them to worship according to the 1962 books (3.2), to determine the times at which Masses are to be celebrated (3.3), and to appoint celebrants for them (3.4). The existence of personal parishes are to be reviewed (3.5). No new groups are to be established (3.6).

What these provisions do is to emphasise the authority of the bishop in regulating arrangements which may have been made under Summorum Pontificum Art. 5. It does not instruct bishops to close these arrangements down: on the contrary, it tells him to make provision for the faithful concerned. On the other hand, the rights of such groups to form and to request celebrations is rescinded, and it follows that no new groups of this kind will come into existence (or be recognised as such).

The following articles, 4 and 5, concern the authorisation of priests to celebrate according to the 1962 Missal: in the case of newly ordained priests, with reference to the Holy See. As noted above, this is a matter of the bishops' moderation of the liturgy in his diocese, and not the right in principle of priests to celebrate the 1962 Missal, so this should be taken to concern the public celebration of the older Missal. There is accordingly no need for a priest to apply for permission to celebrate the 1962 Missal in private.

Priests who have this permission will be able to celebrate the 1962 Mass in their parishes, or anywhere else, and the faithful will be able to attend it. If these faithful do not constitute a recognised 'group', the provisions of Art. 3 do not apply. Indeed, they could not do so: it would make no sense to ask of a collection of Catholics who happen to turn up at a particular Mass, but may never have met before, what theological position they collectively hold about the Second Vatican Council, as per Art 3.1, or if their existence as a collective is 'authorised', as per Art. 3.6.

To summarise, Traditiones Custodes is concerned to maintain the pastoral care of officially-constituted 'groups' attached to the ancient Mass, for example in personal parishes, but wishes to emphasise the authority of the bishop to regulate where, when, and by whom, their Masses are celebrated.

At the same time, it does not prevent priests in general celebrating the older Mass, even in public, but it wishes to emphasises the authority of the bishop to give permission for this.

In both cases, it should be observed that in practice under Summorum Pontificum bishops continued to exercise the kind of care and control which Traditionis Custodes underlines, though they might sometimes have done this implicitly and indirectly: for example, by choosing where to assign priests. Although they are given more direct power over the situation by Traditionis Custodes, it seems likely that many bishops will continue to exercise this power as a matter of general oversight, rather than micro-managing each parish and apostolate.

The decision of many bishops in the immediate aftermath of the publication of Traditionis Custodes, to give blanket permissions for existing arrangements to continue, is a perfectly reasonable exercise of their prerogatives under the Apostolic Letter.

Parish Churches

The most surprising thing about Article 3 is that the places of worship to be assigned to 'groups' should not include parish churches. In the context of Italy and certain other countries, where for historical reasons dioceses have an abundance of non-parish churches, this presents no great difficulty, and personal parishes for the 1962 Mass do indeed, in such countries, tend to make use of these places of worship: chapels of ease, confraternity chapels, chapels attached to religious communities, and so on.

In other countries this is not so. If a bishop cannot easily find an alternative venue for such a group then, in accordance with Canon 87.1, he need not apply this restriction:

Canon 87.1. A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church. 

As already explained, this question only arises with formally constituted 'groups'. It is interesting to note, nonetheless, that while no new 'personal parishes' are to be established, the moving of 'groups' from parish churches to other places of worship implies the continuing usefulness of the concept of a 'shrine' dedicated to the celebration of the 1962 Missal, and in general to 'chaplaincies' for those attached to this Mass.

Vernacular readings

It should be noted that the requirement of Article 3.3 that lections be given in the vernacular does not exclude their being proclaimed first in the Latin of the liturgical text, which is generally required under the liturgical law of the 1962 Missal.

The congruence of the translation used with the liturgical text, which sometimes varies from the Hebrew or Greek versions which form the basis of most recent translations, should be kept in mind.

In any case, this requirement only applies in the context of the provision of the Mass for 'groups' as explained above.

The Good of Souls

All ecclesiastical legislation aims at the good of souls: the concluding words of the Code of Canon Law, indeed, tells us so:

Can. 1752: …the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one's eyes.

The authority of the Holy See and of bishops and priests is given, not for their own good, but for the good of souls; on bishops in particular, see the Code Can. 383 §1. Canon 87.1 has already been quoted, above. 

All of these statements remind us that it is in the context of the good of souls that Church's legal provisions must be interpreted and applied. Within the Church's tradition, to apply a regulation in such a way as manifestly to harm the good of souls, is not just a pastoral or practical problem, but a failure to evaluate its legal force correctly. 

Traditionis Custodes concerns itself directly with the good of souls, and the Holy Father's Letter to Bishops underlines this motivation. The reason why the former Missal is not simply banned outright is that Pope Francis is mindful of the pastoral harm this would do. The 'two principles' the Letter gives to guide bishops are these:

to provide for the good of those who are rooted in the previous form of celebration and who need time to return [e hanno bisogno di tempo] to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II, and, on the other hand, to discontinue the erection of new personal parishes tied more to the desire and wishes of individual priests than to the real need of the "holy People of God."

This is therefore the crucial consideration in applying the Apostolic Letter according to the mens of the legislator. Bishops are to make arrangements and to give, or withhold, permissions, according to whether they believe it will be of spiritual benefit to the faithful attached to the older Mass, and to the priests who wish to celebrate it.

Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment: Mass last Saturday

http://liturgicalnotes.blogspot.com/2021/07/mass-last-saturday.html?m=1

Mass last Saturday

As I finished saying Mass last Saturday, the morning after Traditionis custodes, the thought struck me: That is the Mass, those were the words, for which our Anglo-Catholic Fathers were persecuted ... in some cases, imprisoned ... An Argentinian pope may be very different from an English former Public School head master, Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, but how like they both are in their hatred of the Old Mass, and of those who celebrate it.

But then a different and less unworthy thought took over: Those Anglo-Catholic clergy, at worst, spent but a few weeks in prison ... I should be thinking rather of the English Seminary Martyrs ... the rack, the rope, the knife ... the heads on the spikes over the City Gates, the carrion birds, the smell on the wind ...

Then, familiar words of Gregory Dix ... I've quoted them before: "This very morning I did this with a set of texts which has not changed by more than a few syllables since Augustine used those very words at Canterbury on the third Sunday of Easter in the summer after he landed."

Then ... all those Masses during all those Persecutions in all those blood-stained Enlightenments. So many holy priests ... so many gaolers bribed to smuggle in the necessities for a last Mass ... Te igitur for the last time ... blinking, as they took you out into the sunlight ...

There swept over me an enormous sense of privilege; a sense (this is not sarcasm) of gratitude to our Holy Father for reminding me of the wonder of those words which I say every morning. Words so ancient, yet, every morning, so radiant, so new. Words that remake ones inmost being.

Things rarely seem as precious as they do when there are attempts to rob you of them.

God be praised, now and for ever, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/ecclsdei/documents/rc_com_ecclsdei_doc_20110430_istr-universae-ecclesiae_en.html

Instruction on the application of the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI given Motu Proprio

1. The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum of the Sovereign Pontiff Benedict XVI given Motu Proprio on 7 July 2007, which came into effect on 14 September 2007, has made the richness of the Roman Liturgy more accessible to the Universal Church.

2. With this Motu Proprio, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a universal law for the Church, intended to establish new regulations for the use of the Roman Liturgy in effect in 1962.

3. The Holy Father, having recalled the concern of the Sovereign Pontiffs in caring for the Sacred Liturgy and in their recognition of liturgical books, reaffirms the traditional principle, recognised from time immemorial and necessary to be maintained into the future, that "each particular Church must be in accord with the universal Church not only regarding the doctrine of the faith and sacramental signs, but also as to the usages universally handed down by apostolic and unbroken tradition. These are to be maintained not only so that errors may be avoided, but also so that the faith may be passed on in its integrity, since the Church's rule of prayer (lex orandi) corresponds to her rule of belief (lex credendi)."[1]

4. The Holy Father recalls also those Roman Pontiffs who, in a particular way, were notable in this task, specifically Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Pius V. The Holy Father stresses moreover that, among the sacred liturgical books, the Missale Romanum has enjoyed a particular prominence in history, and was kept up to date throughout the centuries until the time of Blessed Pope John XXIII. Subsequently in 1970, following the liturgical reform after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI approved for the Church of the Latin rite a new Missal, which was then translated into various languages. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II promulgated the third edition of this Missal.

5. Many of the faithful, formed in the spirit of the liturgical forms prior to the Second Vatican Council, expressed a lively desire to maintain the ancient tradition. For this reason, Pope John Paul II with a special Indult Quattuor abhinc annos issued in 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship, granted the faculty under certain conditions to restore the use of the Missal promulgated by Blessed Pope John XXIII. Subsequently, Pope John Paul II, with the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei of 1988, exhorted the Bishops to be generous in granting such a faculty for all the faithful who requested it. Pope Benedict continues this policy with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum regarding certain essential criteria for the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite, which are recalled here.

6. The Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI and the last edition prepared under Pope John XXIII, are two forms of the Roman Liturgy, defined respectively as ordinaria and extraordinaria: they are two usages of the one Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the expression of the same lex orandi of the Church. On account of its venerable and ancient use, the forma extraordinaria is to be maintained with appropriate honor.

7. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum was accompanied by a letter from the Holy Father to Bishops, with the same date as the Motu Proprio (7 July 2007). This letter gave further explanations regarding the appropriateness and the need for the Motu Proprio; it was a matter of overcoming a lacuna by providing new norms for the use of the Roman Liturgy of 1962. Such norms were needed particularly on account of the fact that, when the new Missal had been introduced under Pope Paul VI, it had not seemed necessary to issue guidelines regulating the use of the 1962 Liturgy. By reason of the increase in the number of those asking to be able to use the forma extraordinaria, it has become necessary to provide certain norms in this area.

Among the statements of the Holy Father was the following: "There is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal. In the history of the Liturgy growth and progress are found, but not a rupture. What was sacred for prior generations, remains sacred and great for us as well, and cannot be suddenly prohibited altogether or even judged harmful."[2]

8. The Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum constitutes an important expression of the Magisterium of the Roman Pontiff and of his munus of regulating and ordering the Church's Sacred Liturgy.[3] The Motu Proprio manifests his solicitude as Vicar of Christ and Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church,[4] and has the aim of:

a. offering to all the faithful the Roman Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, considered as a precious treasure to be preserved;

b. effectively guaranteeing and ensuring the use of the forma extraordinaria for all who ask for it, given that the use of the 1962 Roman Liturgy is a faculty generously granted for the good of the faithful and therefore is to be interpreted in a sense favourable to the faithful who are its principal addressees;

c. promoting reconciliation at the heart of the Church.

II.
The Responsibilities
of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

9. The Sovereign Pontiff has conferred upon the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei ordinary vicarious power for the matters within its competence, in a particular way for monitoring the observance and application of the provisions of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 12).

10. § 1. The Pontifical Commission exercises this power, beyond the faculties previously granted by Pope John Paul II and confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, artt. 11-12), also by means of the power to decide upon recourses legitimately sent to it, as hierarchical Superior, against any possible singular administrative provision of an Ordinary which appears to be contrary to the Motu Proprio.

§ 2. The decrees by which the Pontifical Commission decides recourses may be challenged ad normam iuris before the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

11. After having received the approval from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will have the task of looking after future editions of liturgical texts pertaining to the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

III.
Specific Norms

12. Following upon the inquiry made among the Bishops of the world, and with the desire to guarantee the proper interpretation and the correct application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, this Pontifical Commission, by virtue of the authority granted to it and the faculties which it enjoys, issues this Instruction according to can. 34 of the Code of Canon Law.

The Competence of Diocesan Bishops

13. Diocesan Bishops, according to Canon Law, are to monitor liturgical matters in order to guarantee the common good and to ensure that everything is proceeding in peace and serenity in their Dioceses[5], always in agreement with the mens of the Holy Father clearly expressed by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.[6] In cases of controversy or well-founded doubt about the celebration in the forma extraordinaria, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei will adjudicate.

14. It is the task of the Diocesan Bishop to undertake all necessary measures to ensure respect for the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite, according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

The coetus fidelium (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 1)

15. A coetus fidelium ("group of the faithful") can be said to be stabiliter existens ("existing in a stable manner"), according to the sense of art. 5 § 1 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, when it is constituted by some people of an individual parish who, even after the publication of the Motu Proprio, come together by reason of their veneration for the Liturgy in the Usus Antiquior, and who ask that it might be celebrated in the parish church or in an oratory or chapel; such a coetus ("group") can also be composed of persons coming from different parishes or dioceses, who gather together in a specific parish church or in an oratory or chapel for this purpose.

16. In the case of a priest who presents himself occasionally in a parish church or an oratory with some faithful, and wishes to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria, as foreseen by articles 2 and 4 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the pastor or rector of the church, or the priest responsible, is to permit such a celebration, while respecting the schedule of liturgical celebrations in that same church.

17. § 1. In deciding individual cases, the pastor or the rector, or the priest responsible for a church, is to be guided by his own prudence, motivated by pastoral zeal and a spirit of generous welcome.

§ 2. In cases of groups which are quite small, they may approach the Ordinary of the place to identify a church in which these faithful may be able to come together for such celebrations, in order to ensure easier participation and a more worthy celebration of the Holy Mass.

18. Even in sanctuaries and places of pilgrimage the possibility to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria is to be offered to groups of pilgrims who request it (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 5 § 3), if there is a qualified priest.

19. The faithful who ask for the celebration of the forma extraordinaria must not in any way support or belong to groups which show themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.

Sacerdos idoneus ("Qualified Priest") (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art 5 § 4)

20. With respect to the question of the necessary requirements for a priest to be held idoneus ("qualified") to celebrate in the forma extraordinaria, the following is hereby stated:

a. Every Catholic priest who is not impeded by Canon Law[7] is to be considered idoneus ("qualified") for the celebration of the Holy Mass in the forma extraordinaria.

b. Regarding the use of the Latin language, a basic knowledge is necessary, allowing the priest to pronounce the words correctly and understand their meaning.

c. Regarding knowledge of the execution of the Rite, priests are presumed to be qualified who present themselves spontaneously to celebrate the forma extraordinaria, and have celebrated it previously.

21. Ordinaries are asked to offer their clergy the possibility of acquiring adequate preparation for celebrations in the forma extraordinaria. This applies also to Seminaries, where future priests should be given proper formation, including study of Latin[8] and, where pastoral needs suggest it, the opportunity to learn the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

22. In Dioceses without qualified priests, Diocesan Bishops can request assistance from priests of the Institutes erected by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, either to the celebrate the forma extraordinaria or to teach others how to celebrate it.

23. The faculty to celebrate sine populo (or with the participation of only one minister) in the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite is given by the Motu Proprio to all priests, whether secular or religious (cf. Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, art. 2). For such celebrations therefore, priests, by provision of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, do not require any special permission from their Ordinaries or superiors.

Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Discipline

24. The liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria are to be used as they are. All those who wish to celebrate according to the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite must know the pertinent rubrics and are obliged to follow them correctly.

25. New saints and certain of the new prefaces can and ought to be inserted into the 1962 Missal[9], according to provisions which will be indicated subsequently.

26. As foreseen by article 6 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, the readings of the Holy Mass of the Missal of 1962 can be proclaimed either solely in the Latin language, or in Latin followed by the vernacular or, in Low Masses, solely in the vernacular.

27. With regard to the disciplinary norms connected to celebration, the ecclesiastical discipline contained in the Code of Canon Law of 1983 applies.

28. Furthermore, by virtue of its character of special law, within its own area, the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum derogates from those provisions of law, connected with the sacred Rites, promulgated from 1962 onwards and incompatible with the rubrics of the liturgical books in effect in 1962.

Confirmation and Holy Orders

29. Permission to use the older formula for the rite of Confirmation was confirmed by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum (cf. art. 9 § 2). Therefore, in the forma extraordinaria, it is not necessary to use the newer formula of Pope Paul VI as found in the Ordo Confirmationis.

30. As regards tonsure, minor orders and the subdiaconate, the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum does not introduce any change in the discipline of the Code of Canon Law of 1983; consequently, in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, one who has made solemn profession or who has been definitively incorporated into a clerical institute of apostolic life, becomes incardinated as a cleric in the institute or society upon ordination to the diaconate, in accordance with canon 266 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

31. Only in Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life which are under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and in those which use the liturgical books of the forma extraordinaria, is the use of the Pontificale Romanum of 1962 for the conferral of minor and major orders permitted.

Breviarium Romanum

32. Art. 9 § 3 of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum gives clerics the faculty to use the Breviarium Romanum in effect in 1962, which is to be prayed entirely and in the Latin language.

The Sacred Triduum

33. If there is a qualified priest, a coetus fidelium ("group of faithful"), which follows the older liturgical tradition, can also celebrate the Sacred Triduum in the forma extraordinaria. When there is no church or oratory designated exclusively for such celebrations, the parish priest or Ordinary, in agreement with the qualified priest, should find some arrangement favourable to the good of souls, not excluding the possibility of a repetition of the celebration of the Sacred Triduum in the same church.

The Rites of Religious Orders

34. The use of the liturgical books proper to the Religious Orders which were in effect in 1962 is permitted.

Pontificale Romanum and the Rituale Romanum

35. The use of the Pontificale Romanum, the Rituale Romanum, as well as the Caeremoniale Episcoporum in effect in 1962, is permitted, in keeping with n. 28 of this Instruction, and always respecting n. 31 of the same Instruction.

The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei on 8 April 2011, approved this present Instruction and ordered its publication.

Given at Rome, at the Offices of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, 30 April, 2011, on the memorial of Pope Saint Pius V.

William Cardinal LEVADA
President

Mons. Guido Pozzo
Secretary

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[1] BENEDICTUS XVI, Litterae Apostolicae Summorum Pontificum motu proprio datae, I, AAS 99 (2007) 777; cf. Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, tertia editio 2002, n. 397.

[2] BENEDICTUS XVI, Epistola ad Episcopos ad producendas Litteras Apostolicas motu proprio datas, de Usu Liturgiae Romanae Instaurationi anni 1970 praecedentis, AAS 99 (2007) 798.

[3] Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 838 §1 and §2.

[4] Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 331.

[5] Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canons 223 § 2 or 838 §1 and §4.

[6] BENEDICTUS XVI, Epistola ad Episcopos ad producendas Litteras Apostolicas motu proprio datas, de Usu Liturgiae Romanae Instaurationi anni 1970 praecedentis, AAS 99 (2007) 799.

[7] Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 900 § 2.

[8] Cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 249; Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, 36; Declaration Optatum totius, 13.

[9] BENEDICTUS XVI, Epistola ad Episcopos ad producendas Litteras Apostolicas motu proprio datas, de Usu Liturgiae Romanae Instaurationi anni 1970 praecedentis, AAS 99 (2007) 797.

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Latina Lingua, De Pontificia Academia Latinitatis condenda, die X mensis Novembris, anno MMXII - Benedictus XVI, Motu proprio | Benedictus XVI

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

LITTERAE APOSTOLICAE
MOTU PROPRIO DATAE

LATINA LINGUA

De Pontificia Academia Latinitatis condenda

1. Latina Lingua permagni ab Ecclesia Catholica Romanisque Pontificibus usque est aestimata, quandoquidem ipsorum propria habita est lingua, qui eandem cognoscendam et diffundendam assidue curaverunt, cum Evangelii nuntium in universum orbem transmittere valeret, quemadmodum in Constitutione Apostolica Veterum sapientia Decessor Noster beatus Ioannes XXIII iure meritoque edixit.

Enimvero inde a Pentecoste omnibus hominum linguis locuta et precata est Ecclesia. Attamen christianae communitates primorum saeculorum linguam Graecam Latinamque affatim usurpaverunt, cum illis locis in quibus morabantur universalia essent communicationis instrumenta, quorum ope Christi Verbi novitas hereditati obviam ivit Romani et Hellenistici cultus.

Romano Imperio occidentali exstincto, Romana Ecclesia non modo lingua Latina uti perrexit, verum etiam quodammodo custos eiusdem et fautrix fuit, sive in Theologiae ac Liturgiae, sive in institutionis et scientiae transmittendae provincia.

2. Nostris quoque temporibus Latinae linguae et cultus cognitio perquam est necessaria ad fontes vestigandos ex quibus complures disciplinae ceteroqui hauriunt, exempli gratia Theologia, Liturgia, Patrologia et Ius Canonicum, quemadmodum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II docet (cfr Decretum de Institutione sacerdotali, Optatam totius, 13). In hac praeterea lingua, ut universalis Ecclesiae natura pateat, typica forma sunt scripti liturgici libri Romani Ritus, praestantiora Magisterii pontificii Documenta necnon sollemniora Romanorum Pontificum officialia Acta.

3. In hodierno tamen cultu, humanarum litterarum extenuatis studiis, periculum adest levioris linguae Latinae cognitionis, quae in curriculis philosophicis theologicisque futurorum presbyterorum quoque animadvertitur. Sed contra, in nostro ipso orbe, in quo scientia ac technologia praecipuum obtinent locum, renovatum culturae et linguae Latinae studium invenitur, non illis in Continentibus dumtaxat quae proprias culturales radices in patrimonio Graeco et Romano habent. Id diligentius est animadvertendum eo quod non modo academiarum provincia et institutionum implicatur, sed ad iuvenes inquisitoresque etiam attinet, qui ex diversissimis Nationibus et traditionibus proveniunt.

4. Quapropter necessitas instare videtur ut linguae Latinae altius cognoscendae eiusque congruenter utendae fulciatur cura, sive in ecclesiali sive in patentiore cultus campo. Ut hic nisus extollatur et evulgetur, consentaneum prorsus est docendi rationes adhibere aptas ad novas condiciones et provehere item necessitudines inter Academicas institutiones et inquisitores, ut copiosum ac multiforme Latini cultus patrimonium efferatur.

Ad haec proposita assequenda, Decessorum Nostrorum semitas calcantes, hasce per Litteras Apostolicas Motu Proprio datas hodie Pontificiam Academiam Latinitatis condimus, quae Pontificio Consilio de Cultura erit obnoxia. Eam regit Praeses, quem Secretarius iuvat et ii a Nobis nominantur, dum Consilium Academicum illis auxilium fert. Opus Fundatum Latinitas, quod Pauli PP. VI chirographo Romani Sermonis die XXX mensis Iunii anno MCMLXXVI est constitutum, exstinguitur.

Decernimus ut hae Litterae Apostolicae Motu Proprio datae, quibus ad experimentum in quinquennium adnexum Statutum comprobamus, per editionem in actis diurnis "L'Osservatore Romano" evulgentur.

Datum Romae, apud Sanctum Petrum, die X mensis Novembris, in memoria Sancti Leonis Magni Papae, anno MMXII, Pontificatus Nostri octavo.
 

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

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Pontificiae Academiae Latinitatis Statutum

Art. I

Pontificia Academia Latinitatis conditur, cuius sedes in Statu Civitatis Vaticanae locatur, quae linguam Latinam et cultum promoveat extollatque. Academia cum Pontificio Consilio de Cultura copulatur, cui est obnoxia.

Art. II

§ 1. Haec sunt Academiae proposita:

a) ut linguae litterarumque Latinarum, quae ad classicos, Christianos, mediaevales, humanisticos et recentissimos pertinent auctores, cognitionem iuvet studiumque provehat, praesertim apud catholica instituta, in quibus vel Seminarii tirones vel presbyteri instituuntur atque erudiuntur.

b) Ut provehat diversis in provinciis Latinae linguae usum, sive scribendo sive loquendo.

§ 2. Ut haec proposita consequatur, Academia studet:

a) scripta, conventus, studiorum congressiones, scaenica opera curare;

b) curricula, seminaria aliaque educationis incepta procurare, etiam iunctis viribus cum Pontificio Instituto Altioris Latinitatis;

c) hodierna quoque communicationis instrumenta in discipulis instituendis adhibere, ut sermonem Latinum perdiscant.

d) expositiones, exhibitiones et certamina apparare;

e) alia agere ac suscipere ad hoc Institutionis propositum assequendum.

Art. III

Pontificia Academia Latinitatis Praesidem, Secretarium, Consilium Academicum ac Sodales, qui Academici quoque nuncupantur, complectitur.

Art. IV

§ 1. Academiae Praeses a Summo Pontifice in quinquennium nominatur. Praesidis mandatum in alterum quinquennium renovari potest.

§ 2. Ad Praesidem spectat:

a) iure Academiae, etiam coram quavis iudiciali administrativaque auctoritate, sive canonica sive civili, partes agere;

b) Consilium Academicum et Sodalium Congressionem convocare eisque praesidere;

c) Congressionibus Coordinationis Academiarum Pontificiarum Sodalis loco interesse atque cum Pontificio Consilio de Cultura necessitudinem persequi;

d) Academiae rebus agendis praeesse;

e) ordinariae administrationi, Secretario opem ferente, atque extraordinariae administrationi, suffragante Consilio Academico necnon Pontificio Consilio de Cultura, consulere.

Art. V

§ 1. In quinquennium a Summo Pontifice nominatur Secretarius, qui in alterum quinquennium confirmari potest.

§ 2. Praeses, si forte absit vel impediatur, Secretarium delegat, ut ipsius vice fungatur.

Art. VI

§ 1. Consilium Academicum constituunt Praeses, Secretarius et quinque Consiliarii. Consiliarii autem a coetu Academicorum in quinquennium eliguntur, qui confirmari possunt.

§ 2. Consilium Academicum, cui Academiae Praeses praeficitur, de maioris ponderis quaestionibus, ad Academiam attinentibus, decernit. Ipsum Rerum agendarum ordinem comprobat, quae a Coetu Sodalium tractanda erunt, qui saltem semel in anno est convocandus. Consilium a Praeside convocatur semel in anno atque quotiescumque porro id saltem tres Consiliarii requirunt.

Art. VII

Praeses, suffragante Consilio, Archivarium, qui Bibliothecarii partes quoque agit, atque Thesaurarium nominare potest.

Art. VIII

§ 1. Academiam constituunt Sodales Ordinarii, qui numerum quinquaginta non excedunt et Academici vocantur, quique studiosi sunt cultoresque linguae ac litterarum Latinarum. Ii a Secretario Status nominantur. Cum autem Sodales Ordinarii octogesimum aetatis annum complent, Emeriti fiunt.

§ 2. Academici Ordinarii Academiae Coetui, a Praeside convocato, intersunt. Academici Emeriti Coetui interesse possunt, at sine suffragio.

§ 3. Praeter Academicos Ordinarios, Academiae Praeses, Consilio audito, alios Sodales nominare potest, qui "correspondentes" nuncupantur.

Art. IX

Aboliti Operis Fundati Latinitas patrimonium inceptaque,compositione editioneque commentariorum Latinitas addita, in Pontificiam Academiam Latinitatis transferuntur.

Art. X

Quae hic expresse non deliberantur, Codice Iuris Canonici et Status Civitatis Vaticanae legibus temperantur.

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Apostolic Letter issued "Motu Proprio" Latina Lingua establishing the Pontifical Academy for Latin (10 November 2012) | BENEDICT XVI

APOSTOLIC BEAR
IN THE FORM OF "MOTU PROPRIO"

LATINA LINGUA

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI

ESTABLISHING
THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY FOR LATIN

1. The Latin language has always been very highly appreciated by the Catholic Church and the Roman Pontiffs. They have assuredly encouraged the knowledge and dissemination of Latin, adopting it as the Church's language, capable of passing on the gospel message throughout the world. This is authoritatively stated by the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia of my Precessor, Blessed John XXIII.

Indeed, the Church has spoken and prayed in the languages of all people since Pentecost. Nevertheless, the Christian communities of the early centuries frequently used Greek and Latin, languages of universal communication in the world in which they lived and through which the novelity of Christ's word encountered the heritage of the Roman-Hellenistic culture.

After the fall of the Roman Empire of the West, the Church of Rome continued to use Latin, but in a certain way, made herself her custodian and champion in both the theological and liturgical sectors as well as in the formation and transfer of knowledge.

2. In our time, knowledge of the Latin language and culture is proving more necessary than ever for the study of the sources, which, among other things, numerous ecclesiastical disciplines draw from, such as theology, liturgy, patristics and canon law, as the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council teaches (cf. Decree Optatam Totius, n. 13).

In addition, precisely to highlight the universal character of the Church, the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the most important documents of the Papal Magisterium and the most solemn official acts of the Roman Pontiffs are written in this language in their authentic form.

3. However, in today's culture, the danger of an increasingly superficial knowledge of Latin can be noted in the context of the widespread weakening of humanistic studies. This is also a risk in the context of the philosophical and theological studies of future priests. In addition, in our own world, in which science and technology play such an important role, there is a renewed interest in the Latin culture and language and not only on those continents whose culture is rooted in the Greco-Roman heritage. This attention seems all the more meaningful since it not only involves academic and institutional sectors, but also concerns young people and scholars from very different nations and traditions.

4. It therefore seems urgently necessary to support the commitment to greater knowledge and more competent use of Latin, both in the ecclesial context and in the broader world of culture. In order to give relevance and resonance to this undertaking, the use of didactic methods in keeping with the new conditions and the promotion of a network of relations between academic institutions and scholars is particularly appropriate to make the most of the rich and multiform patrimony of the Latin civilization.

To contribute to achieving these goals in the footsteps of my venerable Precessors, today, with this Motu Proprio, I establish the Pontifical Academy for Latin, under the Pontifical Council for Culture. It is governed by a president assisted by a secretary, who is appointed by me, and by an academic council.

The Latinitas Foundation, erected by Paul VI with the Chirograph Romani Sermonis of 30 June 1976, is hereby replaced.

I order that this Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio, with which I approve the attached statutes ad experimentum, be published for five years, in L'Osservatore Romano.

Given at St. Peter's in Rome on November 10 November 2012, the Memorial of St Leo the Great, the eighth year of my Pontificate.

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

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Statutes of the Pontifical Academy for Latin

Article 1

The Pontifical Academy for Latin, with headquarters in Vatican City State, is established for the promotion and appreciation of the Latin language and culture. The Academy is linked to the Pontifical Council for Culture, on which it depends.

Article 2

§1. The goals of the Academy are:

a) to promote knowledge and study of Latin - language and literature, classical and patristic, medieval and humanistic - in particular at the Catholic institutions for formation, in which both seminarians and priests are trained and taught;

b) to promote the use of Latin in various contexts, both as a written and as a spoken language.

§ 2. In order to achieve these goals, the Academy intends to:

a) to publish and organize meetings, study congresses and exhibitions;

b) to set up and support courses, seminars and other training projects in coordination with the Pontifical Institute for Advanced Latin Studies;

c) to teach the young generations a knowledge of Latin, also through modern means of communication;

d) to organize exhibitions, shows and competitions;

e) to plan other activities and initiatives necessary for achieving the goals of the institution.

Article 3

The Pontifical Academy for Latin consists of the President, the Secretary, the Academic Council and members, who are also known as academicians.

Article 4

§ 1. The President of the Academy is appointed by the Supreme Pontiff for a five-year term. The office of the president may be extended for a second five-year term.

§ 2. It is the task of the President:

a) to represent the Academy legally before any judicial or administrative authority, either of the Church or the State;

b) convation and chairing the Academic Council and the Assembly of Members;

c) to participate as a member in the meetings of the Coordinating Council of the Pontifical Academies and to maintain relations with the Pontifical Council for Culture.

d) supervise the work of the Academy

e) take care of the ordinary administration with the support of the secretary, and in matters of extraordinary administration with the advice of the Academic Council and the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Article 5

§ 1. The secretary is appointed by the Supreme Pontiff for a five-year term and can be extended for a second five-year term.

§ 2. The president delegates the secretary to replace him in the event of absence or impediment.

Article 6

§ 1. The Academic Council consists of the President, the Secretary and five Councillors. The councillors are elected by the Assembly of Academics for a five-year term, which can be extended.

§ 2. The Academic Council, which is chaired by the President of the Academy, deliberates on the more important matters that concern the Academy. It approves the agenda in view of the Assembly of Members, which is to be held at least once a year. The Council is convoked by the President at least once a year and, in addition, whenever it is requested by at least three councillors.

Article 7

The President may, with the consent of the Council, appoint an archivist, with the duties of librarian, and a treasurer.

Article 8

§ 1. The Academy consists of no more than 50 Ordinary Members known as Academicians, who are scholars and connoisseurs of Latin, language and literature. They are appointed by the Secretary of State. When they reach the age of 80, the ordinary members become "emeritus".

§ 2. Ordinary academicians participate in the assembly of the Academy con con con con con convated by the President. Academicians emeritus may participate in the Assembly, but are not entitled to vote.

§ 3. The President of the Academy, having heard the opinion of the Council, can appoint as well as ordinary academicians other members, known as correspondents.

Article 9

The patrimony of the superseded Fondazione Latinitas and its activities, including the redaction and publication of the ReviewLatinitas, are transferred to the Pontifical Academy for Latin.

Article 10

Although not expressly prescribed, reference is made to the norms of the Code of Canon Law in force and to the laws of the Vatican City State.

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