Latin Mass Supporters React With Dismay to Pope’s Severe New Restrictions

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has issued sweeping restrictions to the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, reversing previous papal decrees that had liberalized the Mass celebrated before the liturgical reforms of Pope St. Paul VI in 1970, and urging a “return in due time” to the liturgy instituted after the Second Vatican Council. Supporters of the Latin Mass have responded to the new papal document with concern, saying that it clamps down in an unjustifiably swift and harsh manner on its celebration of the sacred liturgy. -- More...