Pope issues restrictions on Old Rite
Pope Francis has issued sweeping new restrictions on celebrations of the Old Rite, saying that it has been used to fuel division and reject the Second Vatican Council. But with the latest ruling each priest celebrating the Old Rite must now get permission from their bishop to continue to do so Pope Francis explains in a letter to bishops accompanying his Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, that the Tridentine Mass has been “characterised by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the ‘true Church’.”The Pope says that to doubt the council is “to doubt the Holy Spirit himself who guides the Church,” The Pope's decision on the traditional Latin Mass, however, is in line with the position of Pope St Paul VI, who guided Vatican II to its conclusion and sought to implement its reforms.












