Document on Summorum Pontificum before Christmas

[universalindult]

This translation was posted at freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=354494&p=140

CLARIFICATORY ‘INSTRUCTION’ ON THE MASS MP EXPECTED SOON

VATICAN CITY, Nov. 16 (ASCA) - According to the British Catholic weekly, The Tablet, the Vatican will be issuing ‘before Christmas’ an Instruction to clarify some aspects of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

It claims that Carsinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos , Prefect of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, presented the Instruction draft to Pope Benedict XVI at their meeting last Thursday.

The Instruction would clarify, for instance, what is meant by a ‘stable group’ of faiuthful who may request the parish priest to make the traditional Mass available to them.

Other clarifications have to do with aspects of canon law.

Such clarifications are deemed necessary because of lukewarm or even hostile reactions on the part of some bishops and bishops conferences to the Pope’s full validation of the traditional Mass.

Such reactions have given rise to guidelines issued by some bishops which are considered restrictive rather than supportive of the Pope’s Motu Proprio.

In recent interviews, Mons. Malcolm Ranjith, the number-two man at the Ciongregation for Divine Worship, has spoken about the ‘rebellion’ and ‘disobedience’ of some bishops against the Pope with regard to the Motu Proprio.

On September 14, Cardinal Hoyos may have indicated what aspects of canon law might be addressed in this clarification:

priests can decide, without permission from the Holy See or the bishop, to celebrate the Mass in the ancient rite. And this holds true for all priests…It is not therefore necessary to ask any other permission…The Code of Canon Law says who must give permission to say Mass and it is not the bishop: The bishop gives the “celebret,” the power to be able to celebrate, but when a priest has this power, it is the parish priest and the chaplain who must grant the altar to celebrate. If anyone impedes him, it is up to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, in the name of the Holy Father, to take measures until this right is respected…The Pope does not impose the obligation; the Pope does impose offering this possibility where the faithful request it. If there is a conflict, the authority of the bishop must intervene to avoid it, but without canceling the right that the Pope gave to the entire Church.

I suspect what Cardinal Hoyos said here, “The Code of Canon Law says who must give permission to say Mass and it is not the bishop: The bishop gives the “celebret,” the power to be able to celebrate” will be made explicit in the upcoming clarification.