What will happen to "Latin" under Pope Francis?

[A_G]

Will Pope Francis ever celebrate Mass in Latin? Give blessings in Latin?

Will he allow for the Extraordinary Mass and encourage it just as Pope Benedict XVI did?

 

[tradcathconvert]

This is just a guess, but, at least for now, the Holy Father will allow the EF to continue. He may also not give the celebration of that form of the Mass the encouragement it received from our pope emeritus, simply allowing those who have it to continue to do so.

 

[Theophorus]

Will Pope Francis ever celebrate Mass in Latin? Give blessings in Latin?

Will he allow for the Extraordinary Mass and encourage it just as Pope Benedict XVI did?

He’s given blessings in Latin already, and his latin is not great, we will see what happens on that front. It is unlikely in the extreme that he will suppress or abrogate the EF as it would be a direct contradiction of Pope Benedicts magisterial teaching, and would require legal changes(not impossible but unlikely), one of the best things our previous holy father did was to encourage the celebration of the EF as a grassroots movement, it’s going nowhere, even if its ignored for a while. But that all speculation, lets wait and see what he does and pray for him.

 

[airforcemom]

I am disappointed we now have a pope who doesn’t really care for the EF / Latin. I will give him time before deciding if I like him or not - just as I have the others but not approving of old ways put a mark in the not good column.

 

[Brendan]

His first Mass as Pope was an OF Mass in Latin. Readings and Homily were in Italian.

His Latin was a bit rustly, not the clear fluency of +Benedict.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Pope Benedict didn’t publicly celebrate the EF. I don’t think we can read anything into the fact that Pope Francis doesn’t publicly celebrate the EF (as a bishop or so far as Pope). I have watched videos of his Masses at the Cathedral in Buenos Aires, and the Mass he celebrated this morning. The were all reverant, correct OF Masses. As Brendan said, Mass this morning was in Latin so we can assume Latin isn’t going anywhere.

 

[George_Stegmeir]

Pope Francis was in the Seminary at a time when Latin was required for ordination. In his early years as a priest that was the only language allowed for the Liturgy and the Sacrements.
Rest assured that Pope Francis knows Latin. His may be a bit rusty, but it will return faster than one can think! I definately do not think he will abrogate its use. Remember, the use of Latin as a universal language, is one of the minor things that unites Catholics.

 

[lokiblue]

I think Pope Francis Knows what to do more than we do. I trust in Him…

 

[Corki]

He said his first Mass as Pope in Latin. The commentator mentioned that he seemed very uncomfortable speaking Latin.

I don’t think he will change Latin as the official language for Church documents but I doubt we will hear him speak it very often. For that matter, I don’t think we will hear him speak in English much either. We are a bit spoiled in that regard after Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI who were both multi-lingual. Reportedly, Pope Francis is fluent in only Spanish and Italian.

 

[acarlson]

I think we need to have a bit more faith in the Holy Spirit working through the Holy Father – the Holy Spirit clearly has been working already, as we saw in his election as Pope to begin with.

 

[Corki]

I think we need to have a bit more faith in the Holy Spirit working through the Holy Father – the Holy Spirit clearly has been working already, as we saw in his election as Pope to begin with.

Very true but completely off topic.

 

[Razanir]

Will Pope Francis ever celebrate Mass in Latin? Give blessings in Latin?

His Urbi et Ordi blessing sounded like Latin to me…

 

[Corki]

He said his first Mass as Pope in Latin. The commentator mentioned that he seemed very uncomfortable speaking Latin.

I don’t think he will change Latin as the official language for Church documents but I doubt we will hear him speak it very often. For that matter, I don’t think we will hear him speak in English much either. We are a bit spoiled in that regard after Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI who were both multi-lingual. Reportedly, Pope Francis is fluent in only German, Spanish and Italian.

too late to edit. added German.

 

[mburn16]

I’m starting to feel like Pope Francis will be neither “good” nor “bad” for the Latin/EF/Traditionalist movement. These sorts of liturgical matters don’t seem to be much of a priority for him, and he doesn’t strike me as one who would intentionally go and pick a fight with the traditionalists.

The more I watch him, the more I think he has his own style. It isn’t necessarily to the liking of the traditionalists, but ironically, the more he does it, the less I think it will set a precedent. We may very well come to see him simply as the Jesuit Pope who had his own style and was personally uncomfortable with the trappings, a product of an extremely simple background that was unique to him. Something future Pope will probably not share to the same degree.

 

[Marie5890]

I’m starting to feel like Pope Francis will be neither “good” nor “bad” for the Latin/EF/Traditionalist movement. These sorts of liturgical matters don’t seem to be much of a priority for him, and he doesn’t strike me as one who would intentionally go and pick a fight with the traditionalists.

The more I watch him, the more I think he has his own style. It isn’t necessarily to the liking of the traditionalists, but ironically, the more he does it, the less I think it will set a precedent. We may very well come to see him simply as the Jesuit Pope who had his own style and was personally uncomfortable with the trappings, a product of an extremely simple background that was unique to him. Something future Pope will probably not share to the same degree.

I agree with you. Completely.

AFA future popes go, who knows, will have to see what kind and how many cardinals he appoints. I do expect that now that we have a non-European Pope, the possibility really exists it will be awhile before we have another.

The Papacy has gone global, so to speak

 

[Zekariya]

I agree with you. Completely.

AFA future popes go, who knows, will have to see what kind and how many cardinals he appoints. I do expect that now that we have a non-European Pope, the possibility really exists it will be awhile before we have another.

The Papacy has gone global, so to speak

We still need a pope from East Asia (maybe Korea).

 

[Diana_Catherine]

Will Pope Francis ever celebrate Mass in Latin? Give blessings in Latin?

Will he allow for the Extraordinary Mass and encourage it just as Pope Benedict XVI did?

I guess we can figure out some about a person by their past and the way we see them at the moment but I just can’t don’t want to say one way or another what the Pope will do because there is just no way to know how the Holy Spirit will lead him or what crisis or celebration may come along. No one really knows how one will act in a certain moment, or position,

Just because he wouldn’t encourage the EF doesn’t mean he would stop it either. I guess I just feel that if God opened the door for the EF for us he will continue to be faithful to us and keep the doors open.

 

[Brendan]

He said his first Mass as Pope in Latin. The commentator mentioned that he seemed very uncomfortable speaking Latin. .

I watched it live, and normally go to a Latin OF Mass.

He was definitely reading it from the Missal, and clearly stumbled over a few sections.

His Latin pronunciation was firm, however. So it was clear that he can read Latin ( he was ordained in 1969, so he would have studied Latin in the seminary, in fact probably would have had most of his classes IN Latin.

But the OF Latin Mass was clearly not something that he says with any frequency, if at all.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

That may change. Since he said Mass in Latin this morning he obviously knows and understands the protocols. After all a semi-private unscheduled Mass at a tiny parish for Vatican employees would be just the time to say Mass in Italian if he was going to do that. I expect that we will hear all or most of his public Masses in Latin.

 

[Brendan]

One thing that give me hope for the continuation of the expansion of the EF is that Pope Francis was\is a Bi-Ritual bishop. In addition to be the Ordinary for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, he was also the Ordinary for the Eastern Catholic Eparchy of Argentina.

So with him knowing and celebrating the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, I feel he understands the need for elements of the faithful for a very Transcendent Liturgy