C
cam100
Guest
I think this is a pretty good assessment of the situation. Although the TLM was never abrogated, there were restrictions on its use until Summorum Pontificum. Note that in the quote below, Pope Benedict doesn’t quite say that the TLM was always permitted, but he qualifies it with the words “in principle”.The “problem” may not have been that the Holy See rejected the TLM, but rather that it was foreseen that there might be a refusal among the faithful to admit that the Pope, in collegial consultation with the College of Cardinals, had full authority to institute the NO and the other reforms of Vatican II. On this account, access to TLM may have been restricted as a discipline and as a precaution against fracture over the issue. I don’t mean “discipline” in the sense of a punishment, but in the sense of the Church using the restriction of one liturgical norm as a means to reiterate of the authority of the Church to have introduced the other, lest refusal to use the NO be used to deny Rome’s ultimate authority in the matter of defining legitimate liturgies for the Church, and as a precaution against the temptation towards the formation of factions over the question.
This would imply that requiring permission to use the TLM was not any reflection on the TLM itself, but rather was imposed as a discipline because it was foreseen how many would tempted into disobedience by refusing to recognizing the NO. Once the NO was recognized by all but a few, the “problem” was solved.
For instance, ordination of married men to the priesthood has never been banned, but does require permission by the Holy See, because the Holy See has, by its full authority, imposed the discipline of celibacy, because of the value inherent in a celibate priesthood. Would the Holy See not have to issue an indult if that discipline were to be lifted?
Having written all this, I think what is needed is a canon lawyer, who understands what the words mean and can explain the matter in real terms, or a Church historian, who knows the whens and whys around this issue.
Summorum Pontificum: “As for the use of the 1962 Missal as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgy of the Mass, I would like to draw attention to the fact that this Missal was never juridically abrogated and, consequently, in principle, was always permitted”.