Why doesn't the Pope do a Tridentine Mass?

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Benedict XVI is seen as a champion of the Tridentine Mass. He endorsed it being celebrated more widely without needing permission of the local bishops. He also has shown a taste for more traditional things. Why then doesn’t he celebrate the Tridentine Mass himself? It would be a great way to boost people’s interest in it.
 
I think at best he could celebrate a Papal Low Mass (and I have heard he celebrates a regular Low Mass as his own private Mass) but I remember reading that the offices for celebrateing a Papal High Mass simply don’t exist any more.
 
I think the simplest answer would be the Tridentine Mass is not the Ordinary Form. I would also rather say that Pope Benedict XVI is the champion of Catholic tradition. 🙂
 
Te_Deum said:
I think at best he could celebrate a Papal Low Mass (and I have heard he celebrates a regular Low Mass as his own private Mass) but I remember reading that the offices for celebrateing a Papal High Mass simply don’t exist any more.
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But he could celebrate a Pontifical High Mass and have them just make some adjustments to make it compatible for a Papal celebration, right?

What does a Papal High Mass entail though? Things like the sedia and the ostrich feathers?
 
PazzoGrande said:
But he could celebrate a Pontifical High Mass and have them just make some adjustments to make it compatible for a Papal celebration, right?

What does a Papal High Mass entail though? Things like the sedia and the ostrich feathers?
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No, he can’t. The Pope isn’t an ordinary bishop. He’s the Bishop of Rome and his liturgy is distinct for those reasons. He couldn’t be celebrating like a common bishop.

And those adjustments as essentially what separates the Papal Mass from a regular Solemn High Mass. But as I said, those “adjustments” cannot be made. There’s no longer any Noble Guard etc. You would need to reinstitute certain things, train everyone (even the Pope, as the Papal High Mass was extremely rare even before Vatican II), and not just Latin Rite clerics but also Eastern Rite clerics. At best we should hope for a Papal Low Mass, but even the normal Low Mass is longer than that so it wouldn’t really be much would it?
 
ProVobis said:
I think he’s seen more as a champion of restoring Latin in the Mass. Most don’t even know that there are two forms.
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I would disagree that the pope is a champion of restoring the Latin mass, particularly to the status of being the Ordinary form. Allowing the Extradinary form of the mass fits into Vatican II guidlines of allowing cetain practices being allowed based on local custom. There are no doubt that there are those who love the Lation Mass, to the point of causeing divisions within the Church. I see his actions as more of stopping these divisions and finding common agreement.
Even in the celebration of the ordianry form, there are some more traditional features, but they may just be the nature of a mass being celebrated by the Pope.
 
Te_Deum said:
No, he can’t. The Pope isn’t an ordinary bishop. He’s the Bishop of Rome and his liturgy is distinct for those reasons. He couldn’t be celebrating like a common bishop.

And those adjustments as essentially what separates the Papal Mass from a regular Solemn High Mass. But as I said, those “adjustments” cannot be made. There’s no longer any Noble Guard etc. You would need to reinstitute certain things, train everyone (even the Pope, as the Papal High Mass was extremely rare even before Vatican II), and not just Latin Rite clerics but also Eastern Rite clerics. At best we should hope for a Papal Low Mass, but even the normal Low Mass is longer than that so it wouldn’t really be much would it?
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The Noble Guard was established in 1801 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Guard_(Vatican and the Palatine Guard was established in 1850 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_Guard .

Surely we had Papal High Masses before the 19th Century?
 
JaMc said:
Surely we had Papal High Masses before the 19th Century?
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Indeed there were. Frankly I don’t believe there is any reason (other than the volition of the celebrant) why a Solemn Papal Mass in the Usus Antiquior could not be celebrated now.
 
Te_Deum said:
They’re what the Missal calls for. To have a Papal High Mass now the Missal will need to be revised… I’m not against it. I’m just saying that it’s not possible right now.
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The military has no liturgical role. Anyone can be called upon to fulfill whatever duties might be assigned to the now-defunct guards.
 
malphono said:
The military has no liturgical role. Anyone can be called upon to fulfill whatever duties might be assigned to the now-defunct guards.
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That is a fair point, much like alter servers during the Low Mass are filing in for the deacon and sub-deacon (and laity standing in for acolytes etc.).

However the Papal High Mass was still rare and would still need a lot of preparation and training to perform.

I’m just saying, it would be hard to get it up. I’d love if it did though. It would be amazing.
 
=PazzoGrande;8388706]Benedict XVI is seen as a champion of the Tridentine Mass. He endorsed it being celebrated more widely without needing permission of the local bishops. He also has shown a taste for more traditional things. Why then doesn’t he celebrate the Tridentine Mass himself? It would be a great way to boost people’s interest in it.
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As leader of One PLUS Billion world-wide Catholics; He MUST represent ALL of us. Were he to do this the secualr press [and not a few catholics] would have a field day with accusations that are ungrounded. At time Prudence is the better part of Valor:)

God Bless,
Pat
 
Te_Deum said:
They’re what the Missal calls for. To have a Papal High Mass now the Missal will need to be revised… I’m not against it. I’m just saying that it’s not possible right now.
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Since the Pope is supreme legislator, he is not bound by any requirement in the Missal.
 
Will_S said:
Since the Pope is supreme legislator, he is not bound by any requirement in the Missal.
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I wouldn’t say he’s not not bound by any of the requirements. For example, he couldn’t just dispense with the entire liturgy and just confect the Eucharist. The question though is, should he celebrate a simple Pontifical High Mass? I don’t think he should. I would rather all the beauty and ritual of the Papal Mass was restored and celebrated.

It’s just hard to do so and the Popes today are generally quite busy fellows.
 
One has to look at the question of motivation here. If you’re asking why he doesn’t celebrate mass in the Extraordinary Form in order to promote it, you’re answer is in your question. The Pope is not in the business of promoting any form of the mass. SP and UE were not promotions or propaganda for the Extraordinary Form. They were legal clarifications.

In addition, one must look at the language that he uses. He specifically refers to the Tridentine Form as the Extraordinary Form. When he celebrates mass as the pope, it is inappopriate to use a form of the mass that is not the norm for the Latin Church. In SP, he makes it very clear that the norm will remain the Ordinary Form or the Mass of Paul VI.

If we were to ask the pope to celebrate mass in a form other than the Mass of Paul VI, it would be appropriate that he use one of the other “ordinary forms” such as anyone of the Eastern Rites. Those are ordinary to the Church, though they are not to the Latin Church. But when he’s celebrating as pope, he is the universal shepherd and can use any rite he wishes to use.

Here too, the question is how appropriate is it for the pope to use the Eastern Rites, since he himself is a Latin Catholic priest? Obviously, he is not limited to any rite and can use any of them.

The whole thing boils down to appropriateness. The appropriate thing for a pope to do is to use the form of the mass that is the norm for the local church, that would be the Mass of Paul VI. If he were visiting Iraq, it may be appropriate to use one of the Eastern rites. That’s not usually the case. How often does he go to a country where the norm is anything other than the Mass of Paul VI?

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
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