… looks like a technicality, in that if they no longer have the Latin Mass at their local parish it doesn’t matter much whether it’s due to Reason A and Reason B. However, it is not a technicality, in that (1) the fact that the missal itself was never abrogated means that, going forward, it can be reintroduced simply by relaxing the restrictions on using it, rather than by having to re-promulgate it in what I’m sure would be a bizarre process, and (2) it helps define the way we look at it. As the Holy Father said, things that were sacred to one generation cannot now be considered un-sacred. They can be forbidden in practice, though: this happened, for example, with Communion in the Hand and Communion under both Species, both of which were practiced in the past for generations and later forbidden by the Church for prudential reasons. When, by contrast, something is abrogated entirely, the Church is more or less saying it has no right to existence.