Loreto: No Altar for the Old Mass

It is sad but true: Pope Benedict XVI is not in any position to correct the situation in Italy. by Claudia Bucker

(kreuz.net) In the middle of July, a German priest visited the Italian pilgrimage site near the border, Loreto.

The Basilica of Loreto is next to the St. Peter's Basilica, the second most important pilgrimage destination in Italy.

The Basilica contains the house of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

The Guilty Party is Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci

Immediately after his arrival the priest visited the Basilica.

In the Sacristy he asked if he could say Holy Mass in the Old Rite.

The concern for the Basilica has been entrusted to the dying Capuchin Order.

The standing Prelate for the Basilica is Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci (69).

He was named in 2004 and was previously the Apostolic Nuncio in Scandinavia.

The Sacristan was a grey haired Capuchin.

On instructions from Msgr Tonucci the Sacristan began to lecture the priest.

Hunted by the Devil

The celebration of the Old Mass is only available to be said in the Basilica at the altar of the Polish Chapel -- and this only between the hours of 13.00 und 14.00 hours.

That is the point of the Italian midday meal.

There the Polish chapel, however, is closed due to restoration work, so there is no altar available for the celebration of the Old Mass.

The astonished priest then dared to suggest that it really should be possible to use another one of the approximately thirty altars of the Basilica.

Then the Capuchin waved him briskly aside and admonished the pilgrim in the Sacristy.

Link to kreuz.net...

photo: © gemeinfrei

Resistance to Instruction On the Way: Archbishop Nichols Looking for Loopholes

The problem is real: one must keep the Diocesan Seminarians in the dark about the Old Mass.  Otherwise, they won't be fobbed off with the desacralized ceremonies of the Novus Ordo.

Archbishop Nichols in Westminster in London

(kreuz.net, London) The Old Liberal Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster in London has expressed his opposition to the instruction 'Universae Ecclesia' over the management of the Old Mass. This was according to the British weekly magazine, 'Catholic Weekly'.

The fear is understandable

Msgr Nichols commented about the demand made by the Instruction, where Seminarians must be instructed with the Old Mass.

The Archbishop stoled a march on the wishy-washy formulation of the Instruction, which identified, the bloviation of "pastoral considerations"

21. Ordinaries are asked to offer their clergy the possibility of acquiring adequate preparation for celebrations in the forma extraordinaria. This applies also to Seminaries, where future priests should be given proper formation, including study of Latin8 and, where pastoral needs suggest it, the opportunity to learn the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite.

From this he concluded that the expressions concerning this instruction are "provisional" and "not absolute".

His conclusion: "Personally I don't beleive that the already full seminary programme should be added to."

It follows a notion that there is the possibility to learn the Old Mass later in the priestly life.

The Archbishop's fear of the Old Mass is understandable.

In the Seminaries there is a dangerous concurrence that the banal rites of the Novus Ordo will suffer from.

Why doesn't the Vatican Speak Clearly?

Number 21 of the Instruction about the Old Mass is more precisely formulated in the Latin than it is in the English version.

The Latin original original text orders the Bishops with the adverb 'enixe" -- or seriously, to educate their seminarians in the Old Rite.

„21 – Ordinarii enixe rogantur ut clericis instituendis occasionem praebeant accommodatam artem celebrandi in forma extraordinaria acquirendi, quod potissimum pro Seminariis valet, in quibus providebitur ut sacrorum alumni convenienter instituantur, Latinum discendo sermonem et, adiunctis id postulantibus, ipsam Ritus Romani formam extraordinariam.“

This Adverb in the English or German translation is simply omitted.

Is there a Need?

Msgr Nichols mentioned moreover, that the Archdiocese of Westminster have asked their priests if they want to learn the Old Mass.

"Many" would have announced themselves.

That's how he has discovered the "need" for the Old Mass in his Archdiocese.

Link to original, kreuz.net...


Photo: © Catholic Church (England and Wales), CC