Vatican: Pope not taking church backward with Tridentine decree

Published: 2007-07-09

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI is not taking the church backward with his decree on wider use of the Tridentine Mass, the Vatican's spokesman said. The spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, said the papal document, released July 7, was a reconciliatory gesture to "a relatively small number of people" attached to the old liturgy. Although the Tridentine rite predates the Second Vatican Council, the pope's move should not be seen as undermining the council or liturgical reform, the Vatican spokesman said in a statement released with the document. "It does not impose any return to the past. It does not want any weakening of the authority of the council or the authority and responsibility of bishops," Father Lombardi said. The spokesman said the pope's commitment to the new liturgy is clear in the simple fact that he celebrates it regularly and willingly and has spoken eloquently about its richness.

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