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Latin Mass curbs lifted

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday removed restrictions on celebrating the old form of the Latin Mass in a concession to traditional Catholics, but he stressed that he was in no way rolling back the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The Pope issued a document authorising parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass if a “stable group of faithful” request it. Currently, the local Bishop must approve such requests — an obstacle that fans of the rite say has greatly limited its availability. “What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,” the Pope wrote. Some bishops in France and liberal-minded clergy and faithful elsewhere had expressed concerns that allowing freer use of the Tridentine liturgy would imply a negation of Vatican II, the 1962-65 meetings that modernised the Roman Catholic Church. They also feared it could create divisions in parishes since two different liturgies would be celebrated. — AP

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