Vatican:It has been confirmed in Rome that Pope Benedict intends to loosen current restrictions on celebrating the Latin Mass.
It is expected this will lead to a revival of the rite which, currently, can only be celebrated with permission of the diocesan bishop. Its use declined over the past 40 years following reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos told a meeting of Latin American bishops in Brazil this week that the Pope wanted to give all Catholics greater access to the so-called Tridentine Mass because of a "new and renewed interest" in the rite. In doing so Pope Benedict is also reaching out to the ultra-conservative Society of St Pius X, with the intention of bringing it back into the fold, Cardinal Hoyos said.
The society, which opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, was founded by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in Switzerland in 1969. It is particularly opposed to the council's reform of the Tridentine Mass into the current liturgy, which is celebrated in the vernacular.
In 1988 the Vatican excommunicated Archbishop Lefebvre when he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent.
- (Additional reporting AP)