Cardinal Sarah defends the traditional Latin Mass and judges the restrictions « neither wise nor respectful »

Cardinal Robert Sarah, former prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, has publicly defended the traditional Mass. In an interview marking the release of his book “The Canticle of the Lamb: Sacred Music and Celestial Liturgy,” co-written with Peter Cater, he judges that the restrictions imposed on the ancient rite were “neither wise nor respectful” toward Benedict XVI.

According to his remarks, the liberalisation of the extraordinary form by the pope emeritus had exerted a positive influence, “even the correction of potential abuses,” on the celebration of the ordinary form, before being “nipped in the bud” during Benedict XVI’s own lifetime. “If a rite does not serve the faith, it will disappear of itself; if, on the contrary, it preserves and promotes the faith, let us not restrict it, for we would be limiting the preservation and diffusion of the faith itself,” the cardinal declares. He adds that one “cannot wage war on those who fervently attend Mass simply because they prefer one form of celebration to another.”

What the Church has always held

The Church’s judgment on her sacred rites is ancient and firm. Reforming the Roman Missal at the request of the Council of Trent, Saint Pius V fixed it and granted it to every Latin priest, in perpetuity, by his bull “Quo primum” (1570): this Missal could be followed freely and lawfully, without scruple or fear of any penalty, “in perpetuity.” A rite is not a fashion that authority shapes at will; it is the garment received from the faith.

The Council of Trent itself, in its twenty-second session, defended the ceremonies, the vestments, and the outward signs of the Mass as offices of piety, and struck with anathema anyone who would hold them to be “incentives to impiety” rather than marks of devotion. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that these rites, received from apostolic tradition, surround the holy Sacrifice with the reverence due to it.

The measure

On this point, the cardinal’s word rejoins the constant tradition. A rite that “preserves and promotes” the faith is not an abuse to correct but a treasure to keep. The law of prayer is the law of belief: to touch the first is to touch the second. That the ancient Roman Mass helps the priest to celebrate better, even in the new form, is not nostalgia; it is the proper effect of a liturgy wholly ordered to adoration.

Yet the measure of what is said must be kept. Here it is a cardinal who speaks, in a book and an interview: a personal judgment, however authoritative, and not an act of governance. He does not undo the restrictions he criticises, nor does he intend to substitute himself for authority. We report his words, we measure them against “Quo primum” and Trent, and we hold, as the Church has always held, that the faith is served by rites one protects, not by rites one narrows.

Sources. Bull “Quo primum tempore” of Saint Pius V (14 July 1570). Council of Trent, XXII session (1562), Doctrine and canons on the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, canon 7. Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), on the sacrament of the Eucharist.