Editing Tridentine Mass (section)

===Pope Benedict XVI===
As a [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinal]], Joseph Ratzinger was regarded as having a particular interest in the liturgy, and as being favourable towards the pre-Vatican II Mass.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILTWCgAAQBAJ&q=election+Benedict+%22pre-Vatican+II+Mass%22&pg=PT107|title=Legacy of Vatican II, The|first1=Massimo|last1=Faggioli|first2=Andrea Vicini|last2=SJ|date=May 5, 2015|publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=9780809149223|via=Google Books}}</ref> Before his election he celebrated it on number of occasions.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.ncregister.com/interview/benedict-xvi-and-tradition-an-analysis-of-his-approach-to-the-traditional-liturgy | title=Benedict XVI and Tradition: An Analysis of His Approach to the Traditional Liturgy | date=9 January 2023 }}</ref> He criticized the erratic way in which, contrary to official policy, many priests celebrated the post-Vatican II form.<ref>[http://www.barroux.org/docum/RATZINGER_REF.pdf Preface to the French edition of ''Die Reform der Römischen Liturgie'' by Klaus Gamber] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327105312/http://www.barroux.org/docum/RATZINGER_REF.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }}; [https://web.archive.org/web/20040208002309/http://www.latin-mass-society.org/ratzshow.htm partial English translation]; cf. ''The Spirit of the Liturgy'', San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000; and ''Looking Again at the Question of the Liturgy with Cardinal Ratzinger: Proceedings of the July 2001 Fontgombault Liturgical Conference,'' Farnborough, Hampshire: St. Michael's Abbey Press, 2002. For a Vatican condemnation of aberrant liturgical practices, see ''[https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html Redemptionis Sacramentum]''</ref>

In September 2006, the [[Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei|Pontifical Commission ''Ecclesia Dei'']] established the [[Institute of the Good Shepherd]], made up of former members of the [[Society of St. Pius X]], in Bordeaux, France, with permission to use the Tridentine liturgy.<ref>Brian Mershon, "New French traditionalist priestly society founded", ''The Wanderer'', September 18, 2006.</ref> This step was met with some discontent from French clergy, and thirty priests wrote an open letter to the Pope.<ref>"French clerics rebel on Latin Mass", ''The Conservative Voice'', October 29, 2006</ref> In line with its previous stance, the Society of St Pius X rejected the move.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.laportelatine.org/accueil/communic/2006/institutbonpasteur/institut.php |title=Communiqué de la Fraternité Sacerdotale Saint Pie X |access-date=2007-03-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027124243/http://www.laportelatine.org/accueil/communic/2006/institutbonpasteur/institut.php |archive-date=2007-10-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Following repeated rumours that the use of the Tridentine Mass would be liberalised, the Pope issued a ''[[motu proprio]]'' called ''[[Summorum Pontificum]]'' on 7 July 2007,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/summorum-pontificum.html |title=Text of the motu proprio ''Summorum Pontificum'' in Latin and English |access-date=2008-12-19 |archive-date=2012-10-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010043928/http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/summorum-pontificum.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> together with an accompanying letter to the world's bishops.<ref name="Pope_Letter">{{cite journal |author = Benedict XVI | author-link = Pope Benedict XVI | title = Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Bishops on the occasion of the publication of the Apostolic Letter "motu proprio data" ''Summorum Pontificum'' on the use of the Roman liturgy prior to the reform of 1970 | publisher = Libreria Editrice Vaticana | date = 2007-07-07 | url = https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070707_lettera-vescovi_en.html | access-date = 2008-03-24 }}</ref> The declaring that "the Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the ''lex orandi'' (law of prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite. Nevertheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by St. John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of that same 'Lex orandi{{'"}}.<ref>Article 1 of the motu proprio. In his letter to the Bishops he said: "It is not appropriate to speak of these two versions of the Roman Missal as if they were 'two Rites'. Rather, it is a matter of a twofold use of one and the same rite."</ref> He further stated that "the 1962 Missal ... was never juridically abrogated". He replaced with new rules those of ''Quattuor Abhinc Annos'' on use of the older form: essentially, authorization for using the 1962 form for parish Masses and those celebrated on public occasions such as a wedding is devolved from the local bishop to the priest in charge of a church, and "any priest of the Latin rite" may use the 1962 Roman Missal in "Masses celebrated without the people", a term that does not exclude attendance by other worshippers, lay or clergy.<ref>Indeed, "Mass should not be celebrated without a minister or at least one of the faithful, except for a just and reasonable cause" ([http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/documents/200707031933.pdf General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 254] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720091216/http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/documents/200707031933.pdf |date=2008-07-20 }}). Masses celebrated without the people were once called "private Masses", a term that fell out of favour in the mid-twentieth century: the 1960 [[Code of Rubrics]], which preceded the Second Vatican Council, declared: "The most sacred Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the rites and regulations is an act of public worship offered to God in the name of Christ and the Church. Therefore, the term 'private Mass' should be avoided" ([http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/missale-romanum-1962.pdf Rubricae Generales Missalis Romani] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215054059/https://sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/missale-romanum-1962.pdf |date=2020-02-15 }}, 269). Cf. [http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/apr2005p18_1918.html Review of ''Mass without a Congregation: A Sign of Unity or Division?'', by Fr Marian Szablewski CR.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726192759/http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2005/apr2005p18_1918.html |date=2008-07-26 }}</ref> While requests by groups of Catholics wishing to use the Tridentine liturgy in parish Masses are to be dealt with by the parish priest (or the rector of the church) rather than, as before, by the local bishop, the Pope and Cardinal Darío Castrillón stated that the bishops' authority is not thereby undermined.{{efn|name=intheletter}}