Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2025 / 16:31 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Raymond Burke said he has asked Pope Leo XIV to remove measures restricting the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in dioceses.
Burke spoke at a London conference organized by The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales, telling attendees that he hopes the new pontiff will “put an end to the persecution” of Catholic faithful who want to celebrate Mass using the “more ancient usage” — “usus antiquior” — of the Roman liturgy.
The prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura and former patron of the Order of Malta was one of seven guest panelists invited to speak at the faith and culture conference held on June 14.
Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan, who has written extensively on the Eucharist and Church tradition, also spoke at the weekend conference held to mark the 60th anniversary of the U.K.-based society.
“I certainly have already had occasion to express that to the Holy Father,” Burke said via video link. “It is my hope that he will, as soon as is reasonably possible, take up the study of this question.”
After the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI promulgated the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969. This liturgy, celebrated in the vernacular, largely replaced the TLM in dioceses worldwide.
During the conference, Burke expressed his desire for Pope Leo to overturn Francis’ 2021 Traditionis Custodes moto proprio and restore Benedict XVI’s 2007 Summorum Pontificum, the Catholic Herald reported.
“It is my hope,” Burke said at the conference, “[Leo will] even continue to develop what Pope Benedict XVI had so wisely and lovingly legislated for the Church.”
Besides criticisms leveled against Traditionis Custodes, the U.S. cardinal has been publicly critical of other initiatives led by Pope Francis.
In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals submitted “dubia” — formal requests for clarification — regarding interpretations of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.
The prelate also criticized the 2019 Synod on the Pan-Amazon Region convened by Pope Francis, saying parts of the agenda appeared “contrary” to Catholic teaching.
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We read: “In 2016, Burke and three other cardinals submitted ‘dubia’ — formal requests for clarification — regarding interpretations of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.”
At issue is whether pastoral practice can contradict the natural law and moral absolutes, of which the Church is “no way the author nor the arbiter” (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, n. 95).
Four points and a summary:
FIRST, waiting in the wing is the now dangling post-synodal study group #9, one of fifteen dealing with the sidelined “hot button issues”—namely “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.” Say what?
SECOND, about intermingled synodism with moral theology, one framing input could have been layman Russell Shaw (former Secretary for Public Affairs of the then National Conference of Catholic Bishops) and his very readable “Papal Primacy in the Third Millennium” (Our Sunday Visitor, 2000)…
The long histories of the papacy and conciliarism, both, are succinctly summarized; relevant documents are lucidly cited; various proposals for shared are summarized; including a synod shared-jurisdiction model based on archbishoprics rather than bottoms-up roundtables (with the role of bishops not limited “primarily as facilitators”); but overall with this form of decentralization in tandem with (almost replacing) vastly reduced curial offices; all still subject to well-advised papal authority, but more by exception where non-negotiable guardrails are endangered—such that Church unity is respected and advanced. As well as (surely) the morality of the inborn and universal natural law (now explicitly part of the Magisterium, under Veritatis Splendor, n. 115).
THIRD, from the back bleachers, it seems that synods could have been productively advanced within—rather than without?—the “hierarchical communion” articulated in Lumen Gentium (which the Council approved by a vote of 2,099 to 46, including the “Explanatory Note” approved by a vote of 2,134 to 10).
FOURTH, instead of a bottoms-up/synodal “inverted pyramid,” Shaw cites British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, no friend of Catholicism:
“…The Arabs have a fable that the Great Pyramid was built by antediluvian kings, and alone, of all the works of men, bore the weight of the flood. Such as this was the fate of the Papacy [Protestantism, and Revolutionary France]. It had been buried under the great inundation; but its deep foundations had remained unshaken; and when the waters abated, it appeared alone amidst the ruins of the world which had passed away.”
SUMMARY: How better to marry “communio” under the universal call to holiness with the foundational and intact “hierarchical communion” of Lumen Gentium? This, rather than the rigid myopia of suppressing TLM?
My guess is that Pope Leo won’t change anything regarding the usage of the TLM for at least the remainder of this year. If he does indeed allow wider usage of the Latin Mass, he should decree that a new, updated missal be published for liturgical use. As beautiful as the TLM is, calendar-wise, it has been stuck in time since 1962. There have been many new saints canonized and different feast days added to the Roman calendar since 1962, most notably Divine Mercy Sunday. A new missal is badly needed for the TLM to stay in congruence with the current Roman calendar.
Leave the translations, liturgical rubrics, and symbolism the same as the ’62 missal. Just update the missal.
Make women’s veils optional as it is in the English Mass and the Byzantine Rite, and maybe remind people that they don’t have to dress like they just stepped out of an 1800’s Laura Ingalls Wilder book. It’s not wrong for a lady to wear dress pants to either an English or Latin Mass instead of a skirt that’s so long, the altar boys look like they’re wearing shorts.
Yes, wear nice and modest clothes for Mass. But dress as if you live in 2025.
Headcoverings are entirely optional at our local TLM. I hear you about the sort of dress choices you can see but it’s a free country after all. I may naturally dress like Laura Ingalls Wilder but that’s not something enforced at the TLM. I also see ladies in jeans with mantillas frequently. At the end of the day it’s really not anyone’s business. Modesty’s a virtue but modesty is first modeled in our hearts.
The only thing I want to see banned are long skirts/dresses with high tops. What is with this younger generation??
The liturgical calendar linked to the Novus Ordo is an incongruous disaster. Very few who support the Traditional Latin Mass would wish to see its missal align with the liturgical year of the Novus Ordo. And ALL the traditionalist orders would flatly reject such a move. “Updating” the 1962 missal in such a radical manner would promote just as much division as trying to ban the TLM altogether.
There is a book called Cooking for Christ: Your Kitchen Prayer Book, by Florence Berger. It was originally published in 1949, by Catholic Rural Life. It ties different recipes in with the liturgical year, showing traditional foods that were made for the different saints’ days and holidays.
They reissued it fairly recently, edited. I don’t so much mind that they had people add foods for holidays that weren’t mentioned in the original book, but it annoys the fire out of me that they put recipes for St. Thomas’ Day in the Christmas season under St. Thomas Becket, using the words the original author wrote regarding the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle, which used to be celebrated on December 21 but was changed to July 3 in 1969 “so that the series of major ferias of Advent not be interrupted,” (because somehow after a thousand years of celebrating it on December 21 it suddenly because such a terribly pressing issue /s). Instead of explaining that Risengrod and Pate de Noel were traditionally made on December 21 for the feast of St. Thomas but now that feast has been moved to July 3, the new edition pretends that it was related to St. Thomas of Canterbury (December 29), thus moving it from before to after Christmas.
It makes me very cranky, as do other things that got edited because they were too old-fashioned.
So,
Please see my reply, below, of today, 8:11 AM.
Best to you.
Cardinal Burke is lying! His claim that restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) amount to “persecution” of faithful Catholics is false and distorts the intent of Traditionis Custodes (2021). Pope Francis issued the document not to suppress tradition, but to promote unity in worship and fidelity to the vision of Vatican II. The Council called for a reformed liturgy to foster full, conscious participation, and Canon Law (Canon 838) affirms the Holy See’s authority to regulate liturgical practices. After a global consultation revealed that the TLM was sometimes used to reject Vatican II, the Pope acted pastorally to protect Church unity. Calling this “persecution” misrepresents the Church’s governance and fosters division. The TLM is still allowed under certain conditions, especially when aligned with the Church’s broader life. While love for the Vetus Ordo is valid, it must not become a rallying point for dissent. The Church’s liturgy should reflect unity and living tradition—not retreat into nostalgia or resistance to reform.
Deaccon Dom, calumny & detraction are things we shouldn’t be taking lightly. Charity in speech is pretty critical too.
No, it is Pope Francis who lied, repeatedly, about the communities who desire the TLM and his motivations for attacking it. The results of the so-called “global consultation” were never released, because the faithful – apart from hate-filled people – did not wish to see the TLM restricted. Nor did the majority of the world’s bishops. It is only the noisy minority of agnostic modernists who agitate against the traditional liturgy of the Church.
Deacon Dom: Maybe you can find a way to work some of your TDS material into the discussion.
Hah! We can DREAM of his being a bit creative. Instead, we read (or do not, which I do) the same old tired tawdry talking points aimed at untruth, filled with deceit and malice. Then he makes of himself not only a deacon but also a dom. Hah!
Dom writes: “Pope Francis issued the document not to suppress tradition, but to promote unity in worship and fidelity to the vision of Vatican II. The Council called for a reformed liturgy to foster full, conscious participation, and Canon Law (Canon 838) affirms the Holy See’s authority to regulate liturgical practices. ”
Unity in worship? What planet have you been on since 1965. Let me set you straight, Dom: There is NO UNITY in the NO Mass. To asset same leads me to believe that: a. You are not a Catholic deacon; b. You are not a Catholic; c. You haven’t been to many Masses since 1965.
“The Council called for a reformed liturgy to foster full, conscious participation”
Can you cite the exact documents of the Council itself that said the liturgy needed to be reformed, and specifically those that called for Latin to be banned in favor of the vernacular of all the many different countries and linguistic regiions because goodness knows that dozens and dozens of different languages is so much more unifying than a single language? Not to mention that banning the Mass and language that tied us to all the centuries before us seems far from being unifying; rather it rips us apart from all those many people who lived on earth before us.
Again, it’s Cardinal Raymond Burke who dares pose the test of truth, and the integrity of the faith to a Roman pontiff. May he finally succeed with a positive response.
I am also praying that Pope Leo XIV consciously guides the Church away from the notion of having to maintain one’s synodally synodal synodality in the journey through the synod of life.
Humanness has been redefined as Synodaliness. It’s epochal. We’ll all find out what it means after we all finish walking together. Although the timeline has not been disclosed.
So, Did you intend humor? If not, follow. Else stop.
There may good arguments for revising the 1962 liturgical calendar, but is this effective? “It’s been stuck in time since 1962.” A saint is perpetually a saint, and time is temporal as well as eternal. Sure, new saints have been added since 1962 and sure, Divine Mercy is a great feast. OTOH, there are only so many days in the year. Which shall we relegate to history’s dustbin? Surely not the celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! [One of my favorite names is Mercy. A close second is Margaret Mary.]
Thank you for the gesture of allowing women to choose their fashion! No, people don’t have to dress as if they had just stepped out of the Dark Ages or off the farm. Neither do they have to ‘not’ dress as if they had just rolled out of bed. I’ve seen more than my share of that style! Thoughtful gesture, too, that, allowing women in dress pants or nice clothes! If you would, please, define “dress” pants. Define also “nice.” Then take a poll to see if we can get semi-universal agreement on deinitions.
If the rare orthodox Muslim woman or the rare ‘nun’ should dare to appear at a diocesan NO Mass, should we allow them in? Or should the feminine fashion police escort them to the nearest dressing room? We should also vote on where the permissive length of skirt would cease. Would that be two inches below the knee or three above the ankle? Should faded jeans, graphic tees, wrinkled, worn, and ripped flip-flops be forbidden? What if Mass is in Africa where neither climate nor poverty know closed toe shoes?
Stop.
I like to go to the TLM in Lewiston, Maine, which is about 55 miles from here, when I feel up to it. In the past when there I have spoken to people who make the trip from way up in northern Maine EVERY Sunday – about a 250 mile round trip.
Since Mass starts at 8:30 that would mean that they’re probably rising at around 5 a.m. to get the family up and ready to go. They probably leave home at around 5:30 for the 2 1/2 hour (EACH WAY) trip. About 20 minutes into the trip they pass the local Novus Ordo Church – Do the math.
Just leave us alone – we’re more than willing – even glad, to make the sacrifices necessary to get to the TLM.
I hope he listens, and I don’t even attend the Tridentine Rite (and no plans to do so any time soon, actually).