The Pope and the Tridentine Mass

The news has been going around for a while (about 5 days or so) that Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Tridentine Mass (Extraordinary Form of the Mass) privately. While this rumor has been circulating for a years, this is the first time a bishop has gone on record in affirmation (as far as I know). Bishop Bernard Fellay, The head of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX), made this claim at a gathering in Brazil this month (you can read the article here, and a translation of it here). He also stated that one reason the Holy Father celebrates the Extraordinary Form in private and not in public is because an unnamed Italian bishop had threatened to resign.

It's not surprising, at least to me, that Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Tridentine Mass privately (for those that don't know, the Popes celebrate Mass, with a few other visitors, almost every day). He has done a lot in regards to opening up the Extraordinary Form to those Catholics that desire it. I think it is further praise of the Pope that he celebrates Mass in the Ordinary Form (Novus Ordo) in public. And it's really one of the things that Pope Benedict XVI is all about: offering different worship choices to Catholics.

His Holiness created an ordinariate for the Anglicans where they can retain many of their traditions, and he has opened up the Tridentine Mass to those Catholics that want it while not forcing it down the throats of those that do not. Some Catholics are more spiritually enriched through the Mass in the Vernacular; others find spiritual strength in the Latin. Some Catholics are caught up to Heaven in the holy incense, some Catholics just cough. All-in-all, the Holy Father has simply found the Mass that gives him spiritual strength.

There is a disturbing element to this story, however. There is, apparently, a bishop who would resign if His Holiness celebrated the Tridentine Mass in public. While we aren't sure who it is, any Catholic that really pays attention to the Vatican would be able to give you some good ideas. I don't know for sure who it is, and so I won't speculate (but that doesn't stop you from Googling it). What is disturbing, though, is this uncompromising, zero-sum game of some of the bishops and laity.

If a bishop threatened to resign pending the Pope celebrating the Novus Ordo Mass in public, there would certainly be a lot of Catholics up-in-arms about the bishops being uncompromising, stuck in the times, and detached from the laity. It's all hypocrisy! This bishop is doing what many (stupid) people are saying the Pope is doing, and that is trying to force one kind of Mass down other people's throats. Why is it that everyone else gets a choice about what rite they celebrate Mass in, about whether they celebrate the Mass in Latin or in the Vernacular, about the use of incense or how they receive Christ in the Eucharist, but the Pope... poor guy. The Vicar of Christ, the Successor of Peter, Pope Benedict XVI... that guy isn't allowed to choose how he celebrates Mass.