RORATE CÆLI: “A pope would be schismatic… ‘if he if he were to change all the liturgical rites of the Church that have been upheld by apostolic tradition’.” (Francisco Suárez / Klaus Gamber)

Only four years had passed since the publication of the new Missal when Pope Paul VI surprised the Catholic world with a new Ordo Missæ, dated April 6, 1969. The revision made in 1965 did not touch the traditional liturgical rite. In accordance with the mandate of Article 50 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, it had been primarily concerned with removing some later additions to the Order of the Mass. The publication of the Ordo Missæ of 1969, however, created a new liturgical rite. In other words, the traditional liturgical rite had not simply been revised as the Council had intended. Rather, it had been completely abolished, and a couple of years later, the traditional liturgical rite was, in fact, forbidden. All this leads to the question: Does such a radical reform follow the tradition of the Church?

RORATE CÆLI: “A pope would be schismatic… ‘if he if he were to change all the liturgical rites of the Church that have been upheld by apostolic tradition’.” (Francisco Suárez / Klaus Gamber)