Vatican Report Reveals Most Bishops Did Not Want Pope Francis’ Latin Mass Crackdown

Journalist Diane Montagna revealed in a July 1 report that the Vatican’s overall assessment of the consultation of bishops, which was believed to have prompted Pope Francis to implement the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, stated that the majority of bishops were satisfied with the implementation of Summorum Pontificum and believed that making changes to Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio would do “more harm than good.”

“The majority of bishops who responded to the questionnaire stated that making legislative changes to Summorum Pontificum would cause more harm than good,” the report said.

The report notably contradicts Pope Francis’ claim in his letter accompanying Traditionis Custodes, which stated that the bishops’ assessment found the implementation of Pope Benedict’s motu proprio to be a key source of division in the Church.

“An opportunity offered by … Benedict XVI, intended to recover the unity of an ecclesial body with diverse liturgical sensibilities, was exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division,” the late Argentine pontiff wrote.

But, according to the report, the Vatican’s overall assessment shows that while the bishops had concerns about division caused by attendees of the Tridentine Mass rejecting the Second Vatican Council and other disagreements, the majority of the “gaps,” “divergences,” and “disagreements” that Francis cited actually stem from the resistance by a minority of bishops to Summorum Pontificum.