With the release of the document Summorum pontificum in July 2007, Pope Benedict XVI extended permission for the old Tridentine Mass to be celebrated as "an extraordinary form of the Roman rite." Commonweal asked four writers to respond to the pope's decision:

Widening Our Hearts, by Peter Jeffery

A Step Backward, by Rita Ferrone

One Cheer, by Joseph A. Komonchak

Getting the History Right, by Bernard P. Prusak

 

Read more: Letters, September 28, 2007

Related: Mystery or Mystification? by Gerard S. Sloyan
Between Reform & Rupture, by Richard R. Gaillardetz

Rita Ferrone is the author of several books about liturgy, including Pastoral Guide to Pope Francis’s Desiderio Desideravi (Liturgical Press). She is a contributing writer to Commonweal.

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Published in the 2007-08-17 issue: View Contents
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