Catholic World News

Debate over traditional Latin Mass heats up after apparent leak of Vatican documents that undermine Pope Francis

July 03, 2025

» Continue to this story on AP

CWN Editor's Note: Diane Montagna, an American journalist accredited to the Holy See Press Office, reported that she has obtained the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s overall assessment (PDF) of its 2020 questionnaire to bishops on the traditional Latin Mass, as well as the congregation’s collection of quotations drawn from the responses received from the dioceses (PDF).

“The documents suggest that the majority of Catholic bishops who responded to a 2020 Vatican survey about the Latin Mass had expressed general satisfaction with it, and warned that restricting it would ‘do more harm than good,’” the Associated Press noted.

In a July 2021 letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Francis linked his decision to impose drastic limits on the traditional Latin Mass to the bishops’ responses to the questionnaire. The documents published by Montagna, assuming they are genuine, call into question the veracity of Pope Francis’s claim.

The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.

 


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