substantial unity

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Feb 14, 2005

In May 2004, The former Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Jorge Medina-Estevez, wrote in his retirement -- and in his own person -- a letter to the editor of an Italian Catholic journal that included the following paragraph:

I reaffirm my personal opinion that the abrogation of the Missal of St. Pius V has not been demonstrated (non è provata), and I might add that in the decree, signed by me, that accompanied the promulgation of the third editio typica of the Roman Missal, there is no clause of abrogation of the ancient form of the Roman Rite. I say, "of the ancient form," because there are not two "Roman Rites," rather two "forms" of this Rite, which has a substantial unity. And I might add further that the absence of any clause of abrogation is not by happenstance, nor the result of forgetfulness, but intentional.

In the same letter, Medina-Estevez insists, "one cannot doubt the orthodoxy of the Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI." His point that there are not two distinct Roman rites is one that needs to be made often, and with force.