(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Athanasius Schneider has spoken of how he was “moved to tears” after witnessing the joy and faith of the young Latin Mass pilgrims on the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage.
“I was a witness of the beauty of the Catholic faith, of the joyfulness of the Catholic faith,” the bishop commented.
Schneider, the auxiliary of the Diocese of Astana in Kazakhstan, was himself a participant in the pilgrimage which took place on Pentecost weekend. Some 19,000 or more pilgrims participated in the annual event, now in its 43rd year, marking yet another record-breaking attendance.
“All these slogans which we hear from some clerics – that those who are attached to the Traditional Latin Mass are rigid or outmoded – it’s not true,” Schneider told World Over host Raymond Arroyo. “The reality is the contrary.”
Bishop Schneider on the Chartres Latin Mass pilgrimage:
“I was moved to tears to see how joyful these children, these young people are.”Latin Mass “spreads an atmosphere of mystery, of holiness which attracts because it transmits the presence of God”https://t.co/BJBGBS6Oz5 pic.twitter.com/Jk80ZV1ff4
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) June 13, 2025
The auxiliary bishop, a well-known and indeed prolific promoter of the traditional Mass, has identified it as one of the most pressing issues which Pope Leo XIV faces in his nascent pontificate.
Schneider views the Church’s traditional liturgy as a powerful means of evangelizing, urging its critics to witness the liturgy for themselves:
I would invite many bishops or clerics who are hostile against those Catholics who love the tradition of the Church of all times, who love the Mass of the saints, to participate there. They would be moved. You cannot be indifferent when you see children.
Despite his familiarity with the old rite, Schneider noted that the pilgrims were a source of great emotion for him:
I was moved to tears to see how joyful these children, these young people are.
There is nothing which can be criticized [about this] it’s only edifying. I hope this experience exactly attracts these numbers.
Offering the Pentecost Sunday Mass halfway through the pilgrimage, Schneider addressed nearly 20,000 people – a mixture of pilgrims and day visitors who had arrived specially for the Mass.
During his homily he highlighted the timeless nature of the traditional liturgy and its appeal to all ages, commenting that “this rite attracts the souls of young people, who are the future of the Church.”
Asked by Arroyo about the popularity of the Latin Mass amongst the youth and young families, Schneider praised the rite for teaching people about the divine:
This form of the Mass which these children witnessed every day during the pilgrimage moved them, attracted them. Because it is beauty, it is holiness, the rite itself spreads an atmosphere of mystery of holiness which is by itself attracts because it transmits in a special manner the presence of God.
Our souls thirst for God and for mystery. God is mystery … He is a living mystery and therefore it’s attracting these people, also because children have a pure soul, and are more sensible for this [mystery].
A celebrant of both the Novus Ordo and the traditional Mass, Schneider has been at pains to champion the cause of the traditional rite following Pope Francis’ sweeping restrictions of 2021. Emphasizing the power of the rites and actions of the ancient liturgy, he observed that during the Pentecost Sunday Mass he offered in a field, “I was seeing people were kneeling in the earth, children, all recollected, prayerful. This is what this rite transmits.”
READ: Chartres pilgrimage proves young Catholics hunger for tradition
Already in the early weeks of Pope Leo’s reign the question of the traditional liturgy has come to the fore after Bishop Michael Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte announced a rigorous cutback of the Latin Mass provision. His ban has been paused from its original date until October, but many – including Schneider – have already urged Leo to formally revoke Pope Francis’ restrictions.
So far the American Pope has avoided the topic, although he has shown himself to be more attuned to the liturgy than his predecessor.
Addressing the thousands of pilgrims in Chartres Cathedral, local ordinary Bishop Philippe Christory said, “We know that Pope Leo prays for every pilgrim to live a personal encounter with Christ.”
Some have taken this as a personal message to the pilgrimage from the Pope, although it does not appear that Christory had any such message to deliver.
But for Schneider even this phrase was “a good and positive sign,” and a possible gauge of how Leo might approach the traditional Mass.
“Therefore we can be hopeful and we thank Pope Leo for this attention to the pilgrimage of Chartres, and I hope Pope Leo will open the door wide for this treasure of the Church, of the saints,” he said.
Last-minute attempts to undermine the traditional Mass nature of the pilgrimage took place. “We are being asked to thoroughly transform the spirit of our traditional pilgrimage, making the Novus Ordo the norm and the Vetus Ordo the tolerated exception, subject to the authorisation of the local bishop or the Dicastery for Divine Worship,” the organizers lamented.
Despite this, the pilgrimage has gone from strength to strength and continues to attract attendees with an average age of 20 years old. Without a doubt it has once again demonstrated that Catholic youth are hungry for the spiritual food on offer at the pilgrimage.
