VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Raymond Burke will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at the end of October for the annual Ad Petri Sedem Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage at the Vatican.
Cardinal Burke will celebrate the Solemn Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) on October 26 during the 14th annual Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage (October 24-26) from the altar of the chair of St. Peter, per the pilgrimage’s official program. This marks the first time in three years that the pilgrimage’s Mass will be permitted to be offered inside the Vatican, as Pope Francis’ Vatican had prohibited Masses from being offered inside for the 2023 and 2024 pilgrimages.
The Vatican’s approval for the Mass to be held inside St. Peter’s comes as speculation continues to mount over whether Pope Leo XIV will reverse Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which reversed the universal permissions for the celebration of the Tridentine Mass granted in Summorum Pontificum.
“We are grateful to Pope Leo for his pastoral response to the request for a Traditional Mass in St Peter’s,” Joseph Shaw, president of the International Una Voce Federation (FIUV), a member of the Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum, wrote in a press release. “This celebration symbolises the unity with the Holy Father so desired by Catholics attached to the ancient rite of Mass.”
Cardinal Burke previously celebrated a TLM for the 2014 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. The cardinal has been one of the most prominent critics of Traditionis Custodes, calling it a “severe and revolutionary action” shortly after its promulgation.
WATCH: Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Cordileone celebrate traditional Pontifical Mass
Speaking to LifeSite’s Vatican correspondent Michael Haynes in an interview for PerMariam earlier this year, Cardinal Burke said of the motu proprio:
Because of the confusion about Traditionis Custodes – the document itself is problematic from the point of view of canon law and also of the theological reality of the sacred liturgy – and so a number of Bishops believe that they have to restrict greatly the possibilities for the offering of the Holy Mass according to the Usus Antiquior and also the administration of the other sacraments according to the Usus Antiquior.
This is a cause of great suffering. It’s not just. We must pray that Our Lord will intervene to put an end to this persecution of devout Catholics who simply are spiritually nourished by the more ancient form of the Roman Rite.
The official announcement of Cardinal Burke’s participation in the pilgrimage also notably comes less than a month after the cardinal’s August 22 private audience with Pope Leo. Back in June, about a month into Leo’s pontificate, the prelate said he had already spoken with the new pontiff about ending the “persecution” of the faithful who attend Mass celebrated according to the ancient Roman Rite.
READ: Cardinal Burke says he spoke to Pope Leo about ending ‘persecution’ of Latin Mass faithful
In July, Leo marked Cardinal Burke’s 50th anniversary of ordination by writing a warm letter in Latin to him, thanking him for his “earnest care” for the Church, offering another possible signal of support for the conservative cardinal.
Several other prelates, including Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Cardinal Robert Sarah, and Cardinal Kurt Koch, have criticized Traditionis Custodes and expressed their hope that Pope Leo would lift the restrictions on the TLM as well as allow the faithful to receive the traditional Sacraments without obstacles.
