Pope says Latin Mass restrictions don’t apply to FSSP

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Traditionis Custodes: “Grey Area” Remains - FSSP


Father Paul-Joseph, the French FSSP District Superior

gloria.tv | February 22, 2022

After TC, Father Paul-Joseph, the French FSSP district superior, and Father Ribeton, the rector of Wigratzbad seminary wrote to Francis on December 28 “confidently” appealing to his “solicitude.”

Only a day later, Francis answered with a scanned handwritten letter, Paul-Joseph told Present.fr (February 21). The two received a February 4 appointment in Santa Marta which lasted for almost an hour, “The Pope was very gracious throughout the conversation, showing genuine solicitude.”

He said that TC did not regard Old Rite Communities. Paul-Joseph believes that Francis was “truly touched” by the history of the FSSP.

The two asked Francis “respectfully” if this could be “formalised,” and Francis sent a decree on February 19. Now, Paul-Joseph explains, a bishop who accepted the FSSP in his diocese cannot impose the Novus Ordo on FSSP priests.

A remaining “small grey area” is for Paul-Joseph that the bishops who celebrate ordinations for the FSSP “don’t have the right" to use the Pontificale Romanum.

“However, the Pope has heard us speak joyfully about our future ordinations, and the position is clear on this side,” Paul-Joseph says enigmatically.