Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report

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Pope Leo approved Cardinal Roche’s document supporting Latin Mass restrictions: report
A Spanish outlet reported that Pope Leo requested a document affirming Pope Francis’ claim

 that the Novus Ordo is ‘the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.’



Pope Leo XIV
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Aug 3, 2026
(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV supports the Latin Mass-suppressing document Traditionis Custodes and specifically requested Cardinal Arthur Roche’s document on the liturgy backing Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) restrictions, according to a Spanish publication.

La Razón reported Sunday that it has been “able to confirm” Cardinal Roche distributed this year’s consistory document on the liturgy “at the request of Leo XIV and, therefore, with his approval of its content.”

The outlet also reported that Pope Leo reviewed this document and “Not a single comma was changed.”

The delivery of the text to the cardinals therefore showcased the “position of the new Pope on this issue” and was “not a provocation by Roche” as some claimed, the Spanish outlet concluded.

Leo’s stamp of approval means the pontiff indeed supports the suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass. Roche’s leaked consistory text repeated Pope Francis’ claim that the Novus Ordo Missae is “the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.” It further stated that the permission granted to offer the TLM was a mere “concession that in no way envisaged (its) promotion,” and that “we cannot go back to that ritual form.”

La Razón’s report supports Roche’s recent claim that Pope Leo will not restore freedoms for the Traditional Latin Mass.

“No, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum,” the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments told the British Catholic weekly The Tablet on Wednesday.

Latin Mass suppressions ordered by multiple bishops since Leo took office have already suggested that the pope does not intend to revoke Traditionis Custodes, which has been firmly denounced by clergy and scholars as a repudiation of the perennial practice of the Catholic Church and even of solemn Church teaching.

The document violates the permanent authorization of the traditional Mass confirmed by St. Pius V’s 1570 bull Quo Primum, which declared that this Mass may be used “freely and lawfully” in “perpetuity” and even that the wrath of God would fall upon those who would dare to restrict or abolish it.

“This present document cannot be revoked or modified but remains always valid and retains its full force,” Quo Primum states.