page_title: Summorum Pontificum
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Summorum Pontificum / History
context_page_description: Summorum Pontificum is an apostolic letter of Pope Benedict XVI, issued in July 2007, which specifies the circumstances in which priests of the Latin Church may celebrate Mass according to what he calls the "Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII in 1962", and administer most of the sacraments in the form used before the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council.
  The document was dated 7 July 2007 and carried an effective date of 14 September 2007. Pope Benedict released an explanatory letter at the same time.
  The document superseded the letter Quattuor Abhinc Annos of 1984 and the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 1988, which had allowed individual bishops, under certain conditions, to establish places where Mass could be said using the 1962 Missal. It granted greater freedom for priests to use the Tridentine liturgy in its 1962 form, stating that all priests of the Latin rite Church may freely celebrate Mass with the 1962 Missal privately.
context_section_description: The Roman Rite of Mass has undergone, especially in the early centuries, various developments. In response to Sacrosanctum Concilium, the 1963 document of the Second Vatican Council, it was systematically revised, leading to the publication, in 1970, of Pope Paul VI's revision of the Roman Missal, which some Traditionalist Catholics claimed constituted a rupture with what went before. Such concerns led French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre to found a seminary and society of priests – the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) – dedicated to the exclusive celebration of sacraments according to the traditional Roman Rite, in 1970. Canonically suspended by the Holy See in 1976, Lefebvre continued negotiations with Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II over the following decade. While these negotiations did not produce a regularization of the SSPX, they did induce John Paul II to issue a decree in 1984, Quattuor Abhinc Annos, providing a limited permission, or indult, to celebrate the traditional Roman Rite. But many traditionalists, frustrated with the unwillingness of most bishops to implement the indult in their dioceses, demanded what they called a universal indult whereby all priests would be allowed to use the former rite even publicly without seeking any specific authorisation.
  For more than a year before the publication of Summorum Pontificum, Vatican officials such as Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, indicated that Pope Benedict XVI had decided to issue a document on the matter. As the date on which it was in fact issued approached, these declarations became more precise. The views of bishops in various countries and also of traditionalist groups were sought on the various drafts.
  On the part of the bishops, two fears were expressed, which Pope Benedict mentioned in the letter to bishops with which he accompanied his motu proprio and declared them unfounded. One was fear that the document would detract from the authority of the Second Vatican Council, by calling into question one of the Council's essential decisions, namely the liturgical reform. The other was fear that the possibility of a wider use of the 1962 Missal would lead to disarray or even divisions within the parish communities. On the latter fear, the Pope commented that "the use of the old Missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language; neither of these is found very often", and that accordingly "it is clearly seen that the new Missal will certainly remain the ordinary Form of the Roman Rite."
  Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos, President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the body charged with overseeing the implementation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, commented on the worry that some have expressed, even after publication of the motu proprio, "that a small minority of believers may impose the Mass of Saint Pius V on the parish". He stated: "Those who say that obviously haven't read the motu proprio. It's clear that no parish priest will be obliged to celebrate the Mass of Saint Pius V. Only that if a group of the faithful, having a priest disposed to say it, asks to celebrate this Mass, the parish priest or the rector of the church can't oppose it."
caption: A pre-1969 Roman-Rite altar with reredos.
   A main altar was usually preceded by three steps, below which were said the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar. Side altars usually had only one step.
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