French declaration favouring liberalizing of the 1962 Missal

[A declaration published in favour of the liberalizing of the 1962 Missal by various French Catholic lay academics, artists, etc. published today in Le Figaro.]

We lay Roman Catholics, wish, in the face of the media attention caused by a possible liberalization of the Gregorian [1962] Mass, to testify publicly to our fidelity, our support and our affection in the Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

1. The constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium of the Second Vatican Council recalls: “Obeying the tradition faithfully, the Council declares that our Holy Mother the Church regards as equal in right and dignity all the legitimately recognized rites, and that she wants, in the future, to preserve them and support them in any case.” We thus regard as a grace the diversity of the rites in the Catholic Church and we see with coming joy the liberalization of that which was ordinary to our parents and our grandparents, and which nourished the spiritual life of so many saints.

We want to express to the Holy Father and to our bishops our joy at seeing appear more and more parochial and religious communities attached to the beauty of the liturgy in its various forms. We share the thoughts of Cardinal Ratzinger: “I am convinced that the crisis of the Church that we live today rests largely on the disintegration of the liturgy”. (My Life, Beech, 1998.)

2. “To promote the restoration of the unity between all Christians is one of the principal goals of the holy ecumenical Council of Vatican II. Only one, single Church was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ”, affirms the introduction of the decree Unitatis Redintegratio.

It in this spirit, as described by the Council, that we receive with joy the creation of the Institute of Good Shepherd and that we request and hope that all those who have moved away from the full communion follow this same path of reconciliation.

3. We are shocked by the idea that a Catholic can be anxious at the celebration of the Mass which was that which Padre Pio and Saint Maximillian Kolbe celebrated. That which nourished the piety of St. Thérèse of the Child-Jesus and the smiling Pope, John XXIII.

We know that the Church is made up men and women, and that criticizable and sometimes insulting remarks can be exchanged “sometimes by the fault of the people on both sides” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3).

We ask God “to forgive our offences, as we also forgive with those who have offended us”.

We can see how the government of the Church is difficult and how heavy is the burden of our Holy Father, the Pope, as it is also demanding of our bishops.

By this declaration, we wish to publish our total support for Benedict XVI who, after John-Paul II the Great, and in the long and splendid chain of the successors of Peter, continue to work with humility, courage, intelligence and firmness with the new evangelization.

Signed: René Girard, of the French Academy; Michel Déon, of the French Academy; Bertrand Collomb, of the Institute of France; Jean Piat, actor; Claude Rich, actor; Jean-Laurent Cochet, actor and producer; François Ceyrac, former president of the CNPF (National Familiar Savings Bank); Charles Beigbeder, CEO (Selftrade and Poweo); Jean-François Hénin, CEO (Maurel et Prom Oil Company); Jean-Marie Schmitz, executive, president of the Free College of Law, Economics, and Administration (FACO); Raphaël Dubrulle, executive; Jean François, honorary president of the Lafarge Corporation; Jean-Marie Le Méné, president of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation; Jean Raspail, writer; Jean des Cars, historian; Denis Tillinac, writer and editor; Robert Colonna d'Istria, writer; Isabelle Mourral, honorary president, Association of Catholic Writers; Jacques Heers, professor, historian, former director of Medieval Studies at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne; Alain Lanavère, lecturer, Catholic Institute of Paris; Jean-Christian Petitfils, historian and writer; Yvonne Flour, professor and vice-president of the Scientific Council, University of Paris-I - Panthéon-Sorbonne; Jacques Garello, professor emeritus, University of Aix-Marseille III- Paul-Cézanne; Jean-Didier Lecaillon, professor, University of Paris II -Panthéon-Assas; Catherine Rouvier, lecturer at the University of Sceaux, lawyer; Patrick Louis, Member of the European Parliamen, professor at the University of Lyon-III; Jean-Yves Naudet, professor at the University of Aix-Marseille III- Paul-Cézanne, president of the Association of Catholic Economists; Bertrand Fazio, member of the Association of Catholic Economists; Roland Hureaux, writer; Jean Sevillia, historian and writer; Henry de Lesquen, high government official; Yvan Blot, high government official; Jacques Trémolet de Villers, writer, court attorney; Alexandre Varaut, court attorney; Solange Doumic, court attorney; Frédéric Pichon, court attorney; Francis Jubert, president of the Foundation for Political Service ; Anne Coffinier, diplomat; Benoît Schmitz, History professor; Marie de Préville, professor of Classical Letters; Alexis Nogier, surgeon, Clinical Head at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital; Philippe Darantière, consultant ; Thierry Boutet, writer and journalist; François Foucart, writer and journalist; Philippe Maxence, writer, editor-in-chief of L 'Homme Nouveau; Jacques de Guillebon, writer; Falk van Gaver, writer; Mathieu Baumier, writer; Christophe Geffroy, director of the "La Nef" journal; Anne Bernet, writer; Louis Daufresne, journalist, Paris Archdiocesan Radio (Radio Notre-Dame); Fabrice Madouas, journalist; Hilaire de Crémiers, journalist.

Source: Le Figaro