More on the re-issue of the Missale Romanum, 1962

[Much is being made of this report about the production in Rome of altar editions of the 1962 Missale Romanum. If the report is accurate, it may indeed signal a preparation for the motu proprio and the possible demand for copies of this Missal from various quarters that would follow from such. While the 1962 Missale Romanum was reprinted in an altar edition elsewhere (pictured to the right) certainly a formal reprint of the altar edition in Rome would, potentially at least, signal something more significant on the horizon. We shall have to wait and see if it is so.]

Source: http://ilgiorno.quotidiano.net/art/2007/03/09/5466595


From the VATICAN, 9 March 2007 - Accelerating the permission for the Latin Mass

According to authoritative Vatican sources, the rough drafts of the Missal according to the rite of St. Pius V are already ready. The Catholic editors are therefore preparing the final copy of the Missal in Latin which will be the specific edition for use at the altar (by the priest) rather than that of the laity.

The work is subject to the approval of the Papal Commission Ecclesia Dei presided over by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, (previous) prefect of the Papal Commission for the Clergy. This is a signal indicating that the Pope, after much thought, is preparing the 'Motu proprio' with which the use of the pre-conciliar Mass will be liberalized. The path to freedom could arrive before Easter and in addition, Cardinal Estevez Medina has already announced that the 'Motu proprio' is "imminent".

The document will 'rehabilitate' the Missal of St. Pius V, celebrated in Latin in the Catholic Church until 1969 and never declared abolished, it will be defined as a universal, "extraordinary" rite, side by side with the ordinary Roman Rite that is post-conciliar. In this way the Old Mass will return to having full citizenship.