From the news item Pope Denies Claim that Use of 1962 Missal is a Form of Regression:
The Pontiff said it is "groundless" to fear that "Summorum Pontificum" -- which opened the way for a wider celebration of the Mass according to the 1962 Missal -- is a regression.
"This 'motu proprio' is simply an act of tolerance, with a pastoral objective, for people who have been formed in this liturgy, who love it, know it and want to live with this liturgy," he said. "It is a small group, given that it presupposes a formation in Latin, a formation in a certain culture. But it seems to me a normal demand of faith and pastoral concern for a bishop of our Church to have love and tolerance for these people and permit them to live with this liturgy."
"There is no opposition whatsoever between the liturgy renewed by the Second Vatican Council and this liturgy," Benedict XVI continued. "Each day, the Council fathers celebrated Mass according to this old rite and, at the same time, have conceived a natural development for the liturgy in all of this century, since the liturgy is a living reality that develops and that conserves its identity in its development."
"Therefore, there are certainly distinct accents, but a fundamental identity that excludes a contradiction, an opposition between the renewed liturgy and the preceding liturgy," the Pope affirmed. "I think that there is the possibility of mutual enrichment. It's clear that the renewed liturgy is the ordinary liturgy of our times."
What does it mean for the pope to be "tolerant" of the Mass of immemorial custom in the Western Chruch, the very Mass he was trained to offer? What does it mean to have a "liturgy of our times"? What became of the "glowing affection" spoken of in the Papal Coronation Oath, an oath discarded in 1978 after 1300 years usage? From the old Oath:
I vow to change nothing of the received Tradition, and nothing thereof I have found before me guarded by my God-pleasing predecessors, to encroach upon, to alter, or to permit any innovation therein;
To the contrary: with glowing affection as her truly faithful student and successor, to safeguard reverently the passed-on good, with my whole strength and utmost effort;
Tolerance? A new "liturgy of our times"? What's going on?




"Each day, the Council fathers celebrated Mass according to this old rite and, at the same time, have conceived a natural development for the liturgy in all of this century, since the liturgy is a living reality that develops and that conserves its identity in its development."
Yet, the Council Fathers did not compose the new rights, Msgr. Bugnini and the Consilium did. Even the General Synod of 1965? nixed Bugnini's changes, but Pope Paul VI put them threw anyhow, because, as his close friend said, he preferred the Calvinist service for its simplicity.
An organic change, in my opinion, must follow the general principles of the liturgy, namely that they are inspired by the Holy Ghost, and not the product of personal preferences or initiatives.
To cite the Council Fathers in this context, seems to me more a political statement than a historically accurate one.
O Holy Father, why do you fear the wolves?
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I'm not sure that the pope fears the wolves, if you mean intimidation from novus-ordo reactionaries. I think we're in an interim period where His Holiness is aiming for a new synthesis, a reform of the reform maybe. He had to revive the ancient Mass as a reference point for all to see. The new Mass itself is too insipid to inspire it's own reform.