11th PILGRIMAGE TO ROME 28, 29 and 30 OCTOBER 2022

In 2020 the Federation presented this report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to complement reports sent by bishops around the world on the same subject, which had been requested by the CDF at the request of Pope Francis.

The Federation’s Report will not be published in full but a good deal of material from it will be published in different places, and this page will be updated with links to these materials.

Gregorius Magnus 10 has an account of the motivation, methodology, results, and conclusions of the reports. More is included Gregorius Magnus 11(Spring 2021)

On the demographic profile of EF congregations, you can download a table of statistics here.

Rorate Caeli has an article about Latin America drawing on the Report. (In Spanish, here.)

The Homiletic and Pastoral Review has a piece about the demographic profile of EF attendees, here. There is a brief notice and response to the article on the website of the German Bishops’ Conference (in German) here.

The Una Voce Federation [of whom we are a member] has taken out an advert in the mass-circulation Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, appearing today, Sunday 4th July.The English text is as following (for other languages see here):

The International Federation Una Voce (FIUV), founded in 1965, brings together associations of the lay faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite (the Traditional Latin Mass).

In 2007, the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum recognised the vitality of the traditional liturgy, the freedom of priests to celebrate it, and of the faithful to request it. This has led to an ongoing increase in the number of celebrations of the ancient Latin Mass, and of its spiritual fruits.

During 2020 the FIUV conducted a worldwide survey of the faithful on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. From this survey, which included results from 364 dioceses in 52 countries, we found:

•    The ancient Latin Mass is deeply appreciated by groups of faithful of all ages, especially families with children, young people and converts, found in all social and cultural environments, on all continents and in an ever increasing number of countries.

• In many areas the increased availability of this Mass has favoured the normalisation of relations between the faithful attached to it and their bishops, relations increasingly characterised by mutual understanding and respect.

Nevertheless, we have noticed that, contrary to the previous policy of the Holy See, there are still people within the Church, including some bishops, who would like to see the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite explicitly suppressed, or subject to further restrictions. For this reason, the FIUV, in view of the faithful who adhere to the Latin Mass, feels the duty to express its opinion, encouraged by Pope Francis’ exhortations to the members of the Church to use parrhesia with the necessary humility.

The growth of interest in the traditional liturgy is not due to nostalgia for a time we do not remember, or a desire for rigidity: it is rather a matter of opening ourselves to the value of something that for most of us is new, and inspires hope. Pope Francis has characterised the ancient liturgy in terms of a “sense of adoration” (Press conference of 28 July 2013), we can also apply his words to it: a “living history that welcomes us and pushes us forward” (Evangelii Gaudium 13).

Today we only wish to be part of that “great orchestra” of “unity in variety” which, as Pope Francis said (General Audience of 9 October 2013), reflects the true catholicity of the Church. The Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum continues to transform the conflicts of the past into harmony: long may it to continue to do so.

Felipe Alanis Suarez, President                                                                                        www.fiuv.org

Ends

Some details from the international survey are set out in here.