The traditional Latin Mass hit headlines recently after actor Shia LaBeouf announced his embrace of Catholicism because of what he experienced at the Traditional Latin Mass, the standard liturgy beginning with the Council of Trent until the Second Vatican Council. Unlike Benedict XVI – who lifted restrictions on the Mass – Pope Francis has issued two decrees reversing his predecessor’s edicts in the name of inclusivity. Yet, as Simon Caldwell explained in the Catholic Herald, LaBeouf “found himself especially attracted to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite – the Traditional Latin Mass, telling Bishop Barron that he felt as if someone was sharing a “profound secret” with him and “not selling me a car”.”
LaBeouf – aged 36 – is part of a growing trend of young Catholics attracted to the Latin Mass, with studies suggesting Latin Mass attendees are far more observant and likely to attend services than those who attend regular Mass. Young Catholics are finding something in the Latin Mass, and traditional Catholicism, which eludes them elsewhere. Controversy has stirred since studies suggest those who attend Latin Mass are more likely to subscribe to traditionalist views, something Pope Francis was no doubt aware of in his decrees. Yet, if this is the form of Mass which is attracting Catholics back – especially young Catholics – then why wouldn’t Francis encourage it?
We know the Argentine Jesuit is more focused on welcoming the stranger over the type of civilisational Christianity championed by “trads” and growing in popularity in central and eastern Europe. For these Catholics, Benedict XVI has served as a loadstar and point of opposition against the incumbent. The Pope, meanwhile, may have opened a can of worms with his progressive approach, not least with the Synodal Path in Germany, which recently approved a text – Women in ministries and offices in the Church – which could pave the way for women priests. Participants at the Synodal Path also approved A re-evaluation of homosexuality in the Magisterium.
Despite the decrees from Francis, the Synodal Path, and the liberal turn of the Irish Church, it is the more orthodox forms of Christianity which have succeeded in retaining the faithful: traditional Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Evangelical Protestantism, the latter having prospered from the Catholic Church’s focus on social justice in Latin America. Compare the success of more conservative versions of the faith to the decline of mainline Protestantism. The increasingly liberal Church of England may be the state religion of England but its collapse has been horrendous over the decades.
Instead of fighting the Latin Mass, Pope Francis should recognise its ability to reengage Catholics, not least younger Catholics. He should see that, by contrast, liberalism has crushed mainline Protestantism. Yet, where the Catholic Church has held firm – in central and eastern Europe, as well as the Global South – it is the traditionalist versions of the faith which have captured hearts and minds. Little wonder Hungarian prelate and papabile, Cardinal Péter Erdő, has shown respect to those who prefer the Latin Mass, given how Catholicism has roared back to life in his part of Europe.
How then can the Pope issue warnings about the Synodal Path when he has helped in part to create the conditions for the movement to emerge? How can the Pope also seek to engage the worldwide Catholic community with his landmark Synod on Synodality, while attempting to shut down practices which have actually proven to engage Catholics, especially those under the age of 40? If Catholics wanted a liberal version of Christianity, there are plenty of other denominations for them to choose, most of which are losing members. Instead, the mysticism and magic, which speaks to and symbolises something other worldly and more in touch with a Higher Power. Pope Francis, of all people, ought to recognise this.
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