Instruction Universæ Ecclesiæ

The instruction Universæ Ecclesiæ was issued today in Rome. It is a clarification of Summorum Pontificum, which Pope Benedict XVI promulgated on 7 July 2007.

By far the best source for information that I’ve found so far is Father Z’s PODCAzT on the subject. Vatican Radio also has a nice review of the document.

Let’s see if I can sum up:

When Pope Benedict XVI said that any priest of the Latin church was free to pray the Mass according to the ancient rite (the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite, last updated in 1962), what he meant was this: any priest of the Latin church is free to pray the Mass according to the ancient rite.

When Pope Benedict XVI said that any group was free to ask their parish priest for a Mass to be celebrated according to the ancient rite, what he meant was this: any group, no matter how small, is free to ask their parish priest for a Mass to be celebrated according to the ancient rite.

When Pope Benedict XVI said that this was a matter for priests and the people and not the bishops, what he meant was this: this is a matter for priests and the people and not the bishops.

I think that about covers it.

This Pope truly is the Pope of Christian Unity, and it is a unity of belief that gathers its strength from diversity of worship, culture, and customs.

Within the Universal Church there are many churches and rites. Now, even within the Roman rite we have two forms of the Liturgy – not to mention the rites (old and new) enjoyed by the Dominicans, Benedictines, and so forth. The returning Anglicans are bringing their own liturgical traditions, which over the next decades and centuries will be folded into the Latin “family” of rites with the others already there.

Centuries from now, when all the news of the day has been reduced to footnotes of history, the two real accomplishments of this Papacy so far – Summorum Pontificum and Anglicanorum coetibus – will still be celebrated within the Church.