FSSP and concelebration – analyzing the reports
FSSP clergy 'do not wish to concelebrate mass in the ordinary form, as provided for by canon and liturgical law,' a superior stated in 2021.
UPDATE Mar 6. The FSSP General House responded to PerMariam’s request for comment on the leaked internal memo, stating that the FSSP has no comment on it. The General House directed PerMariam to the public statement which was issued March 1.
Confusion and consternation has emerged amongst devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass after an internal memo was leaked, suggesting that members of a traditional community – the FSSP – would have to concelebrate the Novus Ordo Mass.
On Thursday, February 29, the superiors of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) had a private audience with Pope Francis. As is customary for private papal meetings, no details were released by the Holy See about the meeting.
Attending the meeting was Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, the FSSP Superior General, the French district superior Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph, along with Fr. Vincent Ribeton who isRector of the FSSP seminary in Wigratzbad.
The meeting, as outlined by the FSSP in a public press release on March 1, was requested by the FSSP.
Their public statement further read:
The meeting was an opportunity for them to express their deep gratitude to the Holy Father for the decree of February 11, 2022, by which the Pope confirmed the liturgical specificity of the Fraternity of St. Peter, but also to share with him the difficulties encountered in its application. {Editor’s note: For details of the 2022 decree, see here} The Pope was very understanding and invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more fully through its own proper charism.
Fr. Komorowski informed the Holy Father that the decree of February 11, 2022 had been given on the very day of the Fraternity of St. Peter’s consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, on the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Holy Father hailed this coincidence as a providential sign.
News broke to the Catholic world about the meeting only at the issuing of the daily Holy See Press Office Bulletin on Feb 29 at noon Rome time, which listed the event among Pope Francis’ audiences for that day.
The confusion had emerged over the meeting some hours later.
In the evening of Feb 29, an image of an internal memo meant for FSSP clergy only, was leaked online and has since been widely shared and reported on. {Editor’s note: Out of respect for the original confidential nature of the memo, PerMariam delayed reporting on it, but having consulted with sources, PerMariam is publishing this article now as the memo is being widely shared already.}
The internal memo read differently to the public statement which came on March 1. In particular, the memo raised the issue of concelebration, noting that it was a topic highlighted by Pope Francis in the private audience – an element left out of the public statement which emerged March 1.
The memo read in part:
He [Pope Francis] invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more through its own proper charism and the efforts of its members, expressing his wish – while respecting the freedom of each individual priest – for the concelebration of the Chrism Mass, or at least for the presence and Eucharistic Communion of priests at this ceremony. He encouraged continued communication with the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
It was this issue of concelebrating, as mentioned in the internal memo, which caused the instant and widespread consternation amongst devotees of the traditional liturgy.
PerMariam has contacted the FSSP general house for comment on the leaked memo, but has not received an answer at time of publication.
Why the controversy?
Based on the internal memo, it is unclear if there is an order from Pope Francis for FSSP clergy to concelebrate the Chrism Mass, or just a request for them to do so. Even if there was a direct order given, it would likely not have been done in a canonically binding scenario, and could further run into canonical issues due to the FSSP’s constitutions.
The FSSP’s constitutions were already officially approved by the Holy See in 2003. They stipulate that one of the key aims of the Fraternity is to achieve the “sanctification of priests” through the “faithful observance of the ‘liturgical and disciplinary traditions’ according to the dispositions of the Motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of July 2, 1988, which is at the origin of its foundation.”
The Latin Mass (or Extraordinary Form/ancient or traditional liturgy) does not admit the practice of concelebration. Therefore, for clergy of the traditional communities (such as the FSSP) practiced devotion to the Church’s ancient practice of individually celebrated Masses is key. But the issue has been a sometimes divisive one, with priests from traditional communities having on occasion, and in their individual capacities, concelebrated in the Novus Ordo Chrism Mass.
The Chrism Mass, celebrated annually in every diocese in Holy Week, is widely concelebrated in the Novus Ordo liturgy.
Under the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosantum Concilium #57, concelebration has become commonplace in the manner in which it is now widely known. In the current ecclesial sphere, for feasts or in large churches it is now far more common to find one Mass with several priests around the altar than to find a large number of individual Masses. Such practice is now especially common in churches of particular significance or for feasts of such similar description.
But the Church’s Canon Law 902 notes the preservation of the right of a priest to offer his Mass on his own, ie to not concelebrate. It reads:
Can. 902 Unless the welfare of the Christian faithful requires or suggests otherwise, priests can concelebrate the Eucharist. They are completely free to celebrate the Eucharist individually, however, but not while a concelebration is taking place in the same church or oratory.
As has been consistently noted by liturgists, such a Canon directly preserves the right of a priest to not concelebrate, and also to offer a Mass at a side chapel while Mass is taking place at a different part of the same church. Dr. Peter Kwasniewski notes:
Some English translations simply say “in which another celebration is taking place.” The Latin, however, is clear: non vero eo tempore, quo in eadem ecclesia aut oratorio concelebratio habetur.) Thus, having many simultaneous Masses at side altars is fully permissible even according to the 1983 Code.
In a June 2021 interview, Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph stated that “based on objective theological reasons,” the FSSP clergy “do not wish to concelebrate mass in the ordinary form, as provided for by canon and liturgical law.” His full comments were as follows:
The question of concelebration is a delicate one, particularly in our institute, given our internal history and the crisis we have been through. As a preamble, let me remind you that if the majority of FSSP priests do not concelebrate, this is not due to an unofficial prohibition from their superiors, nor to an impossibility linked to their constitutions (which would be impossible), but to their personal choice, as the Church allows.
Secondly, it is also important to remember that, by virtue of their membership of the Fraternity of St. Peter, an Apostolic Society of Pontifical Right, whose history and very name originate in fidelity to the See of Peter, the priests of our institute are in full ecclesial communion. There can be no doubt about this.
The Motu Proprio does not speak directly of concelebration, but recalls the dignity of Paul VI's missal, asking priests not to exclude it on principle. In our case, our constitutions, definitively approved by the Holy See in 2003, recognize that celebration in the Extraordinary Form is constitutive of our charism. This means that a priest of the FSSP cannot receive a mission that would include the celebration of the liturgy in the Ordinary Form.
As for concelebration (in the Ordinary Form/Novus Ordo), while it is one of the signs of communion with the bishop, it is not the only one, nor is it the highest (it has only been practised since fairly recent times), and is in no way binding.
The priests of the FSSP, because of the liturgical choice they have made, which is based on objective theological reasons, do not wish to concelebrate mass in the ordinary form, as provided for by canon and liturgical law.
I can understand that this is difficult for some bishops to accept, but it seems unfair to me to suspect or penalize people who make use of a right, or to put their motives behind their choice. The priests of the FSSP have never questioned the validity of the Mass celebrated according to Paul VI's missal; on the contrary, they have always pointed out its inadequacies and ambiguities, in a filial spirit. That's why, since they have permission, they prefer not to concelebrate it.
In this regard, I should point out that the question of concelebration was submitted to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei in 2010, which recalled that it is always a possibility, never an obligation.
Indeed, serving to highlight this devotion of the traditional communities to their right not to concelebrate, in June 2021 – prior to Traditionis Custodes which severely restricted the traditional Mass – the Archdiocese of Dijon expelled the FSSP priests present, citing their decision not to concelebrate in the Novus Ordo Mass as the reason for the expulsion.
Vatican’s recent moves on FSSP & concelebration
Some further context is also needed in order to analyze the recent news from Rome.
The December 2021 Responsa ad dubia issued by Cdl. Arthur Roche of the Vatican’s CDW reaffirmed and extended Pope Francis’ July 2021 restrictions on the Latin Mass in Traditionis Custodes.
Amongst other points, the Responsa stated that if a priest (whether he be diocesan or part of a traditional order, since the Responsa did not differentiate) “does not recognise the validity and legitimacy of concelebration – refusing to concelebrate, in particular, at the Chrism Mass,” then he was to be banned from saying the traditional Mass.
Before the bishop places this heavy penalty upon the priest, he is tasked to “establish a fraternal dialogue with the Priest, to ascertain that this attitude does not exclude the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform, the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs, and to accompany him towards an understanding of the value of concelebration, particularly at the Chrism Mass.”
The reason for this, according to the Responsa, is to bolster Pope Francis’ claim in Traditionis Custodes that adherents of the Latin Mass reject the liturgical “reform” because “it betrayed the Tradition and the ‘true Church.’”
“The explicit refusal not to take part in concelebration, particularly at the Chrism Mass, seems to express a lack of acceptance of the liturgical reform and a lack of ecclesial communion with the Bishop, both of which are necessary requirements in order to benefit from the concession to celebrate with the Missale Romanum of 1962,” the CDW’s Responsa declared.
But some weeks after Roche’s Responsa, the FSSP obtained an explicit Papal reprieve from the restrictions of Traditionis Custodes, at least in most of its aspects.
As noted by Pope Francis in his meeting with Frs. Paul-Joseph and Ribeton and his February 21, 2022 Decree, “institutes such as the Fraternity of St. Peter are not affected by the general provisions of the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes, since the use of the ancient liturgical books was at the origin of their existence and is provided for in their constitutions.” It is understood by PerMariam from Roman sources that Francis was clearly reminded of the FSSP’s papally approved constitutions at the February 2022 meeting.
While not mentioning the CDW’s December 2021 Responsa, Pope Francis’ 2022 Decree exempting the FSSP from Traditionis Custodes logically exempted them from the consequent Responsa which served to expand on Traditionis Custodes.
However, Francis also added in the 2022 Decree that “without prejudice to what has been said above … the provisions of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes be taken into account as well.” He did not clarify how this was to be implemented in practice.
Some two months later, Archbishop de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims (head of the French bishops’ conference) stated that Pope Francis had told the French bishops the FSSP priests must concelebrate. The archbishop, speaking in April 2022 after the French ad limina visit to Rome, attested that Francis told them, in conjunction with his decree on the FSSP, that clergy must concelebrate at least at the Chrism Mass.
The FSSP did not comment on this report, nor did the Holy See attempt to provide a clarification on the matter.
What now?
With such background on the overarching issue, it remains to be seen what effect the Pope’s meeting will have had on the FSSP and their stance in choosing not to concelebrate the Novus Ordo.
In particular, this phrase of the Feb 29 internal FSSP memo is particularly confusing and contradictory: “to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more through its own proper charism and the efforts of its members, expressing his wish – while respecting the freedom of each individual priest – for the concelebration of the Chrism Mass, or at least for the presence and Eucharistic Communion of priests at this ceremony.” In one sentence, Francis thus urges the FSSP to devote themselves more to a charism which does not include the concelebration of a rite they are not trained in, before then urging them to concelebrate that self-same rite.
Whether a new-found pressure to concelebrate at the Chrism Mass is placed on FSSP clergy this coming Holy Week remains to be seen. Their constitutions and the Church’s Canon Law safeguard their right to not concelebrate: whether such is respected by the Vatican is a different matter.