How available is the traditional Mass? Diane Montagna’s challenge to Cardinal Roche, checked

The older Mass has not been abolished, but every celebration now depends on a permission. Under Traditionis custodes (16 July 2021) it is the diocesan bishop’s exclusive competence to authorise the 1962 Missal, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See (art. 2); for existing groups he designates places that are not parish churches and is not to authorise new groups (art. 3 §§2 and 6); priests ordained after the motu proprio must apply to the bishop, who consults the Apostolic See (art. 4); and priests already using the older Missal must request permission to continue (art. 5). The Congregation for Divine Worship’s Responsa ad dubia (dated 4 December 2021) said it could allow a parish church only when it is impossible to use another church, oratory or chapel, and that such Masses should not appear in the parish Mass schedule. A rescript dated 20 February 2023 reserved to the Apostolic See, under canon 87 §1, both the use of parish churches and permission for priests ordained after the motu proprio; Montagna’s piece dates this rescript to February 2022. Under Leo, the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain told the bishops of England and Wales on 13 November 2025 that the Pope would not abrogate the motu proprio but would grant bishops who asked a two-year, renewable exemption. A Dicastery official told Catholic News Service the next day that this restated existing practice for permissions to use parish churches (Catholic News Service).

In several dioceses the number of venues fell, though unevenly. The National Catholic Register reported in August 2022 that the Diocese of Arlington was reducing its traditional Masses from 21 locations to eight, that the Archdiocese of Washington had limited them from six locations to three non-parish churches, and that the Diocese of Savannah had limited them to one weekly and three monthly locations. The same report cited an online tracker that counted, among 98 U.S. dioceses that had responded by then, 72 that had left the Mass in place, 23 that had imposed some restrictions and three that had suppressed it. In Charlotte, Bishop Peter Jugis announced in December 2023 that four parish churches had Vatican permission to continue until 2 October 2025 and that five other parishes must stop, while mission churches and non-parochial chapels already offering it were not affected (Catholic News Herald). His successor, Bishop Michael Martin, ended the Mass in parish churches and from October 2025 allowed it only at a single chapel in Mooresville; CNA reported that he recognised the chapel was too small for all regular attendees and that many would have to drive long distances (Diocese of Charlotte; CNA). Pew found in 2025 that 13% of U.S. Catholics had attended a Traditional Latin Mass in the past five years and 2% say they attend one at least weekly; its question defined such a Mass as one said entirely in Latin with the priest facing the altar, not by the Missal used, and Pew noted that attendance may have declined because the Mass is less widely available than before Traditionis custodes took effect. The sociologist Stephen Cranney told OSV News, in a report published by America, that the motu proprio had an “immediate impact” in reducing venues (America).