Background
Overview
In July 2025 the journalist Diane Montagna published what she described as sections of the final report of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on its 2020 consultation of the world's bishops about Summorum Pontificum — the consultation Pope Francis cited when he restricted the traditional Latin Mass in Traditionis custodes (2021). Montagna argued that the report showed most responding bishops opposed changing Benedict XVI's law. The Holy See Press Office did not confirm the documents' authenticity and called the reports "a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process" (Catholic News Service). The episode revived debate about the basis of the 2021 restrictions early in Leo XIV's pontificate (see Leo XIV and the Latin Mass).
Background: the 2020 consultation
Benedict XVI's 2007 letter to bishops accompanying Summorum Pontificum asked them to report on their experience three years after the law took effect. The CDF, which had taken over the tasks of the former Ecclesia Dei Commission in 2019 (vatican.va), consulted bishops in 2020. In his letter accompanying Traditionis custodes, Francis wrote that the responses revealed a situation that "preoccupies and saddens me" and persuaded him of the need to intervene. The results themselves were not published. Claims that the survey had not supported the restrictions circulated as early as 2021, when Catholic World News reported a journalist's account to that effect (Catholic World News).
What was published
On 1 July 2025 Montagna's Substack carried two texts: the report's overall assessment of the survey results and a compilation of quotations from individual bishops and bishops' conferences, which she said was meant to give the Pope an overall picture of their answers (Diane Montagna). According to her excerpts and the coverage that followed:
- most responding bishops judged that legislative changes to Summorum Pontificum would do more harm than good;
- most bishops who had implemented the motu proprio generously expressed satisfaction with it;
- some bishops said it had failed in its aim of fostering reconciliation and asked for its suppression, and some wanted a return to the pre-2007 system to gain greater control (Diane Montagna; America).
On 10 July Montagna published the report's protocol number and the introduction to its second part, which she said were provided by the Italian journalist Saverio Gaeta and the liturgist Fr. Nicola Bux, co-authors of an Italian book on the report, La liturgia non è uno spettacolo. She reported that the publisher, Fede & Cultura, made the book available online ahead of its planned October release after her first article, and that it includes a further section of the report summarising implementation by continent and country (Diane Montagna; Diane Montagna).
The Vatican's response
On 3 July 2025, answering a question from CNA at a briefing on another subject, Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni said the texts presumably concerned part of one of the documents on which the decision had been based, but that they offered "a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process." He said other documentation and reports, including the results of further consultations, had also been taken into account, and he did not confirm the documents' authenticity (Catholic News Service; National Catholic Register/CNA; National Catholic Reporter). Montagna replied that Traditionis custodes and Francis's accompanying letter cited only the bishops' survey as the reason for his intervention (Diane Montagna). In the reporting reviewed, the Holy See has neither published the full report nor the further consultations Bruni mentioned.
Reactions in traditionalist media
Outlets sympathetic to the traditional Mass treated the documents as vindication. LifeSiteNews headlined that "Nearly 'two-thirds of bishops' disagreed with restrictions to Latin Mass" (LifeSiteNews); Fr. John Zuhlsdorf's blog called it "another bombshell" (Fr. Z's Blog); The Remnant headlined "Official Vatican Report Dismantles Traditionis Custodes" (The Remnant); and CatholicVote wrote of "major cracks" in the basis of the law (CatholicVote). Catholicism.org was more conditional, drawing conclusions "assuming that the text Miss Montagna has obtained is genuine — which we have no reason to doubt" (Catholicism.org).
In Italy, Messa in Latino published an interview with Fr. Bux about the survey on 10 July; the next day Google's Blogger platform took the blog offline, citing an unspecified hate-speech violation, and restored it on 23 July. Google gave no reason linking the two (The European Conservative).
Not all commentary agreed. The blog Sacerdotus argued that Montagna relied on selected excerpts, left out contrary findings, depended on unverified documents and repeated claims she had made in 2021 (Sacerdotus). Mainstream Catholic outlets reported the leak and the Vatican's response without endorsing either reading: America described a growing debate (America), and the National Catholic Reporter and CNA reported that the Vatican had downplayed the documents' role (NCR; National Catholic Register/CNA).
What the official texts say
The leak did not change the law. Article 1 of Traditionis custodes describes the liturgical books promulgated by Paul VI and John Paul II as "the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite", and the 2021 Responsa ad dubia and the 2023 rescript reserving key dispensations to Rome remain in force (see liturgy law). The dispute is about the reasons Francis gave and the evidence behind them, not about whether the 2021 law is currently binding.
What happened next
- November 2025. The apostolic nuncio to Great Britain said Leo XIV would not overturn the restrictions but would grant two-year dispensations to bishops who ask (Catholic News Service).
- March 2026. A message sent on Leo's behalf asked French bishops to include Latin Mass Catholics generously while preserving communion (Crux; America).
- July–August 2026. After Cardinal Arthur Roche told The Tablet that Leo would not change Traditionis custodes, Montagna responded with a post titled "More Extraordinary Gaslighting" (Diane Montagna); Leo's letter to Roche, published in August, called for fidelity to the approved texts.
What to watch
- Whether the Holy See publishes the full CDF report or the other consultations it says informed the 2021 decision.
- Any act by Leo XIV amending Traditionis custodes, the Responsa or the 2023 rescript.
- Independent data, such as the U.S. study Trads by Stephen Cranney and Stephen Bullivant, listed by Oxford University Press for late 2026 (see Young Catholics and the Latin Mass).