Timeline: Liturgy law: from the 1984 indult to Traditionis custodes

At Vespers with French clergy and religious in Notre-Dame Cathedral on the first day of his visit to France, Leo XIV urged that the liturgy be celebrated "with dignity and decorum" (InfoVaticana's rendering) and asked his listeners to place communion with the Successor of Peter and with the Church above personal preferences for the sake of unity. LifeSiteNews suggested the passage could be read as a reference to the SSPX and the traditional Latin Mass; an UnHerd column later argued that Leo treats the old rite as a personal preference rather than a source of renewal.

The letter, dated 29 June 2026 and sent for a conference at Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon (14–19 August), urged those preparing liturgies, especially priests, to respect the rites promulgated by Paul VI and John Paul II. Commentators linked it to Cardinal Roche's July interview.

In an interview published by The Tablet on 29 July, the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship was widely reported as saying Leo XIV would not change Traditionis custodes or return to Summorum Pontificum. Traditionalist outlets responded critically.

Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, told the bishops of England and Wales on 13 November that Leo XIV would not repeal Francis's limits on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass, but would grant renewable two-year dispensations to bishops who request them, according to Catholic News Service's report of the leaked remarks.

Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni said the published texts gave "a very partial and incomplete reconstruction of the decision-making process" behind Traditionis custodes, cited other reports and consultations, and did not confirm the documents' authenticity.

Journalist Diane Montagna published what she described as sections of the CDF's final report on its 2020 consultation of bishops about Summorum Pontificum, arguing that most respondents opposed changing the law and that this undercut Francis's rationale for Traditionis custodes.

The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life announced a visitation of the FSSP, describing it as a way to know the society better and support it; the Fraternity said it did not stem from any problems. The previous ordinary visitation was in 2014.

A rescript confirmed by Francis in an audience with Cardinal Arthur Roche on 20 February reserved to the Apostolic See the use of parish churches or new personal parishes for the 1962 Missal and permission for priests ordained after July 2021 to use it.

Francis's apostolic letter on liturgical formation restated Article 1 of Traditionis custodes, that the books promulgated after Vatican II are the unique expression of the Roman Rite's lex orandi.

Seven months after Traditionis custodes, Pope Francis signed a decree, made public by the FSSP on 21 February, confirming its members' faculty to use the 1962 Missal, Ritual, Pontifical and Breviary, with the local ordinary's consent required outside its own churches except for private Masses.

The responses, dated 4 December 2021, limited use of the older Rituale to canonically erected personal parishes, excluded the Pontificale, and allowed parish-church celebrations only where no other venue is available and outside the parish Mass schedule.

Three days after Traditionis custodes, the Episcopal Conference of Costa Rica announced that use of the 1962 Missal or any other expression of the liturgy prior to 1970 was no longer authorised in the country, saying it saw no objective justification for it there. Supporters of the traditional Mass objected, and in August a priest was suspended for continuing to celebrate Mass in Latin.

The motu proprio declared the reformed liturgical books "the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite", made the 1962 Missal subject to the diocesan bishop's authorisation, barred new groups, and abrogated earlier norms not in conformity. Francis's accompanying letter cited a 2020 consultation of bishops.

A motu proprio suppressed the Commission created in 1988 and assigned its tasks to a section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei's instruction, approved by Benedict XVI on 8 April 2011, set out the rights of stable groups of faithful (nn. 15–19) and made diocesan bishops responsible for ensuring the extraordinary form for those who request it.

Benedict XVI permitted the 1962 Missal as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, effective 14 September 2007. His accompanying letter said the older Missal had never been juridically abrogated and described the two Missals as two uses of one rite.

Two days after Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's unlawful episcopal ordinations of 30 June, John Paul II's motu proprio stated that excommunication had been incurred, created the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, and asked for a "wide and generous application" of the permissions for the 1962 Missal.

The Congregation for Divine Worship's circular letter to episcopal conferences allowed diocesan bishops to permit Mass with the 1962 Missal for groups that did not question the legitimacy of the 1970 Missal, outside parish churches except in extraordinary cases.

A petition organised by the Latin Mass Society and presented to Paul VI by Cardinal John Heenan led to a concession, dated 5 November 1971, allowing bishops in England and Wales to authorise Masses with the former Roman Missal for particular groups. It is informally known as the "Agatha Christie indult".

Paul VI promulgated the Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy after the bishops approved it by 2,147 votes to 4. Placed at the head of the Council's documents, it presents the liturgy as the summit and source of the Church's life and laid the foundation for the general revision of the liturgical books, including the Roman Missal.