Leaked Vatican text by Cardinal Roche defends limits on the Latin Mass, reigniting debate over Traditionis Custodes and liturgical unity.
Newsroom (14/01/2026 Gaudium Press ) A previously undisclosed Vatican report on liturgy, written by Cardinal Arthur Roche and quietly distributed to members of the College of Cardinals during last week’s Extraordinary Consistory, has surfaced—confirming that the future of the traditional Latin Mass remains one of the most contentious issues inside the Church today.
The two-page document, dated 8 January 2026 and obtained by journalists Diane Montagna and Nico Spuntoni, presents a theological and historical defense of Traditionis Custodes, Pope Francis’s 2021 decree restricting the use of the 1962 Roman Missal. Although the report was circulated among cardinals, it was never formally discussed at the meeting, as deliberations focused instead on evangelization and synodality. Liturgy is expected to take center stage again when Pope Leo XIV convenes another consistory in June.
A Strong Theological Defense of Reform
In his text, Cardinal Roche—Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments—reiterates the argument at the heart of Traditionis Custodes: that Catholic unity demands a single lex orandi, or “law of prayer,” for the Roman Rite. He presents the post–Vatican II reforms as the culmination of a long historical process, tracing liturgical development from the early Greek-speaking Church through the medieval sacramentaries to the Council of Trent and finally to the Second Vatican Council.
“The history of the liturgy,” Roche’s text declares, “is the history of its continuous ‘reforming’ in a process of organic development.” The document insists that authentic tradition is neither static nor nostalgic. Quoting Benedict XVI, it describes tradition as “the living river that links us to the origins,” a stream whose vitality depends on its openness to legitimate progress.
Unity, Reform, and the Meaning of Tradition
Roche’s defense grounds itself in the language of Sacrosanctum Concilium, Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which calls for reform that “retains sound tradition” while allowing for “legitimate progress.” This principle, he argues, holds that preserving tradition and permitting reform are inseparable tasks. Without progress, tradition “becomes a collection of dead things”; without tradition, progress risks devolving into “a pathological search for novelty.”
At its core, the document connects liturgical unity with ecclesial identity. “The need to reform the liturgy,” it maintains, “is tied to the ritual component of worship,” which naturally bears cultural forms that evolve across time and place while remaining rooted in the unchanging mystery of Christ’s sacrifice.
Pope Francis’s own teaching features prominently. Quoting from a 2024 address to the Dicastery for Divine Worship, the text cites the Pope’s admonition that “without liturgical reform, there is no reform of the Church.” The goal of renewal, it argues, is not merely aesthetic but “spiritual, pastoral, ecumenical, and missionary.”
Still, the report concedes that the application of liturgical reform “suffered and continues to suffer from a lack of formation,” urging renewed catechesis in seminaries to restore a deeper understanding of the Mass as “the summit and source” of Christian life.
A Narrow Reading of Traditionis Custodes
Much of the controversy surrounding the leaked document lies in its treatment of the Tridentine Latin Mass. Roche claims that the continued celebration of the 1962 Missal under Saint John Paul II and Benedict XVI was “a concession that in no way envisaged their promotion.” Citing Traditionis Custodes, he writes that Francis’s intention in restricting its use was to “point the way to unity” under the Missal promulgated by Paul VI.
The text goes further, declaring the reformed liturgical books “the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite,” a phrase that some theologians view as closing off what Benedict XVI once called the “mutual enrichment” between forms of the Roman liturgy. Roche portrays resistance to the post–Vatican II Missal not as a matter of taste but as “primarily ecclesiological.” Citing Francis directly, he writes: “I do not see how it is possible to say that one recognises the validity of the Council and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform born out of Sacrosanctum Concilium.”
Critics Question Historical Omissions
Critics argue that the document constructs an incomplete historical narrative. It makes little mention of Ecclesia Dei (John Paul II, 1988), which recognized the “legitimate aspirations” of faithful attached to the old liturgy, or of Summorum Pontificum (Benedict XVI, 2007), which solemnly affirmed that the 1962 Missal “was never abrogated.” By omitting these precedents, the leaked text seems to reframe earlier papal concessions as mere pastoral gestures rather than juridical recognitions of an enduring liturgical form.
Furthermore, some theologians note that the text invokes “organic development” without distinguishing between evolutio—growth—and mutatio—rupture. They warn that such a framing risks portraying continuity as uniformity, and resistance as disobedience. “A living river has banks,” one monsignor observed privately, “it is not a canal dug anew every decade.”
A Test of Unity or a Test of Loyalty?
The underlying controversy, many observers suggest, lies in whether liturgical diversity threatens or strengthens unity. Roche frames acceptance of the reformed liturgy as a test of ecclesial fidelity—a view not shared by all. Communities formerly under Ecclesia Dei, including several traditional priestly fraternities, have long affirmed their loyalty to the Second Vatican Council. Their concern lies not in the Council itself, but in how its directives were implemented in the decades that followed.
In citing Pope Francis’s apostolic letter Desiderio desideravi, Roche concludes that liturgical tensions cannot be reduced to “simple divergences of sensibility.” For him, the problem is “first and foremost ecclesiological.” Yet to many within the Church, such framing risks converting theological debate into a loyalty test—one in which preference for the older liturgy is treated as defiance rather than devotion.
As discussions on the liturgy return to the Vatican’s agenda this summer, Cardinal Roche’s leaked report ensures that the debate over how the Church prays—and what it means to inherit tradition—will remain far from settled.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Catholic Herald
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