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Holy Week Is the Perfect Time to Bring Back the Latin Mass

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  March 30, 2026 7:00 PM

The most insulting and egregious part of Pope Francis' papacy was his deeply unjust and hateful war on the Latin Mass (TLM) and traditional Catholics. From almost day one, Pope Francis attacked traditionalists as "rigid" and "inflexible" for demanding a sense of reverence and solemnity in the Mass, and for rejecting the liberalism of Vatican II. 

His writing, Traditionis Custodes, gave anti-TLM bishops the leverage to shut down the TLM in their dioceses, and some -- like Cupich in Chicago and Vigneron in Detroit -- gladly made the most of it, issuing near-total bans on TLM. I live in Milwaukee, and there are families who make the 60+ minute trek from the greater Chicago area to attend TLM at a parish here.

Much in the same way the Biden administration labeled traditional Catholics both white supremacists and domestic terrorists, Francis called priests who celebrate TLM have "mental imbalance, emotional deviation, behavioral difficulties." When my ex-husband was dying in the hospital, it was one of those priests who came and offered him Last Rites, spent time comforting my sons and me, and presided over his TLM funeral mass. To say he has a "mental imbalance" is a slap in the face.

He also said "rigidity is a daily heresy" as he, and his allies like Chicago's Cardinal Cupich, rigidly barred TLM across America.

While it may not be a heresy, the last time I checked, bearing false witness was a sin. And Francis did just that. Last July, a few months after Francis' passing, we learned that Traditionis Custodes was based on a lie.

In short, Francis consulted bishops on the issue, and the majority of them said that making "legislative changes" to Summorum Pontificum (the work by Pope Benedict XVI that made celebrating TLM easier) would do more harm than good.

Francis lied about those responses, saying they "reveal[ed] a situation that preoccupies and saddens me and persuades me of the need to intervene."

I have long argued that was a grave injustice that needed to be remedied. It seems that Pope Leo XIV is poised to do just that, starting in France.

Here's more:

The Pope has urged France’s bishops to find “concrete” ways to “generously include” Catholics attending the traditional Mass in the wider life of the Church. 

Gathered for their plenary assembly in Lourdes this week, the French Catholic episcopate faces a number of issues for the discussion table, but among them is the question of the liturgy. Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the bishops conference, described the topic as one of “urgency,” telling the conference on Tuesday that:  

“We all know the urgency of listening to the spiritual thirst of all the baptized, however it is expressed, while firmly holding the necessary link to the great Tradition of the Church which unfolds in communion with all councils, including the Second Vatican Council.” 

But the more notable development came via a letter written and signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin on behalf of, and in the name of, the Pope. Parolin spoke of Leo’s attention to the liturgy, calling it a “delicate theme” under discussion.

I can only imagine this will expand to Catholics who attend TLM in other countries as well. This isn't the first time Pope Leo XIV has shown a softer, welcoming approach to Latin. He sang the Our Father in Latin at the Christmas Midnight Mass

And granted Papal permission for TLM at St. Peter's.

That's hopeful, and I hope it continues.

The primary purpose of the Pope, and of bishops and priests, is the salvation of souls. That means getting people into the pews and having them adhere to Catholic teachings. On that front, traditional Catholics lead the pack. They attend mass more regularly, donate more money and time to the parish, have larger families, and adhere to Church teaching on things like abortion, birth control, and other core issues.

Yes, there are factions of traditionalists who are virulently antisemitic and sedevacantist. Sedevacantists believe no pope has led the Church since Pope Pius XII, who died in 1958. Both of those stances are in contradiction to Catholic teaching and obedience, and should be addressed. But for the vast majority of traditional Catholics, they simply prefer TLM for its tradition, beauty, and spirituality.

That's why I attended a TLM parish. I've also seen the liturgical abuses that happen, and often go unabated. There's a parish in my diocese that works to make the female parish director part of the mass, that plays fast and loose with the liturgy, and turns mass into a Broadway production.

While that appeals to the predominantly Boomer parishioners, it does not appeal to most Catholics. That's why TLM parishes thrive, with younger families and younger attendees. In a world rife with hardship and struggles, people are hungry — desperate — for a spiritual home that gives them guidance and a purpose beyond themselves and earthly concerns. 

Traditional Catholicism provides that.

And, as we enter the holiest week of the Catholic liturgical year, Pope Leo XIV would be right to bring back the Latin Mass.