Pope decries divisions caused by old-school liturgy fans

Pope Francis has harsh words for those who hew to old-school versions of liturgy, like the Latin Mass, saying they are sowing divisions among Catholics

ROME -- Pope Francis on Saturday blasted Catholics who, hewing to old-school versions of liturgy like the Latin Mass, have made an ideological battleground of the issue, decrying what he described as devil-inspired divisiveness in the church.

Francis pressed his papacy’s battle against traditionalists, whose prominent members include some ultra-conservative cardinals. They have resisted restrictions, imposed last year by the Vatican, on celebrations of the old Mass in Latin in St. Peter’s Basilica and, more generally, for years have disparaged the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Speaking at the Vatican to instructors and students of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, Francis said it’s not possible to worship God while using the liturgy as a “battleground” for nonessential questions that divide the church.

Francis has made clear he prefers Mass celebrated in local languages, with the priest facing the congregation instead of with his back to the pews. That was the way Mass was celebrated before the revolutionary Vatican Council reforms, more than a half century-ago, which aimed at making rank-and-file Catholics feel more connected to liturgical celebrations.