Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco called for “easier access” to the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) as the future of the restrictions on the traditional rite remain uncertain.
“I think with some precautions, we can allow a greater access to the Mass and maintain unity within the Church,” Cordileone said in a July 30 interview on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.”
Cordileone, who is one of seven new members of the Apostolic Signatura appointed by Pope Leo XIV, spoke about the Latin Mass restrictions following the excommunication of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) members involved in consecrating four bishops without the pope’s permission.
The SSPX consecrations manifest “a growing lack of trust that has been simmering for a very long time,” Cordileone wrote in a post to X.
“Let us pray that an ardent effort toward sincere and honest dialogue will soon start up, and that easier access to the traditional form of the Mass will be available to our people, so they will not feel as if they are constrained to seek spiritual nourishment outside of the family in union with Rome,” he said in the July 10 statement.
While Cordileone and other leaders have called for less restrictions on the TLM, Cardinal Arthur Roche, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, said in an interview with The Tablet that Pope Leo has no intention of changing Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional liturgy.
Cordileone told Raymond Arroyo in response to Roche’s comments: “I donʼt know how well he knows the mind of the Holy Father. But I think one thing thatʼs clear to everyone is the Holy Father wants to bring everyone together. Heʼs all about unity.”
Cordileone said he is concerned that if the restrictions remain in place, people who want a traditional form of worship will feel they “have no choice” other than “to go outside of officially approved institutions and communities.”
“They will do that. So I think thereʼs concern for unity on both sides. One, if the restrictions are in place, people will then go to these other groups that are not in full communion with the See of Rome,” he said.
“But if theyʼre allowed generously, we have to make sure that the people who access the Mass are in full communion in terms of their belief and their acceptance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council,” he said.
In the U.S. and other nations, Cordileone said that has, for “the most part,” been the case.
“So I think with some precautions, we can allow a greater access to the Mass and maintain unity within the Church,” he said.
Reconciliation of TLM restrictions not ‘realistic’
While Cordileone said he believes more access to the TLM is possible, he said he does not think itʼs “realistic” to reconcile the TLM restrictions following Pope Leoʼs message to the French bishops to be more inclusive of those who want to celebrate the traditional rite.
In March, Pope Leo XIV called for “concrete solutions” to heal divisions over the Mass in a message to the French bishops.
The Holy Father called for renewed unity in the Church’s liturgical life, urging French bishops to seek “concrete solutions” to include Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass while preserving communion.
“We look at the younger generation — they all love the tradition,” Cordileone said. “They love the more classical way that the Church worships, the traditional Mass, what we call the traditional Mass, the form of the Mass before it was changed after the Second Vatican Council.”
“But even the order of the Mass as we have now done in a more traditional way with the priest ad orientem, and the sacred music, and great solemnity, and reverence. Theyʼre desiring this deep tradition. It takes them to a very deep place,” he said.
“This is unstoppable. Itʼs whatʼs drawing young people in and will continue to do so,” he said.