Roche: Leo XIV Will Not Reverse Traditionis Custodes
Roche ties the norms to Vatican II’s liturgical reform and warns that rejecting the Novus Ordo moves one away from Catholicism’s liturgical center.
Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, affirmed on October 13 that Pope Leo XIV has no intention of revising or reversing Traditionis Custodes, the 2021 motu proprio that restricts celebrations of the 1962 Roman Missal.
“He is not going to change Traditionis Custodes. He is not going to go back to Summorum Pontificum,” Roche said.
The cardinal linked the policy to fidelity to the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council as expressed in Sacrosanctum Concilium. He noted that resistance to the reformed liturgy distances one from “the center of Catholicism.” He also referenced recent words of Pope Leo XIV to priests and consecrated persons at Notre-Dame as reinforcing the call to unity under the norms now in force.
The Reformed Liturgy and the Lex Orandi
Traditionis Custodes, issued by Pope Francis in July 2021, curtailed the freer use of the older form that Pope Benedict XVI had permitted in the 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Under the 2021 discipline, celebrations according to the 1962 Missal require the bishop’s authorization and, in many cases, confirmation from the Holy See. The earlier form is no longer treated as an ordinary parallel expression of the Roman Rite’s public prayer.
Roche addressed the appeal of the older liturgical books among some young Catholics. He maintained, however, that the Novus Ordo remains the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite. In that framing, attachment to the pre-conciliar liturgical books cannot set aside the reform received by the Church after the Council.
Permissions Within the Present Norms
The remarks come as Roche approaches retirement age. They also arrive amid ongoing, case-by-case discernment of liturgical permissions. Through 2025, a steady number of U.S. dioceses continued to receive approvals for celebrations according to the 1962 Missal within the framework fixed by Traditionis Custodes and its implementing measures.
Roche’s statement places the Holy Father’s course in continuity with the post-conciliar liturgical reform and with the discipline confirmed since 2021. For communities attached to the older form, the path indicated remains local request and Roman judgment — not a restoration of the previous universal permissions.