Please sign this petition in support of the Traditional Latin Mass and Summorum Pontificum

Traditionalists around the world are appealing to Pope Benedict XVI not to approve a document rumoured to restrict celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass.

Dozens of people have already signed a petition at motuproprioappeal.com calling on the Pope to oppose a forthcoming clarification on the 2007 document Summorum Pontificum.

The site says it has noted signs that the long-awaited instruction will “take away what you have legally established in th[e] Motu Proprio”.

It adds: “Any restrictive measures would cause scandal, disunity and suffering in the Church and would frustrate the reconciliation you so earnestly desire.”

The petition follows reports on the Rorate Caeli blog that “strange, violent, and dark forces wish to derail the application of Summorum Pontificum”.

According to the blog, reports from different sources suggest “that ill-intentioned people within the highest ranks of the Holy See wish to use the clarification document on Summorum Pontificum as a Trojan Horse, emptying the Motu Proprio of all its content, especially regarding parish priests and other members of the diocesan clergy… This is a dangerous, clear, and credible threat. We must pray, indeed, but all priests and lay faithful must act.”

Pope Benedict’s 2007 Motu Proprio allowed priests to celebrate the traditional Mass without the permission of the bishop. It made clear that parishes could celebrate according to the pre-conciliar form if they wanted to – and bishops would be expected to make provision for it.