The late Pope Francis’ 2021 decree limiting the Roman Catholic Church’s celebration of its Traditional Latin Mass was largely based, the pontiff said at the time, on a survey of the church’s bishops claiming the Mass, known as TLM, was divisive and creating problems within the Catholic Church.

Now, it turns out that claim of Francis’ was completely untrue. The revelation of Vatican documents showed that a majority of bishops in fact supported the 2007 apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum” written by Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, that permitted and encouraged greater celebration of the traditional rite.

In just the past week, this revelation has generated increasing calls on Pope Leo XIV, who succeeded Francis in May, to end all restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass.

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