An Open Letter from the Americas to Pope Francis
POR FAVOR LEA Y FIRME LA SOLICITUDPOR FAVOR LEA Y FIRME LA SOLICITUDTo His Holiness, Pope Francis
We, the undersigned, are inspired by the recent petition to Pope Francis that was organized by the classical music composer Sir James MacMillan and signed by distinguished British artists, business leaders, composers, human rights activists, musicians, and writers. We join our voices with theirs in asking that no further restrictions be placed on the traditional Latin Mass.
We are Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and nonbelievers. We are scientists, novelists, comedians, inventors, poets, painters, business leaders, composers, singers, musicians, playwrights, filmmakers, advocates for the poor, sculptors, conductors, philanthropists, human rights activists, and patrons of the arts. We share a love for the beauty, the reverence, and the mystery embodied in the ancient liturgy of the Latin Mass.
Those of us who are Catholics pledge our filial loyalty to you, Pope Francis. We come to you with the humility and obedience but also the confidence of children, telling a loving father of our spiritual needs. We pray that you will not lump us with some of the angry and disrespectful voices magnified by social media. Most of us attend the Novus Ordo regularly, and all of us acknowledge the most important thing about the dominant rite of the Latin church: each time the “new” Mass is celebrated, Jesus Christ comes to us in the Eucharist, really and fully present and uniting us to his Body, Blood, and Divinity.
To deprive the next generation of artists of this source of mystery, beauty, and contemplation of the sacred seems shortsighted. All of us, believers and nonbelievers alike, recognize that this ancient liturgy, which inspired the work of Palestrina,