Mass Held Backwards and in Latin: The Vatican Watchfully Observes the Success of a Traditionalist Pilgrimage in France

At 14:00, the priest, with gloves and turned away from the congregation, faces God (as strict tradition delineates), begins his mass, entirely in Latin. The liturgy, held in the Cathedral of Chartres—a Gothic marvel located 100 kilometers from Paris—represents the utmost splendor of the Tridentine rite, the holy grail of Catholic traditionalism. Almost no one understands a word, but that doesn’t matter; there is a missal with the translation for the thousand attendees who can participate in the celebration inside the temple. And, above all, it is a monumental assertion of a marginalized branch within the modern Church that is gaining support each year amid the rise of conservatism in various corners of the world, culminating here under the watchful eye of the Vatican. This is a three-day pilgrimage whose number of followers increases with each edition.

The wave of pilgrims summoned this Monday by the association Our Lady of Christendom, always on the day of Second Easter (the cathedral houses the relic of the Virgin’s veil), has continuously grown in recent years. There were 500 in 1983. This year, according to registrations, at least 19,000 have participated. They trek over a hundred kilometers of arduous paths separating Paris from the Cathedral of Chartres, carrying banners and crosses. They pass the time singing and praying in Latin, stroking the beads of their rosaries while pushing baby strollers, or the younger ones savoring a beer. Rites predating Vatican II, such as the Tridentine mass (celebrated facing away and in Latin), now pose a challenge to the Holy See, which, under Pope Francis, restricted these practices to exceptional cases four years ago.

“I started at 18, and now it’s been 40 years. We love Jesus and want to unite hearts for the communion of the world,” explains Cécile de Beir, a photographer and one of the event’s organizers.

Registrations increase every year by 8%, and the average age of pilgrims is decreasing: the current average is 20 years. There are 1,700 children and 500 teenagers aged 13 to 16. Among them are François Aubert, 21, and his friend, Étienne Régent, 19. This year they have made the pilgrimage by bicycle. “We come because, in today’s world, it is very difficult to connect with the truth, with something authentic. This type of mass should be more frequent because it recovers the sense of the sacred. We are not against modern mass, but we prefer this one,” Aubert states, while both admit they do not understand a word of Latin.

The numbers from the event, where throngs of faithful begin arriving before mass, would put a pop music festival or a techno rave to shame. About 3,300 pilgrim families, 10,000 solo adults, 1,700 foreigners, 1,200 volunteers, and 6,000 “guardian angels”—the disabled who accompany the pilgrimage with prayer—are present, along with 90 organizers, 430 clergy, including Abbot Jean de Massia, the general chaplain, and a dozen prominent preachers, such as Monsignor Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Astana (Kazakhstan), or the former rector of Notre-Dame de Paris, Monsignor Patrick Chauvet. Also present is the Bishop of Chartres, Philippe Christory, who opens the doors of his cathedral and presides over the mass.

The organization does not hide that Christory is not enthusiastic about this event but tolerates it as one who has no other choice, preferring to coexist peacefully with a tradition revived by writer and poet Charles Péguy, which, it is no secret, generates substantial income for the city’s hospitality industry.

Component of Protest

However, the march also has a reactionary and restrained protest component, especially during the years of Pope Francis, who has opposed such celebrations outright. The Pontiff limited the celebration of Tridentine masses (by the Council of Trent) in July 2021 with a motu proprio (papal document), meaning those held in the ancient rite preceding Vatican II. Until then, they were still being conducted by conservative groups and the far-right sector of the church, as Benedict XVI allowed in a 2007 document to prevent further fractures like the one that occurred with the Lefebvrians, one of the major traditionalist groups. Now they must request permission from bishops to celebrate them, and they are only authorized in very limited cases. “We respect what Francis promulgated. He’s the head of the Church, obviously. Though it is not comfortable for us. We hope this Pope loves us,” De Bier remarks.

The strength of the Our Lady of Christendom pilgrimage transcends borders and has had its Spanish version for three years now. Each summer, it traverses northern Spain over 85 kilometers, from the Cathedral of Oviedo to the Basilica of Covadonga. In the first edition, there were 400; in the second, 900; and this year’s edition has seen 1,200 pilgrims.

The ancient rite, in which the mass is celebrated in Latin, facing away, and with a different missal, was still being used in some small groups of Catholics in Central Europe and the United States. Benedict XVI had authorized this practice, even though it theoretically fell outside the reforms of the Second Vatican Council because he wanted to accommodate different sensitivities and avoid more fractures like those that occurred when Bishop Marcel Lefebvre was excommunicated for challenging Paul VI years before with such a mass before 7,000 faithful. The Lefebrians were excluded from the Church in 1988 with John Paul II when Lefebvre himself ordained four bishops.

The Tridentine mass was established around 1570, after the Council of Trent. The prayers are pronounced by the priests in a low voice and only in Latin. Moreover, they must wear gloves so as not to touch the Eucharist directly and they stand with their backs to the congregation. This rite ceased to be used in 1969, when it was replaced by the current mass by Paul VI. The question now is what the new Pope, Leo XIV, will do with this increasingly popular celebration.