Mass of Paul VI

The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 1970; it was then revised in the 1975 edition of the Roman Missal, then further revised by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and published in a third edition in 2002.

It largely displaced usage of the Tridentine Mass, promulgated in 1570, the final edition of which had been published in 1962 under the title ''Missale Romanum ex decreto SS. Concilii Tridentini restitutum'' (''The Roman Missal restored by decree of the Most Holy Council of Trent''). The editions of the Mass of Paul VI Roman Missal (1970, 1975, 2002) have as title ''Missale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum'' (''The Roman Missal renewed by decree of the Most Holy Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican''), followed in the case of the 2002 edition by ''auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum Ioannis Pauli PP. II cura recognitum'' (" promulgated by the authority of Pope Paul VI and revised at the direction of Pope John Paul II").

Names

In its official documents, the Catholic Church identifies the forms of the Roman Rite Mass by the editions of the Roman Missal used in celebrating them. Thus Pope Benedict XVI referred to this form of the Roman Rite Mass by linking it, in his ''motu proprio'' ''Summorum Pontificum'' of 7 July 2007, with "the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970" or, in his accompanying letter of the same date to the bishops of the church, "the Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II".

The now less frequently used names Mass of Paul VI, Pauline Mass, and Mass of Saint Paul VI refer to Pope Paul VI, who promulgated the first edition (which was followed by later editions promulgated by Pope John Paul II).

In his letter to bishops which accompanied his 2007 ''motu proprio'' ''Summorum Pontificum'', Pope Benedict XVI wrote that "the Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II, obviously is and continues to be the normal Form – the ''Forma ordinaria'' – of the Eucharistic Liturgy." Since then, the term "Ordinary Form" (abbreviated OF) is used to distinguish this form of the Roman Rite of Mass from the 1962 edition of the Tridentine Mass, the "Extraordinary Form" (EF), because in his ''motu proprio'' Pope Benedict declared the latter an "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite. Pope Francis further emphasized the importance of the Ordinary Form in this capacity with his 2021 ''motu proprio'' '' Traditionis custodes'', referring to it as "the unique expression of the '' lex orandi'' of the Roman Rite."

Text

The current official text in Latin is that in the third typical edition of the Roman Missal, published in 2002 and reprinted with corrections and updating in 2008. Translations into the vernacular languages have appeared; the current English translation was promulgated in 2010 and was introduced progressively from September 2011. Two earlier typical editions of the Missal were issued in 1970 (promulgated in 1969) and 1975. The liturgy contained in the 1570–1962 editions of the Roman Missal is frequently referred to as the Tridentine Mass: all these editions placed at the start the text of the bull '' Quo primum'' in which Pope Pius V linked the issuance of his edition of the Roman Missal to the Council of Trent. Only in the 1962 edition is this text preceded by a short decree, ''Novo rubricarum corpore'', declaring that edition to be, from then on, the typical edition, to which other printings of the Missal were to conform.

The Roman Missal promulged by John Paul II differs in many points from that promulged by Paul VI. The changes include the addition of 13 new feasts of saints, a new preface of martyrs, several new Mass formulas, including five of the Blessed Virgin Mary, two votive Masses (one of which was taken from the 1962 Roman Missal), and complete formulas for the ferial days of Advent and Eastertide. Prayers over the faithful are added to the Lenten Mass formulas and the Apostles' Creed is provided as an alternative to the Nicene Creed. The Mass of Paul VI thus became the Mass of Paul VI and John Paul II.

History

Background

Liturgical Movement

The Liturgical Movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which arose from the work of Dom Prosper Guéranger, a former abbot of Solesmes Abbey, encouraged the laity to live the liturgy by attending services (not only Mass) often, understanding what they meant, and following the priest in heart and mind.

Beginnings of the modern revision, 1948–1962

As per the liturgical reforms under Pius XII, among other changes, the "Last Gospel" (John 1:1–14) that had customarily ended Mass was omitted.

Vatican II, ''Sacrosanctum Concilium'' and a new liturgy

The liturgy was the first matter considered by the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965. On 4 December 1963, the Council issued a Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy known as ''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', section 50 of which read as follows:

''Sacrosanctum Concilium'' further provided that (amongst other things) a greater use of the Scriptures should be made at Mass, communion under both kinds for the laity (under limited circumstances), and that vernacular languages should be more widely employed (while retaining the use of Latin), a declaration whose implementation made the Second Vatican Council "a milestone for Catholic, Protestants