Pontificale Romanum

Edition history

Under Clement VIII, a standard version was published for the use of the entire Roman Rite, under the title Pontificale Romanum. It was reprinted by authority with many variations many times, and its last following this form is from 1962. In 1968, it was recast and restructured according to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council. In December 2021, six months after the promulgation of the motu propio, Traditionis custodes, which put restrictions on the use of the Missal of 1962, Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, stated that Bishops did not have permission to authorize the use of the Pontificale Romanum that was issued in 1962 and that this edition was no longer in use. On February 11, 2022, however, Pope Francis clarified in a Latin statement that the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, and bishops who work with their priests and apostolates, may continue to utilize the former liturgical books ("namely the Missal, the Ritual, the Pontifical and the Roman Breviary, in force in the year 1962"), and other former Ecclesia Dei communities have taken this to mean that the same applies to them.