Original version

BBC World Service News Internet

Heart and Soul

Documentaries

Religion & Ethics

Personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

Heart and Soul: Trying to save the Latin Mass

Factual

Trying to Save the Latin Mass

22/10/2021 GMT

Trying to save the Latin Mass

BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Trying to save the Latin Mass

Communities that celebrate with the Latin Mass have prospered. Now, Pope Francis has ruled that Catholics may only use the Latin Mass if their bishops agree to let them. Instead of a rule of tolerance for the Old Rite, wherever Catholics want it, there will be tolerance on a case-by-case basis. Many traditionally-minded Catholics believe that what is at stake here is the soul of the Catholic church, with a liberal old guard, with Francis at their head, hoping to snuff out a rising generation of conservatives before they take over.   

In France, the more old-fashioned Catholics still often have very large families and, proportionately, many more of their sons become priests. In this edition of Heart and Soul, France-based correspondent John Laurenson takes us into the extraordinary world of traditional Catholicism in France. We go to Versailles, the former seat of the ardently-Catholic monarchy, that is today the unofficial capital of the ‘tradi’ movement. John meets young Catholics to find out what attracts so many young believers to the Old Rite.

Producer and Presenter: John Laurenson
Image: John Laurenson/BBC

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Heart and Soul

Trying to save the Latin Mass

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service News Internet

About BBC World Service