Vatican announces new votive Mass ‘for the care of creation’

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Vatican announces new votive Mass ‘for the care of creation’
The new text of the Mass will be issued Thursday, and comes on the back of Pope Francis' special focus on climate change issues



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Jun 30, 202
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [slightly adapted - not all hyperlinks included; emphasis mine]) — The Vatican is set to publish a new Mass text called the Mass “for the care of creation.”

In a press note issued June 30, the Holy See Press Office announced details of a press conference on Thursday which will be the launch pad for a new Mass.

“There will be a press conference to present the new form of the Mass ‘pro custodia creationis,’ which will be added to the Masses ‘pro variis necessitatibus vel ad diversa’ of the Roman Missal,” the note read.

The Mass is believed to be joining the list of votive Masses in the Roman Missal.

Presenting the new Mass text will be two notable Vatican officials from the relevant dicasteries:

• Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., prefect of the Dicastery for Service of Integral Human Development.
  
• Archbishop Vittorio Viola, OFM, secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship.
  

At the moment, it is not yet known how long the Mass has been in preparation, though it is highly likely to have originated under the pontificate of Pope Francis.

It will be of key significance to examine the text upon its release, given another high-profile liturgical case that is currently underway – namely the three-year “experimental phase” of the Amazon rite, which seeks to draw from local Amazonian customs.

Alongside this is the pagan-linked, inculturated Mayan rite, which the Vatican is currently considering for the “indigenous” inculturation of people in Mexico.

Where the Mayan and Amazon “rite” differ to the expected Mass “for the care of creation” is that the former have been posited as inculturated rites, while the latter is understood to be more akin to a votive Mass.

Francis made the “care of creation” a prominent theme throughout his pontificate, dedicating numerous speeches and addresses to it.

His 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si’ became the reference text for a number of Vatican and papal initiatives focused on the so-called “green” agenda. In it, Francis spoke about a “true ecological approach” which listens to “both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” The document later gave rise to the Laudato Si’ Movement, which aims to “turn Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ into action for climate and ecological justice,” as the mass divestment from “fossil fuels” finds inspiration in the late pontiff’s environmental writings.

In October 2023, Francis published a second part to Laudato Si’ in the form of an apostolic exhortation named Laudate Deum.

The late pope also made numerous calls to action for global leaders to implement the pro-abortion Paris Climate Agreement, citing the “negative effects of climate change” and an “ecological debt” which required “climate finance, decarbonization in the economic system and in people’s lives.”

Cardinal Czerny’s Dicastery for Service of Integral Human Development is the Roman office charged with the practical implications of Pope Francis’ ecological concerns, along with his focus on the topic of migrants.

Recently, the dicastery recalled the 10th anniversary of of Laudato Si’, calling it “a unique opportunity to relaunch the commitment to our common home, a mission in which we are all called to actively participate.”

Archbishop Viola of the Dicastery for Divine Worship is better known for his opposition to the traditional Mass – a campaign which has been in full swing with increased pace in recent years, following Pope Francis’ Traditionis Custodes. Expanding even on those restrictions, Viola was believed to be writing a new document last summer which would have seen Pope Francis attempt to implement a new sweeping ban on the traditional Mass. That document never emerged; it is believed the text made it to Francis’ desk but that he never signed it.

As LifeSiteNews’ Jeanne Smits documented, Viola is a known admirer of one of the main architects of the Novus Ordo in 1969: Archbishop Annibale Bugnigni. Viola has chosen to wear Bugnini’s episcopal ring.

No official meeting between Pope Leo XIV and Viola has been recorded in the Pope’s public diary. One meeting has been documented between Leo and Viola’s superior, Cardinal Arthur Roche, which took place on June 3.

Czerny has been received on two official occasions, although it is quite possible that Pope Leo met with Czerny and Viola privately to discuss the new Mass text.

The text will be released on Thursday morning.