Benedictine Abbot Proposes Single Missal to Bridge Liturgical Divide| National Catholic Register

The abbot of the historic Abbey of Solesmes in France has sent Pope Leo a letter proposing the integration of the old and new forms of the Mass into a single missal to restore unity across the Church.

Could Benedictine monks who managed to resolve their own internal disputes over the old and new forms of the Mass help ease liturgical tensions within the wider Church?

That’s the hope expressed in a letter the abbot of a 1,000-year-old French abbey has written to Pope Leo XIV. In it, Dom Geoffroy Kemlin, the head of the Abbey of Solesmes since 2022, proposes bringing both forms of the Mass into a single missal and calendar, rather than maintaining the current practice of keeping them separate.

Doing so, the abbot argues, would promote a mutual enrichment. Priests could reintroduce elements from the older missal, such as the prayers at the foot of the altar or the traditional Offertory, while celebrations according to the older structure could benefit from developments of the reform, including the vernacular, the expanded lectionary and the newer Eucharistic prayers. 

The proposal has already drawn some criticism, particularly online, but Dom Kemlin believes that the exchange of the old and new within the same liturgical corpus and a shared ecclesial setting offers a more unifying alternative to a policy of restriction or mere coexistence.

“It is indeed indisputable that the two Ordines (St. Paul VI and St. Pius V) exhibit significant differences in liturgical ‘spirit,’ in the ways of entering into prayer, and are underpinned by different anthropologies,” Dom Kemlin writes in the letter, which is dated November and was made public March 16.

For that reason, the abbot writes, “it will not be possible to bring those attached to the Vetus Ordo freely to adhere to the Novus Ordo.” He points instead toward a path of restored unity by “tweaking” Paul VI’s Missal “in some way.”

Solesmes’ Moral Authority 

The intervention carries particular significance given the historical weight of Solesmes. Founded in the 11th century, the abbey — one of the main centers of Benedictine life in France — was restored in the 19th century by Dom Prosper Guéranger following the upheavals of the French Revolution and became a cornerstone of the Benedictine revival in France and the rediscovery of Gregorian chant. After Vatican II, the abbey adopted the reformed liturgy while continuing to use Latin and Gregorian chant.

In the late 1980s, the return of Fontgombault Abbey — another major Benedictine monastery in France that belongs to the Solesmes Congregation — and its successive foundations to the 1962 Missal already caused internal tensions that were later addressed through a “commission for liturgical unity,” as Dom Kemlin noted in his letter. “We have gradually learned to respect — and even appreciate — each other’s different choices.”

Dom Kemlin views this experience as a textbook case of unity in diversity. In practice, monks from different communities celebrate according to each other’s liturgical forms when visiting. He also told RCF that younger Catholics often move between different expressions of the liturgy without difficulty, attending traditional pilgrimages, charismatic gatherings or contemplative communities such as Taizé — an indication that, at least among the new generations, such diversity does not prevent communion but can, in fact, foster unity and reconciliation.

Since Pope Francis’ 2021 motu proprio Traditiones custodes sharply curtailed the Traditional Latin Mass, tensions have been especially visible in countries such as France and the United States, both explicitly mentioned in the letter, where the so-called “Ecclesia Dei” communities — institutes in full communion with Rome that are allowed to celebrate the liturgy according to the 1962 Missal, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) — have faced increasing pressure from local Church authorities.

The recent announcement by the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) that it will hold episcopal ordinations in July 2026 without papal authorization has reignited fears of a formal schism with the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Catholic radio station RCF following the letter’s publication, Dom Kemlin explained that this initiative followed an encounter with Pope Leo in Rome on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the Benedictine Church of St. Anselm.

Reaction and an Open Question for Rome

Some voices in the traditionalist community, including writer, speaker and composer Peter Kwasniewski, have sharply criticized the abbot’s proposal. They argue that it would dilute the integrity of the traditional rite, misunderstands the depth of differences between the two forms, and would introduce more options rather than restore unity.

Amid such criticism, the Vatican has offered no official response to the letter. However, there have been concrete signs in recent weeks that Pope Leo is engaging the question of liturgical unity.

On March 5, he granted a private audience to the two authors of a major study on the vitality of communities devoted to the traditional Mass in the U.S., Trads: Latin Mass Catholics in the United States, to be published by Oxford University Press next November. Earlier this year, on Jan. 19, he reportedly granted a cordial half-hour audience at the Apostolic Palace with leaders of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP). This series of exchanges suggests that the issue is now among the Holy Father’s priority concerns.

A Vatican source familiar with the liturgical controversy told the Register the abbot’s letter “exudes a deep love for the Church” and reflects “a distinctly Benedictine serenity,” while acknowledging “anthropological differences” between the two forms without questioning their legitimacy. 

“Coming from Solesmes — long associated with the Missal of Paul VI and widely respected for its liturgical expertise — such a position carries particular authority and deserves to be taken into consideration,” said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the dispute.