The Pope can change it, but he cannot forbid it as such. Let us say, that a Pope cannot simply abolish and forbid us to pray the Apostolic creed, because we have used the formula of the Apostolic creed since the millennium and more, or the Nicene Constantinopolitan creed which we pray every Sunday at Mass.
A Pope cannot forbid, and say, ‘I will give you now a new formula of the creed and you have to pray the new formula and I will forbid the old one’, In the same way, the Pope cannot forbid the formula or the order of the Mass which has been there for so long.
Yes, the phrase is changing but here I can answer you that this is only a formula – an expression of faith, and we can express the faith in different forms. Yes, this is true. We have the Athanasian symbol of faith for example, we have the Nicene symbol of faith, the Apostolic – all of which express the same Catholic faith in different forms.
But here is another issue: ‘If a Pope can simply forbid an old expression of the Catholic faith’ let us, as I have mentioned, the Apostolic or Athanasian symbol of faith and so on – He cannot do this because of its venerable age and its constant use during the Millennium. Analogously, the Pope cannot forbid a formula or an order of the mass that has been used constantly for so long.
If you truly have a vocation to the priesthood, you should not abandon this, because when God calls you and when you have personal deep reasons and convictions that make you unable to receive communion or to give communion in hand, you should not do this. You should find a way and there are plenty of possibilities to follow your vocation, if this is a divine vocation, in a traditional community, or this would be the way you are to respond to the divine call altogether – the priesthood and to the issue of communion in hand. I repeat, there are different ways today in the church, thanks be to God, there are communities where you can still have this possibility.
Dear visitors of Gloria Dei and all who have already written or who will write a personal message to me. I am grateful for your attention, your kindness, for your spiritual support and especially for your sacrifices and prayers for me. God may reward you!
