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traditionalist Catholicism
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Traditional Latin mass Large crowd of clergy in white vestments and mitres processes through St. Peter's Square during the opening ceremonies of the Second Vatican Council, with crowds and colonnades in the background. A mix of old and new observances Marcel Lefebvre
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Traditional Latin mass
Traditional Latin mass A priest facing the altar as he elevates the Eucharist in a traditional Latin mass at the Maternal Heart Church in Sydney, 2007. In the 1960s the Roman Catholic Church officially changed the rite so that priests face the congregation during the liturgy of the Eucharist.

traditionalist Catholicism

Christianity
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History

In 2026 the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a Roman Catholic priestly society with about half a million adherents—in a global population of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics—consecrated four new bishops. The event made international headlines. Why was this news? First, in the Roman Catholic Church, only the pope has the authority to select bishops, who are then officially confirmed by an archbishop and two other bishops. The SSPX does not have the pope’s approval...

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