Misconceptions about Tridentine Mass

The word is that the long awaited Motu Proprio liberalizing the celeberation of the traditional Latin Rite Mass, AKA the Tridentine Mass or the 1962 Missal, will be issued on July 7.

However, in reading the news reports, one cannot but be struck by the ignorance regarding this Mass and the Vatican II reforms.

1. Vatican II never, ever, forbade the use of Latin. In fact, the Conciliar Document dealing with the Liturgy stresses that, while the vernacular be permitted in parts of the Mass, Latin be maintained as the language of the Mass.
2. Vatican II never, ever, mandated that the priest face the people. In fact, it never suggested it.
3. In the Tridentine Mass, the priest doesn't necessarily face away from the people; the priest faces east, towards the rising sun, because Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. Accordingly, most Catholic church are traditionally built so that the priest and the people both face east. Within this symbolism, the priest facing the people is symbolically turning his back on Christ (but, I hope, this is not truly the case in the heart of the priest). However, at St Peters Basilica in the Vatican, when the priest faces east, he is facing the people.
4. The new Liturgy, the Novus Ordo, can be celebrated in Latin. Indeed, watch any Mass from the Vatican, and Latin is indeed the language. All of the typical editions of the various liturgical books are all in Latin.
5. The Tridentine Mass need not be celebrated in Latin; the 1965 Missal, which was a direct result of the Council, has this Mass in the Vernacular. However, I doubt that this usage will be included in the Motu Proprio.

It is a pity that the press consistently misrepresents the substance of the Vatican II reforms.