Members and friends of the Saint Gregory Society should rejoice that His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke once again will celebrate a Solemn Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on October 25 in a return to a prior custom, suspended since 2022, of an annual pilgrimage  to Rome of Catholics devoted to the Traditional Latin Mass.

Cardinal Burke will celebrate the Mass, at the Altar of the Chair St. Peter on the second day of the October 24–26 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage. Now in its 14th year, this pilgrimage, will bring well over a thousand people “ad Petri Sedem” (“to the See of Peter”) to give “testimony of the attachment that binds so many faithful throughout the whole world to the traditional liturgy,”

A champion of the Traditional Latin Mass and one of the most prominent critics among the hierarchy during the pontificate of the late Pope Francis, under whom he fell conspicuously out of favor in recent years. In July, Cardinal Burke received a letter of congratulation from Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his priestly ministry, and on August 22 he met with Pope in a private audience.

The Mass on Oct. 25 will be preceded by a half-mile procession from the Basilica of Sts. Celso and Giuliano to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Officers of the Saint Gregory Society exhort our members and friends to “storm heaven” with prayers during the coming days before this pilgrimage that Our Lord will move Holy Father Leo to remove the restrictions on the celebration of the traditional liturgy.

Now just several months after the election of Pope Leo XIV, those of us who are devoted to the traditional Latin liturgy are looking for any indication of what his thoughts regarding the sacred liturgy might be.

In an address to the participants in the jubilee of the Eastern Catholic churches on 14 May 2025, the Holy Father emphasized the necessity of the preservation of tradition in the liturgy of the Western Church. His recognition of the richness of tradition preserved in the Eastern liturgies offers a gentle but implicit criticism of contemporary Western liturgy, emphasizing the urgent need for a recovery of the sacred:

“The Church needs you. The contribution that the Christian East can offer us today is immense! We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation, and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty.”

In his address to the Domenico Bartolucci Foundation conference in Rome on 18 June 2025 marking the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, the Pope paid tribute to the Italian Renaissance composer and praised sacred polyphony:

“Palestrina’s compositions, solemn and austere, inspired by Gregorian chant, closely unite music and liturgy, enriching the sacred rites with greater solemnity. Polyphony itself is a musical form full of meaning, for prayer and the Christian life.”

These remarks give a clear indication of the Holy Father’s respect for the value of sacred tradition and its clear and indispensable value for the sacred liturgy. His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, a foremost advocate for the classical Latin liturgy, reminds us of the efficacy of prayer:

“May we pray fervently for Pope Leo XIV that our Lord, through the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Saint Peter the Apostle, and Pope Saint Leo the Great will grant him abundant wisdom, strength and courage to do all that Our Lord is asking of him in these tumultuous times.”