Cardinal Gregory cancels Latin Mass in DC (Rorate Caeli)

Cardinal Wilton Gregory has withdrawn permission for the celebration of a traditional Latin Mass at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. The Mass—sponsored by the Paulus Institute, a group dedicated to the traditional liturgy—had been scheduled last year, but was postponed because of the Covid lockdown; the sponsoring organization had secured permission for a new date: August 14. But after the promulgation of Traditionis Custodes, Cardinal Gregory announced that any new celebration would require his approval, and he refused to allow this celebration.

The celebrant for the August 14 Mass was to have been Archbishop Thomas Gullickson, an American prelate who retired in 2020 after years of service in Vatican diplomacy, most recently as papal nuncio in Ukraine.