On October 24, 2025, Cardinal Raymond Burke will preside at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica according to the Tridentine rite (the pre-Vatican II liturgy). The event is part of an annual pilgrimage organized by traditionalist Catholics.
Leo XIV has granted permission for Cardinal Raymond Burke to celebrate the Tridentine liturgy for pilgrims at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter's Basilica.
Since 2012, Coetus Internationalis, a consortium of associations supporting the traditional liturgy, has organized a large annual pilgrimage to Rome. From 2012 to 2022, its highlight was a solemn pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
The pilgrimage is called Summorum Pontificum, after Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio that widely permitted the use of the 1962 Missal. That Missal was published by John XXIII before Vatican II.
In 2021, Francis revoked this permission through the motu proprio Traditionis custodes. The Argentine pontiff said he acted after reviewing reports of “liturgical abuse.” He also indicated that the traditional liturgy often nourished a rejection of Vatican II as a whole, and thus became a source of division. As the source of these conclusions he referred to a consultation with the bishops of the world.
Francis clarified that the change didn't apply to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, an order that was founded to celebrate the traditional liturgy.
But in general, the Holy See applied Traditionis custodes, including at the Vatican itself.
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Restrictions at St. Peter’s since 2021
In March 2021, the Secretariat of State greatly restricted the celebration of the traditional Mass in St. Peter’s. It permitted it only in the small Clementine Chapel and limited it to four morning time slots. Authorized in 2022, the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage — now named after an abrogated apostolic letter — was ultimately denied permission for this Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in 2023 and 2024.
The announcement of the return of the traditionalist liturgy to one of the most important altars in the Vatican basilica this year was greeted with joy by the trip organizers. The pilgrimage coordinator, Frenchman Christian Marquant, gratefully attributes this return “to Heaven and to Pope Leo.”
He also highlighted the celebration on Friday, October 23, of solemn vespers for pilgrims from 100 countries in a Roman basilica by Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
A conference at the Augustinianum
On the same day, a conference on “liturgical peace” will be held at the Augustinianum, a Roman conference center administered by the Order of St. Augustine.
The following day, a pontifical Mass will be celebrated at the altar of the Chair of St. Peter by American Cardinal Raymond Burke. He was received in an audience by Pope Leo XIV on August 22 and this meeting might have played a role in the return of the traditionalist pilgrimage to the Vatican.
“Such a celebration cannot take place in the basilica without the Pope's approval,” a Vatican source said.
Since the beginning of his pontificate, Leo XIV has only said little on liturgical issues.
