In 1965, before the promulgation of the Missal of Pope St Paul VI, the International Federation Una Voce was founded for the preservation of the venerable and ancient liturgy of the Catholic Church.
The work of Una Voce has always been characterised by fidelity to the papacy, a deep love of Holy Mother Church, the desire to work in partnership with the legitimate leadership of the Church and to do so with charity and dignity. In this manner, the FIUV, of which UVS is a founding member, obtained the liberalisation of the use of the Traditional Latin Mass which increased its availability to the faithful. From the ‘Agatha Christie’ indult to Ecclesia Dei, the FIUV persevered in making a case for the rite of Mass that served the church for twenty centuries. Noting the appeal of the Traditional Latin Mass to young people as well as those who had known it before the Missal of 1970 was introduced, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed that it had never been abrogated and granted universal permission to all priests of the Latin Rite to offer the Sacraments according to the liturgical books of 1962. During the era of Summorum Pontificum, Una Voce Scotland worked tirelessly to fulfill our constitutional aims of
1. Promoting the Traditional Latin Mass
2. Promoting Gregorian Chant and polyphony
3. Preserving Catholic sanctuaries and
4. Representing the faithful to the hierarchy in Scotland and Rome.
The result has been a flourishing of the liturgy and the communities that have formed around it, a vibrant part of the life of the church in Scotland.
On the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel 2021, Pope Francis issued a Moto Proprio “Traditionis Custodes’ which imposes restrictions on the celebration of of the Liturgy according to the ancient form. This has been a cause of great sorrow to those faithful who, constituting a passionate and devoted part of the church in the modern world and motivated by an impulse of evangelisation, have found nourishment, clarity and transcendence in the prayers and ceremonies or the older form of the Latin Rite. Una Voce Scotland will not be offering commentary on the document as this is already being comprehensively provided by those who are more qualified to do so. We do however, restate our commitment to fulfill the aims of UVS as set above in all prayerfulness and fidelity to the one Church of Jesus Christ and his Vicar. Although restrictions have been imposed, the Traditional Latin Mass has not been abrogated by Pope Francis and UVS will continue to support all priests and faithful who offer and assist at such liturgies with the blessing of their bishop and will continue to work with the hierarchy, who are the custodians of tradition and chief pastors of the flock of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.
In these unsettling times, we encourage you to continue to pray for Pope Francis and for the Church, outside which there is no salvation.
“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.” Benedict XVI, 7 July 2007
