German Tridentine Manifesto

Taken from NLM

It's been reported that the some German writers and thinkers have released a document declaring their own support of the freeing of the classical Roman liturgy: Religion: Das Manifest im Wortlaut.

Apparently this includes such writers as Martin Mosebach, author of the book The Heresy of Formlessness recently released in English translation.

Here is an unofficial translation of the document in question. I have inquired about who the signatories are, but that doesn't yet seem known. This may be like the Italian declaration, which was rather more a statement by one or a few individuals. We shall see as more information comes.

The German Declaration:

To shape a right awareness in liturgical matters, it is important, that the proscription of that form of liturgy which was valid up to 1970 eventually end. Such a thing has never been the case during all of history; the whole past of the Church has never seen this. How could one trust in Her present, if this is the case?

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, interviewed by Peter Seewald (God and the World, Munich 2000)

The signees welcome that Pope Benedict, consequent to his frequently announced stance, wants to allow again generally the celebration of the traditional Latin mass. Already in 1971, internationally known personalities, such as the writers Graham Greene and Agatha Christie, the pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, have spoken for this case in a common appeal. They viewed the traditional Catholic mass as an excellent creation of world culture, comparable to the cathedrals which had been built for this liturgy and whose demolition no educated person must permit. From out of the old rite, Gregorian chant originated which is one of the greatest musical treasures of the world. Furthermore, the beauty and solemnity of the Latin mass inspired the greatest composers to musical pieces which are generally admired; without it, important creations of Palestrina, Charpentier, Bach, Beethoven, Bruckner, Haydn, or Mozart cannot be understood at all today.

The traditional "Divine Liturgy" of the West connects the present Church directly with the Latin culture of the Middle Ages and of the Antiquity, very like the "Divine Liturgy" of the East connects to the Greek culture. Therefore, from the readmission of the traditional mass can be expected an impetus for a wider occupation with the cultural root of the Occident. In the age of a unified Europe and of a global exchange between the peoples, the benefit should finally not be disregarded which during the years of the Second Vatican Council Pope John Paul II described with these words: "Of its very nature, Latin is most suitable for promoting every form of culture among peoples. It gives rise to no jealousies. It does not favour any one nation, but presents itself with equal impartiality to all and is equally acceptable to all."