Girls are not allowed to serve at the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, commonly known as the Tridendine Rite.
The clarification comes after the recent Vatican encouragement to bishops, for them to “be generous” in providing the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.
In answer to question whether female altar servers were permitted in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, posed at the time of the new instruction to bishops, Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the matter was not specifically addressed in the instruction.
The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei has clarified the Vatican’s position, saying the instruction for the Tridentine Rite does not allow female altar servers because the norms, as applied in 1962 do not permit them.
Universae Ecclesiae states “the Moto Proprio Summorum Pontificum derogates from those provisions of law, connected with the Sacred Rites, promulgated from 1962 onwards and incompatible with the rubrics of the liturgical books in effect in 1962″.
Permission for female altar servers came with the Circular Letter of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments of 1994. However, the rubrics of the 1962 Missal does not even allow for females on the sanctuary during Mass.
The letters was signed by by Mgr Guido Pozzo, Secretary of Ecclesia Dei
A spokesperson for the Latin Mass Society said the clarification was “significant” and that all bishops should practice in accordance with what has been stated in the letter.
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