liturgy, confession … a pilgrimage on the sidelines of the church

Nearly 19,000 pilgrims, an average age of 23 years, three days of walking through Île-de-France and Beauce … Like every year, the traditionalist Notre-Dame de Christian pilgrimage resumes its way from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres (Eure-et-Loir), from June 7 to 9, on the occasion of the Pentecost weekend. With an ever increasing number of participants, he was an undeniable success. “It is a family habit that has become an annual meeting, a strong spiritual moment between confession and daily mass, all with friends! Said Pia smiling, a regular.

Particularity of the gathering: it is characterized by “the exclusive use of the Tribidinin Rite”, that is to say that the Masses Celebrated, in Latin, during the pilgrimage follow the Missel prior to the Vatican Council II.

The organizers ask the priests registered not to celebrate the postciliary mass (called “Mass of Paul VI”). This obligation reacted to the bishops of France, who turned to the Vatican and the Dicaster for Divine Cult in order to know what attitude to adopt. Because this request from the organizers goes against Pope Francis and his motu owner decisions Traditionis custodes (2021). This text very strongly restricted the use of the Tridentine form and reminded the bishops that as “guardians of the tradition” (French title of the motu owner), they alone had the power to regulate the liturgy in their diocese.

Clear response from the Vatican

In a missive dated May 6, Mgr Vincent Jordy, in charge of these questions within the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), transmitted to his peers the position of the Holy See. The Vatican’s response is very clear: “An organization, secular or ecclesial, can certainly convene and organize a pilgrimage, but has no authority with regard to the liturgy” which is the “exclusive competence” of the bishop of the place. In addition, the “real possibility” to celebrate Paul VI mass must be offered to “all priests”. The bishop of Chartres, Mgr Philippe Christory, therefore asked the management of the pilgrimage not to exclude this liturgical form which, from the council, means communion in the Roman Catholic Church.

Philippe Darantière, elected in January at the head of Notre-Dame de Chrétiennité, the association managing the event, believes that this request from the bishop would only concern “private masses” and not the major daily celebrations. The pilgrimage being “carried by the Tridentine liturgy”, the priests, he insists, register there “with full knowledge of the facts”.

According to this leader of a consulting company, “for nothing in the world” they would adopt “an attitude contrary to what it is proposed to live there”. As for those who would not want or could not celebrate in Tridentine rite, he invites them to participate only to certain stages of the pilgrimage, “having celebrated before coming or (in) providing to do so when returning”. A very theoretical option, in reverse of the explicit position of Mgr Christory*: “It is not for the Notre-Dame de Christianity association to limit the form of the rite in the territory of a diocese”

Confession, place of tension

But in Chartres, mass is not the only delicate subject. The sacrament of penance and reconciliation, what is commonly called confession, also raises questions. Consulted by the CEF, the Vatican raised all ambiguity: “During the pilgrimage, all the priests will celebrate the sacrament of penance according to the ritual reformed by the Council (Vatican II)”, he specifies. An obligation which, again, Philippe Darantière intends to free himself. “It seems difficult to me to dissociate the sacrament of penance from the sacrament of the Eucharist,” he justifies. In addition, the president of the organization believes that this position was understood by the episcopate “since Mgr Philippe Christory also grants the use of the old ritual” for the confession.

Taken between practice in the field and Roman declarations, the bishop of Chartres has indeed decided to authorize the confession according to the old rite, “for pastoral reasons”, explains an observer. In the eyes of Philippe Darantière, this point of tension would be anecdotal: “Who could understand that bishops whose energy must be entirely turned towards the fight against euthanasia, for example, are primarily attached to verifying the formula pronounced several hundred times a day forever by the 230 priests of the pilgrimage to 19,000 penitents? »To good hearing …

* lavie.frMay 23, 2025.