• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Priests in St. Peter's Basilica process to the altar where St. John Paul II is buried at the Vatican in this Feb. 13, 2020, photo. Dozens of priests concelebrate an early morning Mass at the tomb every Thursday. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)

Vatican ends practice of priests celebrating Mass alone in St. Peter’s

March 15, 2021
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican is putting an end to the practice of priests going into St. Peter’s Basilica early every morning to celebrate their own Mass at a side altar with just an altar server.

Concelebrated Masses still are permitted, as are Masses in the chapels in the grotto of the basilica for pilgrim groups that arrive with a priest or bishop.

The Code of Canon Law allows priests to concelebrate and says, “They are completely free to celebrate the Eucharist individually, however, but not while a concelebration is taking place in the same church or oratory.”

Every day in St. Peter’s Basilica, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., several priests can be found at different altars celebrating a Mass without a congregation. Because there is no preaching or singing without a congregation, the Masses usually last less than 20 minutes each and then another priest may celebrate at the same altar.

A letter dated March 12 and initialed by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Vatican substitute secretary for general affairs, said that beginning March 22 “individual celebrations (of the Mass) are suppressed.”

Early Mass will be concelebrated in the basilica each day at 7 a.m. in the Chapel of the Choir, at 7:30 a.m. at the Altar of the Chair, at 8 a.m. in the Chapel of the Choir and at 9 a.m. at the Altar of the Chair, the letter said. The concelebrated liturgies will have lectors and cantors, which is preferred by liturgical norms.

Masses also are celebrated at 8:30 a.m. in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and at 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon and 5 p.m. at the Altar of St. Joseph.

Priests who want to celebrate the Mass according to the “extraordinary form,” sometimes referred to as the Tridentine rite, may do so in the Clementine Chapel in the grotto under the basilica at 7, 7:30, 8 and 9 a.m., the letter said. Because concelebration is not foreseen by the rite, that means that only four priests can celebrate the old Mass each day in the basilica.

The Second Vatican Council’s Sacred Constitution on the Liturgy said, “Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the church, which is the ‘sacrament of unity,’ namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the church; they manifest it and have effects upon it; but they concern the individual members of the church in different ways, according to their differing rank, office, and actual participation.

“It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, so far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private,” the Vatican II document continued.

In late February, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Comastri as archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and his vicar for Vatican City State. The new archpriest, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti was named to succeed him, but had not taken office as of mid-March.

Also see

‘I felt heard’: Catholic school teacher recalls life-changing talk with future pope

‘We look toward the new pontiff with Christian hope,’ says ecumenical patriarch

New pope to celebrate three public Masses in May

Pope Leo’s motto, coat of arms pay homage to St. Augustine

Chiclayo, Peru — where Leo XIV was bishop — celebrates one of own becoming pope

Ukrainian president speaks with Pope Leo, invites him to Ukraine

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Cindy Wooden

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Chicago native Cardinal Prevost elected pope, takes name Leo XIV

  • Who was Pope Leo XIII, the father of social doctrine?

  • Full text of first public homily of Pope Leo XIV

  • Advocates of abuse victims are rooting for a Filipino pope — and it’s not Cardinal Tagle

  • Archbishop Lori surprised, heartened by selection of American pope

| Latest Local News |

Bankruptcy court judge gives victim-survivors temporary window to file civil suits

Radio Interview: Meet the Mount St. Mary’s graduate who served as a lector at papal funeral

At St. Mary’s School in Hagerstown, vision takes shape to save a school

Catholic school students ‘elect’ pope in their own ‘conclave’

Baltimore-area Catholics pray for new pope, express excitement for his leadership

| Latest World News |

‘I felt heard’: Catholic school teacher recalls life-changing talk with future pope

‘We look toward the new pontiff with Christian hope,’ says ecumenical patriarch

New pope to celebrate three public Masses in May

Pope Leo’s motto, coat of arms pay homage to St. Augustine

Chiclayo, Peru — where Leo XIV was bishop — celebrates one of own becoming pope

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • ‘I felt heard’: Catholic school teacher recalls life-changing talk with future pope
  • ‘We look toward the new pontiff with Christian hope,’ says ecumenical patriarch
  • Bankruptcy court judge gives victim-survivors temporary window to file civil suits
  • New pope to celebrate three public Masses in May
  • Pope Leo’s motto, coat of arms pay homage to St. Augustine
  • Chiclayo, Peru — where Leo XIV was bishop — celebrates one of own becoming pope
  • Ukrainian president speaks with Pope Leo, invites him to Ukraine
  • Our unexpected pope
  • The choices of our new pope

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED