Cardinal Burke celebrated traditional Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican

The American Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, celebrated this Saturday, October 25, a solemn traditional Mass in Latin in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, before thousands of faithful devotees of this ancient liturgy, who had not been able to participate in a similar celebration in 2023 and 2024.

Burke celebrated the Solemn Pontifical Mass, a high Mass in Latin presided over by a bishop, at the Altar of the Chair, on the second day of the pilgrimage the Supreme Pontiffwhich takes place from October 24 to 26. The cardinal had already celebrated a Latin Mass on that same altar during the 2014 pilgrimage.

The 14th edition of the pilgrimage the Supreme Pontiff leads the faithful to the See of Peter (to the See of Peter) to give “witness to the attachment that unites numerous faithful around the world with the traditional liturgy,” according to the event website.

Burke, a defender of the traditional Latin Mass and one of the most prominent critics of the late Pope Francis — under whose pontificate he fell from grace — met with Pope Leo

In June, the cardinal said he had asked Pope Leo to remove restrictions on the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in dioceses.

Rorate Caeli, a well-known site for devotees of the traditional Latin Mass, had considered the celebration of a Solemn Pontifical Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica an “important sign” of greater tolerance for the traditional liturgy, which Pope Francis almost completely restricted in 2021.

Cardinal Burke’s homily in St. Peter’s Basilica

“It is a source of deep joy for me to celebrate the Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter, as the culmination of the Summorum Pontificum 2025 Pilgrimage,” said the cardinal at the beginning of his homilyhighlighting that it was offered “for the faithful of the Church around the world, who strive to preserve and promote the beauty of the Older usage (Oldest use) of the Roman Rite.”

The cardinal also expressed that “today’s Pontifical Mass is celebrated according to the oldest form of the Roman Rite, the Older usage The Church celebrates the 18th anniversary of the promulgation of the Motu Proprio the Supreme Pontiff (2007), with which Pope Benedict XVI made possible the regular celebration of the Mass according to this form, in use since the time of Saint Gregory the Great.

“In the privilege of participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today, we cannot help but think of the faithful who, throughout the Christian centuries, have encountered the Lord and deepened their lives in Him through this venerable form of the Roman Rite. Many were inspired to practice the heroism of holiness, even to the point of martyrdom,” he continued.

The cardinal also noted that “those of us old enough to have grown up praying to God according to the Older usage “We can’t help but remember how much it has helped us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, especially as we respond to our calling in life.”

The Virgin of Fatima

In his reflection, centered on the figure of the Virgin Mary, Cardinal Burke highlighted that “we are sons and daughters of Mary in her Son, God the Incarnate Son. With maternal care, she draws our hearts to her Immaculate and glorious Heart, and leads them to Him, to her Most Sacred Heart, instructing us with the same words: ‘Do whatever He tells you.'”

The cardinal also recalled that this 2025 marks 100 years since the apparitions of the Virgin of Fátima to Sister Lucía in Spain; and also 100 years since the publication of the encyclical Which first ones of Pope Pius XI, with which the feast of Christ the King was instituted.

The cardinal highlighted that “Our Lady of Fatima wishes to protect us from the evil of atheistic communism, which distances hearts from the Heart of Jesus – the only source of salvation – and leads them to rebel against God and against the order that He has established in creation and written in the heart of every human being.”

In her message, the cardinal continued, the Virgin of Fatima also “denounced the influence of atheist culture in the Church itself, which has led many to apostasy and abandonment of the truths of the Catholic faith.”