WOULD IT HAD BEEN BETTER IF POPE BENEDICT’S SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM HAD ALLOWED THE 1965 ROMAN MISSAL RATHER THAN THE 1962 ROMAN MISSAL? IN A WORD YES!

I do think that it is lamentable that Pope Benedict did not re-promulgate the post-Vatican II Roman Missal of 1965 rather than the 1962 Pre-Vatican II Roman Missal with the Muto Proprio, Summorum Pontificum.

Why? Because the 1965 Roman Missal seems to have followed what the Council Fathers were asking about the revision and simplification of the 1962 Roman Missal without mutilating the 1962 Roman Missal altogether as the 1970 Roman Missal did. 

But with that said and with Pope Leo XIV meeting with the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals, just a few days away, wouldn’t a marvelous compromise be for Pope Leo to give to the latest version of the 1970 Roman Missal, revised again in 2011, the order of the 1965 Roman Missal which I link below?

Doing so, allows the guts of the 2011 Roman Missal to remain in place, but the older Order of the Mass to be used.

And then Pope Leo could give liberal permission for the 1965 Roman Missal to be used in full in place of the 1962 Roman Missal, either in Latin or the vernacular as allowed in various countries in 1965. In the USA, all the priest’s private or quiet prayers were in Latin to include the Roman Canon. All other prayers offered in a loud voice could be in the vernacular and the lectionary could be in the vernacular also. 

You can review the Order of the Post-Vatican II Revised Roman Missal of 1965 HERE. 

This is a commentary on the 1965 Roman Missal contained in the link above:

The   official   text   of   the   Ordinary   is   from   the   Roman   Missal   with   English   translations   approved   by   the   National   Conference   of   Bishops
of   the   United   States,   published   by   authority   of   the   Bishops'   Commission   on   the   Liturgical   Apostolate.

NOTE:   This   was   the   official   English   version   of   the   Order   of   Mass   from   the   1965   Roman   Missal,   published   directly   after   the   Second
Vatican   Council   ended   in   1965.     This   was   the   English   Mass   used   from   1965   until   1969-­70,   when   Paul   VI   promulgated   the   New   Order
of   Mass   (Novus   Ordo   Missae),   and   imposed   it   on   the   Latin   Rite   (the   Novus   Ordo   is   the   current   normative   Mass   of   the   Latin   Rite).
This   interim   Mass   is   much   closer   to   the   intended   fruit   of   Vatican   II's   Sacrosanct up   Concilum   than   the   New   Mass   of   1970.     It   is
essentially   the   Tridentine   Latin   Mass   in   English   with   minor   modifications.

Many   rubrical   similarities   exist   between   the   1965   Missal   and   the   New   Mass   of   1970.     Obviously,   an   option   for   use   of   the   vernacular
exists   in   the   1965.     Furthermore,   as   in   the   Novus   Ordo,   it   is   at   the   discretion   of   the   celebrant   to   either   face   the   East   ("ad   orientem")   or
the   people   ("versus   ad   populum").     An   option   for   concelebration   was   also   introduced   in   the   1965   (this   was   formerly   restricted   to
Ordination   Masses).     The   required   Mass   vestments   were   also   simplified   (e.g.,   optionality   of   the   maniple).     In   1967,   the   cope   was
supressed   in   the   Asperges   (rite   of   aspersion   at   High   Mass).     The   chasuble   was   worn   in   its   stead.     The   Canon   was   still   required   to   be
read   in   Latin   until   1967,   when   it   was   permitted   in   the   vernacular.     In   the   1965   Missal,   the   priest,   when   administering   Communion,   says
"the   Body   of   Christ"   (or   "Corpus   Christi")   instead   of   "Corpus   +   Domini   nostri   Jesu   Christi   custodiat   animam   tuam   ad   vitam   aeternam"
(that   is, "May   the   Body   +   of   our   Lord   Jesus   Christ   bring   thy   soul   unto   life   everlasting").

Options   for   congregational   singing   also   exist   in   the   1965,   exactly   as   they   do   in   the   Novus   Ordo   -­-­   with   places   for   processional,
offertory,   communion,   and   recessional   hymns.     The   1965   also   allows   for   the   Prayer   of   the   Faithful   after   the   Creed.     The   prayers   at   the
foot   of   the   altar,   in   addition   to   being   made   entirely   optional,   were   shortened   (as   they   would   previously   be   prayed   at   Requiem   Masses).
The   Last   Gospel   was   suppressed.     The   calendar   follows   the   Tridentine   Ordo,   consistent   with   that   of   the   previous   Missal   (Missale
Romanum   1962).     Ironically   enough,   the   New   St.   Joseph's   Missal   ends   the   Liturgical   Calendar   in   1970.

As   is   clearly   evident,   the   1965   Missal   more   than   accomplished   all   of   the   goals   of   Sacrosanctum   Concilium   and   the   Second   Vatican
Council.     The   promulgation   of   a   New   Order   of   Mass   was   unnecessary.     And,   as   you   will   see   below,   the   translation   of   the   1965   Order
of   Mass   is   far   superior   to   the   faulty   ICEL   translation   of   the   1970   Mass.
Corey   Zelinski