Newsroom (13/04/2025 18:59, Gaudium Press) The decree approved by Pope Francis in specific form this Sunday, April 13, will come into force on April 20, Easter Sunday.
The document – which integrates and specifies the norms already established in the Mos iugiter decree of 1991 – was created to address some critical problems that have arisen in practice, particularly about Masses with “collective” intentions, that is, celebrations with several intentions in the same rite.
The document updates the norms “on the discipline of the intentions of the Holy Mass”, which guides priests on how to proceed when the faithful request Masses with special intentions, whether for the living or the deceased and give them an offering, usually a monetary donation.
Thus, it was established that “priests may accept several offerings from different offerors, accumulating them with others and satisfying themselves with a single Mass, celebrated according to a single ‘collective’ intention, if – and only if – all the offerors have been informed and have freely consented”. Thus, in the absence of “explicit consent”, the will of the offerors “can never be presumed or inferred from silence”.
The Decree states that the priest “can celebrate different Masses also according to ‘collective’ intentions, it being understood that he is allowed to retain, daily, only one offering for a single intention among those accepted”; as well as encouraging the praiseworthy custom of transferring Mass intentions that exceed the corresponding offerings to mission countries.
The text also clarifies that these alms should not be understood as a “sale” and that “commerce with sacred things” should be avoided. To prevent this practice from becoming commercial, the Dicastery for the Clergy insists that there should be no “fees” for the celebration of the Sacraments.
Bishops and parish priests must explain “the distinction between the application for a specific intention at Mass (even if ‘collective’) and the simple reminder during a celebration of the Word or at some moments of the Eucharistic celebration”. In this regard, it is specified that the “solicitation” or even just the “acceptance of offerings” about the latter two cases is “gravely illicit” and provides for recourse to “disciplinary and/or penal measures”.
The document states that, for the Sacraments, the priest, “apart from the offerings determined by the competent authority”, “must not ask for anything, always trying to ensure that the neediest are not deprived of the help of the Sacraments because of poverty”. “Although the Mass is the fullness of sacramental life, it is not a reward for the perfect, but a generous remedy and nourishment for the weak.”
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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