Fr. Z has the latest, including a report from members of Una Voce who met with some VIPs in Rome recently, as well as a translation of the report which contains purported details about the release:

Here are the main points in the piece, which I have in Italian below (with my emphases).

• The document is ready and signed.
• It is being translated.
• It will be issued before the Pope’s summer break.
• There is a long explanatory letter from the Pope, of a theological nature to the bishops of the world to help the MP’s reception.
• There will be a press conference with Cardinals Arinze (CDWDS), Castrillon Hoyos (P.Comm. Ecclesia Dei) and Herranz (PC Leg. Texts – retired).
• The delay resulted from strong opposition of bishops conferences.
• A friend of the Pope, Msgr. Nicholas Bux (a well-known author I respect on traditional matters), says it is a matter of days.

It continues to be fascinating, from a lot of perspectives, including that of ecclesiastical politics and process.  The delay, it seems, has resulted in an interesting dynamic in which the conversations about this and even the possibility has, over the past year, coincided with (I’m not omniscient, so I can’t say "caused") an expansion of interest in things like chant, more traditional art and architecture (my husband worked the OSV booth at the recent National Federation of Priest’s Council’s conference and noted that the vendor displays from art/architecture/renovation firms all emphasized the traditional.) , as well as the TLM itself. A softening, a preparation of the land seems to be going on.

(Not to speak of the gradually expanding understanding of these issues on the part of the secular media. The articles are getting better and better in terms of the reporters’ correct understanding of issues and terminology, not to speak of fairness. A year ago, I don’t think we would have seen an article like this, which appeared in the St. Louis paper a few days ago.)

And lest we be tempted to have the same conversations over and over again, I’ll just repeat that as for me, I have little personal interest in the TLM. I go to Paul VI liturgies, my only complaints being ad libbing by celebrants and the music. For that reason my "ideal" liturgy is monastic. No frantic, forcing of "community" (it’s understood), no ad-libbing and no hymns – simply the propers,etc, chanted – in English or Latin. I have come to the cranky conclusion that if I never hear a hymn of any kind in the context of Mass again, that will be just fine with me. Not going to happen, but it would, indeed, be fine. As I’ve blogged here before, my great and late-to-the-party discovery over the past two years has concerned the place of music in Mass and what the ideal actually is, according to the tradition and documents of the Church. And it’s not Gather us in. And it’s not Faith of our Fathers, either.

For an introductory discussion of this, go here – and then simply continue to search the the archives of the New Liturgical Movement blog for "propers."

My interest in it concerns issues of justice, history, and a real conviction that the baseline for liturgical thinking needs to be dramatically shifted. Most modern Catholics understand the Mass to be essentially a prayer meeting in which we gather to express our thoughts about God in ways that make sense to us, using the structure of the Mass as a template, as a starting point. That, historically, is not what the Mass is. And if you want to wrap your head around the difference, forget the TLM and focus on the most ancient Christian liturgy still in use today, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, used in both Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches. There are certainly different theological emphases, but if you’re looking for the big picture of historical Christian liturgy, look there, and listen. The Latin Rite Mass had been in the process of "reform" since the beginning, of course, and to tell the truth, there are deep differences of opinion, even among advocates of traditional liturgy, as to the impact of the Council of Trent and Pius V on that process.  There are many who actually think that Trent is when things started to go wrong in the Latin Rite, as much of the dynamism and diversity that was present in the first 1500 years of western Christian liturgical life was brought to a (mostly) abrupt hault. As the 20th century wore on, there were frequent and legitimate concerns raised about the participation of the laity in the Mass (as we’ve blogged here in recent months – there were countless efforts during the pre-Vatican II years to deepen lay liturgical piety) as well as the disconnect between the Low Mass with its either no music or use of popular hymns, and the ancient, chanted liturgies of East and West.

Ack, here I go again. This was going to be a brief post. Stop me!

I suppose my point is that, aside from everything else, what the implementation of the Vatican II reforms resulted in was a disconnect from history, not just in the particulars of the Mass, but in the more fundamental sense of what we do when we go to Mass, which is not the same thing that we do when we go to a prayer meeting or gathering. Pope Benedict evidently believes that one of the keys to retrieving that understanding is making the TLM more freely available and hoping that its presence and practice will function in a way that will help us all understand, no matter what Mass we go to, what we’re doing there, and inspire us to pray – and lead prayer – in a way that more accurately and appropriately reflects that.