VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is the Vatican's official English translation of the letter Pope Francis sent July 16 to the world's bishops explaining his decision to restore some limits on the celebration of the Latin-rite Mass according to the pre-Vatican II Missal:
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,
Just as my predecessor Benedict XVI did with "Summorum Pontificum," I wish to accompany the motu proprio "Traditionis Custodes" with a letter explaining the motives that prompted my decision. I turn to you with trust and "parresia," in the name of that shared "solicitude for the whole church, that contributes supremely to the good of the universal church" as Vatican Council II reminds us.1