Washington, D.C. Newsroom, 25 June, 2024 / 12:45 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis on Monday met with three leaders of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) — an institute whose priests celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass and live according to the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales.
The June 24 meeting comes at a time when celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass are restricted by the pontiff’s motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.
Although the ICKSP’s news release following the meeting did not reference any discussion of the Traditional Latin Mass, the institute said “the pope insisted that we continue to serve the Church according to our own, proper charism, in the spirit of unity and communion which the harmony and balance of the Salesian spirituality allow.”
Francis met with Monsignor Gilles Wach, the prior general of ICKSP, who was celebrating the 45th anniversary of his priestly ordination by St. John Paul II. He also met with Monsignor Rudolf Michael Schmitz, the institute’s vicar general, and Canon Louis Valadier, the provincial of France.
“This audience was an occasion to thank the Holy Father for his inspiring apostolic letter Totum Amoris Est, dedicated to St. Francis de Sales, our patron saint,” read an ICKSP statement, referencing the pope’s December 2022 letter.
