The release of the "summer blockbuster" on 07/07/07:

- wasn't it just last summer we sat breathless on 06/06/06? -

The pope said Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal, commonly known as the Tridentine rite, should be made available in every parish where groups of the faithful desire it.

The pope said the new Mass rite would certainly remain the church's predominant form of worship. Use of the old missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language, and "neither of these is found very often," he said.

"I am speaking from experience, since I, too, lived through that period with all its hopes and confusion," he said.

Unlike the 1984 indult offered by Pope John Paul II, the new decree did not explicitly state that those requesting permission for the Tridentine Mass must accept the legitimacy of the new Mass. Vatican sources said such acceptance would be presumed, however.

"The total exclusion of the new rite would not, in fact, be consistent with the recognition of its value and holiness," he said.

On the question of the old Mass, he urged the bishops: "Let us generously open our hearts and make room for everything that the faith itself allows."

The norms take effect Sept. 14, Triumph of the Cross:

-- The current Roman Missal, published after the Second Vatican Council, continues to be the "ordinary" form for celebrations of Mass in the Latin-rite church. The 1962 missal is now considered the "extraordinary" form of the Mass.

UPDATE: I find this comment, posted by Fr. Joseph A. Komonchak, at Commonweal's blog very curious:

And the Latin of this motu proprio is not very good itself. It's clearly "translation-Latin: like most Vatican documents, this was first conceived and written in another language and then translated, poorly, into Latin.