The former wife of the Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has written a letter to Pope Francis this week. Bianca Jagger, a former Nicaraguan model, expresses concern that the Vatican may approve new restrictions on the Latin Mass. This is the ancient rite already limited by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), and its defense has become a banner for ultraconservatives who challenge the Pope.
The traditional liturgy, the letter argues, is a “cathedral of texts and gestures that have evolved over centuries alongside many venerable churches.” “Not everyone values its significance: there is nothing to object to there, but destroying it seems an unnecessary and insensitive act in a world where history is too quickly forgotten. The old rite’s ability to foster silence and contemplation is a treasure,” the letter adds.
Thus, she “implores” the Vatican to refrain from any further restriction of access to this magnificent spiritual and cultural heritage. Such a move would be “a painful and troubling prospect, especially for the growing number of young Catholics whose faith has been nourished by it,” she notes in a letter signed also by forty other Anglophone figures.
Pulso viejo y nuevo
With these words, Bianca Jagger has positioned herself squarely in the heated struggle that ultraconservatives have waged against Francis for some time. The Pope has remained steadfast in his desire to modernize the institution. In fact, last year he reaffirmed his decision to limit Latin masses—based on the 1962 Missal updated by Pope John XXIII—clarifying the cases in which bishops must seek the Pontiff’s authorization to permit them.
All of this followed a flare-up in July 2021 via the motu proprio Traditionis custodes. Through this document, Francis put the matter back on the table after the previous pope, Benedict XVI, left it to the priests, an approach once interpreted as a rapprochement to supporters of the Franco‑French bishop Marcel Lefebvre, who was excommunicated in the 1980s for vehement opposition to the Second Vatican Council.
Strangely, the trigger for Jagger’s letter appears to be a rumor: the possibility that the Holy See might prohibit the old rite universally and without exception in all Catholic churches worldwide. In this context, reference has even been made to the so‑called Agatha Christie letter, a 1971 appeal to Paul VI headed by the famous British writer that urged the United Kingdom not to discontinue the traditional Mass.
Cáncer ideológico
The case has provoked a notable uproar in Rome because, since the death of Benedict XVI, the war between this faction and the Pope has become openly heated, incendiary, and public. The clashes are reciprocal. A case in point: in June, Francis charged an Italian archbishop with the crime of schism for his critical stance against the pope.
The archbishop in question is Carlo Maria Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States. In the past, Viganò questioned the very legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council and even asked for the Argentine pontiff’s resignation, a conflict that culminated in his excommunication—the church’s harshest penalty. The big question now is how this climate of open confrontation will shift as both sides press their claims.
These developments spotlight the broader debate over whether the church should preserve long-standing rites or pursue greater unity under a modernizing vision. The atmosphere remains tense as critics argue for continuity and defenders push for reform that reflects contemporary pastoral needs.