Did Pope Paul VI have authorization to create a New Mass?
This issue is the one most central to the debate. Many so-called traditionalists charge that the Pauline Mass is invalid and Pope Paul VI did not have the authority to change the Tridentine Mass. The Tridentine Mass is supposedly the only Mass that has been preserved for 2000 years, with little change. Finally, the charge is that Pope St. Pius V definitively declared that this Mass promulgated was never to be altered, changed. Let us look at some of the most important texts that relate: Quo Primum “This new rite alone is to be used unless approval of the practice of saying Mass differently was given at the very time of the institution and confirmation of the church by Apostolic See at least 200 years ago, or unless there has prevailed a custom of a similar kind which has been continuously followed for a period of not less than 200 years, in which most cases We in no wise rescind their above-mentioned prerogative or custom. However, if this Missal, which we have seen fit to publish, be
