Some reactions to the instruction from Pope Benedict\u2019s homeland:<\/p>\n
The German Bishops\u2019 Conference declared that the Instruction contains \u201cno fundamental innovations\u201d; furthermore, interest in the old Mass in Germany is slim. The secretary of the German Bishops\u2019 Conference, Hans Langend\u00f6rfer, emphasized that the document would have no great effect upon church practice. At the present time, the old Mass is celebrated in only 128 places in Germany out of 11,383 parishes.<\/p>\n
Professor Helmut Hoping of the University of Freiburg praised the new document. Much is clarified that was previously unclear. He expects that the old form of the Mass will now be celebrated more frequently in those 150 places where it has been celebrated up until now.<\/p>\n
Benedikt Kranemann, chairman of the Association of Catholic Liturgists, (Arbeitsgemeinschaft katholischer Liturgiewissenschaftler), lamented that the criticism\u00a0from bishops\u2019 conferences and theologians of the introduction of two parallel forms of the liturgy was \u201cnot taken into account at all.\u201d The document misses the real problems of the church in Germany. \u201cWhat is really important to the majority of people doesn\u2019t even appear in this discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The traditionalist Society of St. Pius the X greeted the paper: Benedict has placed \u201cnecessary reins on the arbitrary suppression\u201d of the rules by many bishops.<\/p>\n
Bishop Friedrich Weber, delegate for Catholic affairs of the Lutheran Church in Germany, expressed criticism. From the evangelical Lutheran viewpoint, comprehensibility is an essential criterion. When the liturgy is incomprehensible, it become nothing but an external performance and no longer fulfills the urgent requirement of engaged participation.<\/p>\n