CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — On the Feast of St. Bonaventure, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass ad orientem (meaning “to the east”) at the Chapel of the Carabinieri Station in Castel Gandolfo. This marks the first known instance of Pope Leo publicly celebrating Mass this way as Supreme Pontiff.

Pope Leo has shown support for more “traditional” forms of Eastern Catholic liturgies which involve the practice of ad orientem. In an address to participants in the jubilee of Oriental churches, Pope Leo XIV acknowledged the necessity to recover the “sense of mystery” prevalent in their liturgies.

“We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty,” said Pope Leo.

Pope Leo continued, “It is vital, then, that you preserve your traditions without attenuating them, for the sake perhaps of practicality or convenience, lest they be corrupted by the mentality of consumerism and utilitarianism.”

The late Pope Francis was occasionally known to celebrate Mass ad orientem. However, several U.S. bishops restricted the celebration of Mass facing the altar during Francis’ reign, seeing it as a return to the forms of liturgy before Vatican II.

One such instance of this occurred in 2023, when Bishop Edward M. Rice of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau issued a statement requesting that all priests in the diocese “celebrate Mass facing the people.” In the statement, Bishop Rice references his interpretation of Traditionis Custodes as a leading factor in restricting how Holy Mass is celebrated in the diocese.

“Referring to Bishops as ‘Guardians of the tradition,’ we are called ‘to facilitate the ecclesial communion of those Catholics who feel attached to some earlier liturgical forms and not to others,’” the bishop stated.

“I request at this time that all priests celebrate Mass facing the people. … And with the documents cited in this column, I have tried to highlight my rightful authority in making my request.”

The rubrics for the Novus Ordo Mass, however, allow for the liturgy to be celebrated ad orientem. Also, in 2000, the Congregation for Divine Worship confirmed that ad orientem worship is not forbidden, reminding bishops that “it would be a grave error to imagine that the principal orientation of the sacrificial action is toward the community.”

LifeSiteNews has launched a petition asking Pope Leo to remove all restrictions on priests wishing to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass, including a return to the practice of ad orientem. Citing the same “unity” which has become a hallmark of Pope Leo’s pontificate, the faithful hope to gain relief from the inordinate rulings of bishops against the traditional Mass, which has been celebrated in the Church for so many centuries.