Ordinary Form

Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite

An extraordinary form of the Roman Rite is a form other than the ordinary, normal form of that rite. At present, the ordinary form of celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite is that established in the revision of the Roman Missal, promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969. With his 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, Pope Benedict XVI approved the use, within certain limits in the case of Masses celebrated with the people, of the 1962 edition of that Missal as an extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. This 1962 Missal gives the most recent form of the Tridentine Mass. For earlier forms, see Historical variations of the Tridentine Mass.

In the motu proprio, and in the accompanying letter that he sent to the Bishops, Pope Benedict designated the 1962 form an extraordinary form, not the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite:

The Roman Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the 'Lex orandi' (Law of prayer) of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite. Nonetheless, the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and reissued by Bl. John XXIII is to be considered as an extraordinary expression of that same 'Lex orandi'" (article 1 of the motu proprio)

The Missal published by Paul VI and then republished in two subsequent editions by John Paul II, obviously is and continues to be the normal Form – the Forma ordinaria – of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The last version of the Missale Romanum prior to the Council, which was published with the authority of Pope John XXIII in 1962 and used during the Council, will now be able to be used as a Forma extraordinaria of the liturgical celebration. It is not appropriate to speak of these two versions of the Roman Missal as if they were 'two Rites'. Rather, it is a matter of a twofold use of one and the same rite" (Letter of Pope Benedict XVI accompanying his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum).