Pope to authorise Latin mass in coming days

By Stephen Brown

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict will tell Roman Catholic priests in coming days that they can say mass in Latin as a concession to traditionalists.

However, the move has raised concern about reviving parts of the old liturgy that Jews consider anti-Semitic.

The Latin liturgy was sidelined by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s in favour of local languages in an attempt to make worship more accessible to the bulk of churchgoers.

After months of speculation that the old rite, known as the Tridentine mass, could return, the Vatican said on Thursday the Pope had met senior clerics a day earlier to discuss "the content and the spirit" of a papal document on the matter.

"The publication of this document, to be accompanied by a full personal letter from the Holy Father to individual bishops, is foreseen within a few days," a Vatican statement said.

The document is known as a 'motu propio' and will be issued in Latin, still the official language of the Vatican.

Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone told reporters that the document would authorise the mass under the Tridentine rite "in coming days".

He said the Pope would explain "the reason for reviving and reactivating the pre-Council version of the liturgy, which is a great treasure".