Recently, I have been asked about the position of the International Union of European Guides and Scouts on the recent Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI^th, concerning the various forms – ordinary and extraordinary – of the Roman rite. I want to assess that the UIGSE, as private association of lay faithful, does not have to “adopt a position” on texts coming from the Magisterium but has to receive them filially and – as long as they concern our educative mission – to apply them in the most appropriate way.

As regards liturgical questions, any rite which is duly approved by the Apostolic See is legitimate ; we have to control that the children and young people who are entrusted to us may benefit – in the ceremonies which they attend during scout activities – from liturgies which are in conformity with the texts approved by the Pastors of the Church : praying and in conformity with the tradition and the rite in which parents, who are the first educators of our scouts, have chosen to breed them. This is why, in the countries where various Christian confessions or various Catholic rites coexist within our movement (Germany or Ukraine, for instance), we offer units which are confessionally and ritually homogenous, in order to avoid any confusion in the young people’s mind (see Religious Directory).

This does not exclude at all, for Catholics, the possibility of attending a liturgy with a rite –united to Rome – different from the one in which the unit generally celebrates, in a place (country, community) where another rite would be used; this may constitute for the unit a discovery and an enrichment, as long as the parents and the religious adviser of the unit agree; a previous introduction, adapted to the age of the young people, is required.

The liturgical ceremonies organised by the UIGSE on the occasion of international meetings are normally celebrated in the ordinary form of the Roman rite, in Latin language, according to the recommendations of § 62 of the Apostolic exhortation “Sacramentum Caritatis”.

Each association is requested to apply this restatement; please transmit this note to your units.

Yours in scouting.