General Instructions of the Missal QUESTION from Robert Grey December 25, 2001 I have been told that when the new GIRM enters into force, all Altars which today have only a cross without the image of the Suffering Saviour, will have to make changes because a cross with the image of Christ will be essential to all Altars. Is this true?
Also, when will the new General Instructions of the Roman Missal enter into force?
And lastly, I have been told that, after the entering into force of the new GIRM, the Apostolic See will issue a new edition of the Roman Missal. Is this true? If this is true, when will the new Missal be issued? Is there a date set for the Missal to come into force?
ANSWER by Mr. Jacob Slavek on December 30, 2001 Dear Mr. Grey,
Yes, this is true. It will be #308 of the new instruction.
Actually, more precisely, the new instruction takes effect when the new missal is published, not the other way around. As for a date, the last estimate I heard, some time ago, was for this December, but so far it has not happened. I check regularly with http://www.ixtmedia.com, which is the website of the vatican publisher. You can sign up to be notified by e-mail when the missal is published. In the past I have been surprised while waiting for items to be published, sometimes it really happens with no warning.
For your other questions, I have answered the other day another question about the new instruction, the subject is GIRM 2000. (for some reason) Check out the link there also, the page goes into some detail about other changes.
Mr. Slavek
Back to Index Page