ROME — Pope Francis urged the Catholic faithful Wednesday to stop exploiting the old Latin Mass for ideological reasons and to start discovering the beauty of the new liturgy that grew from the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Francis penned a letter to rank-and-file Catholics as part of his long-term effort to crack down on the spread of the traditional rite and its supporters. He called on the faithful to “abandon our polemics” over the liturgy, which he said risked the very communion and unity of the Catholic Church.

“I don’t see how it is possible to say that one recognizes the validity of the council – though it amazes me that a Catholic might presume not to do so – and at the same time not accept the liturgical reform,” Francis wrote.

The timing of the document’s release seemed intentional: It was issued on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, an important feast day for the Catholic Church in which the unity of the church, and the communion between its archbishops and the pope, are emphasized.

Francis began his crackdown on the pre-Vatican II Mass in 2021, when he re-imposed restrictions on celebrating the rite that had been loosened by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. Francis said then that he had to take action because Benedict’s reform had become a source of division in the church and been exploited by Catholics opposed to Vatican II.

Indeed, Catholic traditionalists attached to the old rite, also known as the Tridentine Rite, have become some of the biggest opponents to Francis and his belief that the church should be a “field hospital” that welcomes everyone and where the Eucharist is not a “prize for the perfect” but rather medicine for the weak.

Francis further clamped down on the Latin Mass later in 2021 by forbidding the celebration of some sacraments according to the ancient rite.

In both instances, his directives were aimed at bishops and religious superiors. His letter Wednesday was aimed instead at rank-and-file Catholics and included a call for seminarians and their teachers to embrace the Vatican II reforms and learn the way to celebrate the liturgy according to them.