Pope Benedict XVI has finally promulgated his new document allowing wider use of the Tridentine Mass.

Pope Benedict XVI removed restrictions on celebrating the old form of the Latin Mass on Saturday in a concession to traditional Catholics, but he stressed that he was in no way rolling back the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

Benedict issued a document authorizing parish priests to celebrate the Tridentine Mass if a ''stable group of faithful'' request it. Currently, the local bishop must approve such requests -- an obstacle that fans of the rite say has greatly limited its availability.

''What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,'' Benedict wrote.

Why bring it back?

Benedict said his overall goal was to unify the church. In the past, he wrote, ''at critical moments when divisions were coming about, not enough was done by the church's leaders to maintain or regain reconciliation and unity.''

This constitutes a wise pastoral move -- and one which really does not call into question any of the Vatican II reforms, despite the fears of extreme liberals and hopes of extreme conservatives.