The guest for this 39th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, is Dr Joseph Shaw, the chairman of the Latin Mass Society and a former member of the Philosophy faculty at Oxford University.

He tells Dr Gavin Ashenden that the reasons offered for the ongoing suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass just 15 years after its liberation were largely spurious and ideologically-motivated and are probably driven by actors not yet clearly in view.

They also discuss the recent ‘rescript’ issued by the Holy See that prevents parish churches celebrating the Old Rite Mass without a dispensation from Rome and they reflect on the reaction to such measures throughout the world.