(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said that the Vatican’s restriction of the Traditional Latin Mass “isn’t realistic” because young Catholics’ love of tradition is “unstoppable.”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s realistic. We look at the younger generation. They all love the tradition,” he told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s “The World Over” last night.

“They love the more classical way that the Church worships, the traditional Mass,” he said, also citing interest in the Novus Ordo Mass celebrated “in a more traditional way, with the priest ad orientem and the sacred music and great solemnity and reverence.”

“They’re desiring this deep tradition. It takes them to a very deep place,” the prelate said.

“This is unstoppable. It’s what’s drawing young people in and will continue to do so.”

The San Francisco archbishop, who Pope Leo XIV last week named as a member of the Vatican’s highest court, additionally pushed back on claims by Cardinal Arthur Roche, the head of the Vatican’s liturgy office, that Leo will not change Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional rite.

“I don’t know how well he knows the mind of the Holy Father,” Archbishop Cordileone said about Roche.

“But I think one thing that’s clear to everyone is the Holy Father wants to bring everyone together. He’s all about unity,” he continued.

“My concern is that if these restrictions remain in place, as I said in my statement, people will feel they have no choice to find where they experience being spiritually nourished in kind of the more traditional form of way the Church worships – they have to go outside of officially approved institutions and communities,” the archbishop said. “They will do that.”

The Traditional Latin Mass continues to draw millions of Catholics, including many young people, despite Pope Francis’ 2021 decree Traditionis Custodes, which heavily restricts it.

Traditional liturgical practices have also grown in popularity in recent years. In 2024, a large survey of U.S. Catholics found widespread support for receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling, the ad orientem posture – where the priest celebrates Holy Mass facing east or the tabernacle, and altar rails.

However, Cardinal Roche told heterodox Catholic weekly The Tablet on Wednesday that Pope Leo “is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum,” Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 document that granted priests nearly unrestricted permission to celebrate the Latin Mass.

“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 said in a letter accompanying Summorum Pontificum.

Leo has previously signaled support for access to the TLM, including in a March letter to the French bishops. At the same time, he has so far kept Traditionis Custodes in place and allowed bishops around the world to continue cracking down on the Latin Mass and reverent liturgical practices, such as Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, who has banned the TLM at parish churches and prohibited altar rails and kneelers.

Archbishop Cordileone, for his part, has repeatedly called for an end to restrictions on the traditional rite and has also encouraged reception of Holy Communion kneeling and the use of altar rails. He again urged “easier access” to the TLM after the Society of St. Pius X’s consecration of four bishops earlier this month without the approval of the Holy See.

Leo appointed Archbishop Cordileone a member of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court of the Catholic Church, on Saturday.

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