Prominent U.K. figures in the arts, business, journalism, and politics have appealed to the Vatican not to impose new restrictions on the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass. Fashion designer Paul Smith, novelist Agatha Christie, historian Tom Holland. ShareThe letter explicitly echoed an appeal by artists and writers published by the Times of London in July 1971. The signatories of the earlier letter, including mystery writer Agatha Christie, novelist Graham Greene, and violinist Yehudi Menuhin, expressed alarm at reports of “a plan to obliterate” the pre-Vatican Council II Mass. That appeal reached Pope Paul VI, who is said to have exclaimed “Ah, Agatha Christie!” as he read the list of signatories.
