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The Indult Tridentine Rite of Mass
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The "Spirit of Vatican II" has been invoked to do both great good and great harm to our beloved Church in the last few decades, though the actual intention of the Council was always to do only good.
Beginning around 1964-1965, priests in some areas began to occasionally use the vernacular in the Mass. In 1970, when the Novus Ordo first came out, The old and new rites were both used. Gradually, the new rite supplanted the old, and the old rite virtually disappeared, much to the chagrin of many Catholics. Because of this disappointment, many of the more militant conservative Catholics began to murmur against the New Mass. Some said that the New Mass was illicit, and perhaps even invalid. [In some cases, they were right about the invalidity: in the 1970s, some very strange things were going on in the wake of Vatican II. There were several cases of items other than unleavened bread (in one case I read about, birthday cake) and wine used for the Consecration. These cases were rare even then, and practically non-existent nowadays. To say that the Novus Ordo Missae is inherently invalid or even illicit, however, is heretical.] Because of the great love for the old rite, several orders came into being. The largest of them was the Society of St. Pius X. This group was headed by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre had done many good things for the Church, and had the best of intentions. (Of course, one would believe that the church "renovators" also had the best of intentions.) Lefebvre, over the course of several years, began to drift further and further away from Rome. Finally, in the late 1980s, against the express wishes of Pope John Paul II, Lefebvre consecrated four bishops for the purpose of spreading the traditional rite of Mass. Because these consecrations were done blatantly against the wishes of Rome, Lefevbre was excommunicated, and all who remained in the SSPX were also.
Unfortunately, schism and heresy are often a slippery slope leading only away from Rome. Luther's revolt led not to a reform of the Church (at least not directly), but to the Protestant Reformation which has splintered Christianity into thousands of groups, and only one possessing the full Truth. Similarly, the schism between Rome and the SSPX began to spawn yet more division. Some within the now-excommunicated SSPX felt that not only were Vatican II and the New Mass a farce, but that even the 1962 rubrics used by SSPX were not good enough. This group, calling itself the Society of St. Pius V, uses the 1954 Missal. They, too, are excommunicated as schismatics. Other smaller groups have formed that have separated themselves from Holy Mother Church. What began as a rejection of the validity of the New Mass has evolved in some groups even to sedevacantism. "Sede vacant" means "the chair is empty". These heretics believe that we have not had a valid Pope since the death of Pius XII in 1958. (Their rationale is that Pope John XXIII committed heresy in the promulgation of changes to the Mass, therefore he couldn't have been a REAL Pope, since the Pope is protected from error as illustrated by the dogma of Papal Infallibility. They obviously do not realize that they are, in fact, heretics for believing that they can judge the Pope in such a manner.) One particular group of sedevacantists in the northwestern United States calling themselves "True Catholics" have crowned one of their own "Pope Pius XIII" in 1998.
As you can see, misinterpretation of the Council by not only individual Catholics, but by whole groups, have cause new divisons unlike any since the Protestant Reformation. In an attempt to curb the mass exodus (no pun intended) of Catholics into schism and heresy, Pope John Paul II has attempted to make the old rite of Mass more accessible to the Faithful. Also, the Holy Father realizes (along with millions of still-faithful Catholics) that what was considered to be the greatest prayer in the world and even "the most beautiful thing this side of Heaven", as said by Fr. Faber (a 19th century priest), should not now be tossed aside like a piece of trash simply because we have a new rite. In 1984, the Holy Father issued the document called Quattuor Abhinc Annos, which gave permssion under certain restrictions to celebrate the 1962 Tridentine Rite of Mass to all bishops in the world. This document was a step in the right direction, from the viewpoint of those who wanted the traditional liturgy to be allowed again. However, soon after this, Archbishop Lefebvre would soon commit the act that would ultimately lead to his excommunication. In 1988, with the promulgation of the document Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, the Holy Father established what has truly become a great order, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (also known as FSSP because of its name in Latin, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri). This order was primarily created to bring back those who had stayed with the SSPX. While that mission has not yet been accomplished, the FSSP has made available to many Catholics the Indult Tridentine Mass. The term "indult" means "allowed", or "permitted". When the Pope sent out what is commonly known as "Ecclesia Dei", he granted permission without restriction to all bishops of the world for the celebration of the Tridentine Rite according to the 1962 liturgical books. This has been the greatest step forward in once again allowing the traditional Mass to all who seek it.
