Roman Catholic priests will now be able to celebrate the Latin Mass without the approval of a local bishop, so long as a "stable group of faithful" requests it.

Pope Benedict XVI makes the sign of the cross during the weekly general audience at the Vatican last Wednesday.
(Plinio Lepri/Associated Press)

Pope Benedict XVI approved the change in a document issued Saturday.

The Latin, or Tridentine rite contains a prayer that is read on Good Friday calling for the conversion of Jews. The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League has criticized Benedict's decision, calling it a "theological setback" and a "body blow to Catholic-Jewish relations."

The 16th-century mass is traditionally delivered by a priest in Latin with his back to the congregation throughout the service.

Under reforms approved by the 1962-1965 Second Vatican Council, the Latin Mass was widely sidelined. Although Latin was not scrapped outright, the reforms called for a new mass to be said in local languages, for the priest to face the congregation and for the use of lay readers.

Benedict's move is widely seen as an attempt to reach out to an ultra-traditionalist and schismatic group, the Society of St. Pius X, and bring it back into the Vatican's fold.

The late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society in 1969 in Switzerland, in opposition to the Vatican II reforms, particularly its liturgical changes.

The Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre in 1988 after he consecrated four bishops without Rome's consent. The bishops were excommunicated as well.