Report: Vatican considering crack down on Tridentine Mass

Rorate Caeli reports that "the most credible sources" are warning of an effort within the Holy See to impose what may amount to a near total ban on the pre-Vatican II Catholic Mass. Details, such as they are, can be found at the link.

Pope Francis is well known for his hostility to Catholic traditionalists and has already taken steps to restrict the use of the older sacramental rites. If the report is accurate, this would be a massive escalation of his campaign to suppress the ancient liturgical patrimony of the Western Church.

Update: There have been some follow-up posts over at Rorate that are worth a read. The contempt for traditionalist Catholics behind this movement is quite shocking. On which note, it bears repeating that any church that holds these kinds of views, or believes a single bishop has the right and authority to suppress the liturgical patrimony of more than a billion people, is one that we Orthodox can never be in communion with. 

Catholics brace for draconian restrictions on Traditional Latin Mass

Multiple sources, that are typically well informed about these things, are all reporting the existence of a document that if/when published by the Holy See would crush the Catholic religious orders previously blessed to the use of the old rites and might well go as far as a near total ban on the pre-Vatican II mass. 

Latest details.

HT: Dr. Tighe

Report: Pope Francis preparing further attack on Tridentine Mass

VATICAN CITY, February 18, 2023—The Remnant has learned that a Vatican document is currently under review by Pope Francis that would expand and reinforce his 2021 Motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, affirm that the only official liturgy of the Latin Rite is the Novus Ordo, and stringently regulate the ex-Ecclesia Dei communities.

Well-informed Vatican sources have confirmed to the Remnant, which accurately warned of Traditionis Custodes before it was published in 2021, that the draft document, in the form of an apostolic constitution, was presented to Pope Francis at the end of January by superiors of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments headed by Cardinal Arthur Roche.

The document is said to have been written by dicastery officials, under the guidance of its secretary, Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, OFM, in collaboration with at least one consultor of the Vatican’s office for papal liturgical celebrations.

While Traditionis Custodes is aimed chiefly at thwarting the growth of the traditional Latin Mass and sacraments among diocesan clergy, this new document would deal a particularly heavy blow to ex-Ecclesia Dei communities, by banning diaconal and priestly ordinations in the Vetus Ordo, prohibiting the administration of the other sacraments to the faithful, and requiring concelebration of all priests, including members of these institutes.

A prohibition of Sunday Masses in the Vetus Ordo is also said to be on the table.

Read the rest here.

How can any Orthodox Christian even contemplate entering into communion with a church whose leader apparently claims the authority to suppress ancient liturgical rites at will? If he can outlaw his own church's liturgical patrimony, why would he not be able to do that to the churches of the East? 

Between this and the heretical drivel coming out of the crazier corners of the Roman Church (hello Germany) the farther the Orthodox Church remains from Rome, the better. Maybe things will improve after the next conclave. But I am not optimistic. 

If Francis can abolish the ancient liturgical rites of the West; why can't (or wouldn't) he do the same to the East?

I am not going to excerpt this piece but rather encourage reading it in its entirety here. The implications of the pope's recent decree that comes dangerously close to the outright suppression of the Latin Church's 1500 year old liturgical patrimony, are breathtaking. Setting aside the obvious lack of prudence in Francis' decree, the suggestion that it is even within the legitimate powers of his office to do such a thing, should bring any talk of restoration of communion with Rome to a screeching halt. 

HT: Blog reader John L. 

P.S. This comment received via email... 

I'm surprised that Geoffrey Hull, the author of "The Banished Heart," hadn't gone full Byzantine - his entire thesis is that Rome had destroyed or mutilated every one of the liturgies of its non-Latin "sui iuris" churches long before Vatican II and the 1970 "reforms".

The Jesuits should be suppressed (again)

The evidence for this has been overwhelming for many years. But if more is needed, there is this.

Roman Catholic Traditional Mass Under Threat?

Francis has sent out a questionnaire on Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum. Under normal circumstances one might simply treat this as a routine inquiry into one aspect of the liturgical life of the Latin Church. But given Francis' known hostility to all aspects of Roman Catholic tradition, this is understandably causing people to nervously sit up and take notice.

Details.

Solemn Requiem Mass for Louis XVI of France

Justice Scalia's Funeral

It's going to be at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. Given his staunchly Traditionalist Catholic faith, he used to drive for hours to attend the pre-Vatican II Mass, one wonders if his Requiem Mass will be celebrated using the old rites.

Midnight Mass in Rome

Source (click to enlarge image)

Father Z on the SSPX

As most who keep track of these things will know the Pope lifted the excommunications of the four schismatic bishops of the Society of St. Pius X on Saturday. This has caused quite a stir for some of the reasons I mentioned in an earlier post. Now Fr. Z has a really good piece up on the subject which he dissects with his customary sharp insights. It addresses in detail some points I have alluded to before about the connection between Catholic Traditionalists and radical right politics. I strongly recommend it.

More SSPX News: Bishop Williamson opens mouth and inserts...

I remember Bishop Williamson of the Society of St. Pius X from my own days in the SSPX (mea culp mea culpa). Back then he was still Fr.Williamson. My impressions of him were that he was a remarkably well spoken gentleman, congenial with a very British dry wit, and a complete loon. Over the many years since I last saw him (it's probably been over 20 years now) he has continued to pop up in various news reports here and there. And almost without fail he continues to confirm my earlier impressions. Now he is at it again on the eve of the most dramatic step towards regularizing the SSPX that has thus far occurred (he has been deeply opposed to reconciliation with Rome).

In an interview with a European television crew (see above) he repeats his longstanding views that the Holocaust is mostly a myth and that there were no gas chambers. Of course Holocaust denial is one of the pet causes of radicals in the tin foil hat crowd. But it is also a bit more serious than that for a few reasons.

First is that this is a glimpse into the weird subculture of Trad Catholics. Not all by any means, but a large number of them are hard core right wingers. Anti-Semitism may not be an article of faith for the SSPX, but its pretty widespread among both the laity and the clergy. I could fill several pages with anecdotal experiences that send shivers down my spine just thinking about them. But it is sufficient to note that this has been so widely reported that it is not seriously contended except by the society's apologists.

Secondly it demonstrates the grave risks that must attend the lifting of the excommunications from a group that has in no way softened its opposition to the so called hermanuetic of continuity espoused by Pope Benedict. The SSPX is a group that has long seen itself as the last bastion of true Catholicism and their obstinate refusal to tow the Vatican's line has won them many supporters among the fringe. Most remain completely unreconciled to Vatican II and they are likely to see this as a de facto surrender by the Vatican as are many more moderate and liberal Catholics who will wonder what this says about Benedict's views on Vatican II.

And finally it will without doubt further damage the already frayed relations between Rome and the Jewish community who are almost certainly going to be alarmed by the readmission of a hardcore Holocaust denier like Williamson to communion with the Roman Catholic Church. And to be honest I won't blame them. There will be no way to interpret this as anything less than a huge slap in the face. I have been a big fan of B-XVI, but if he does this without first silencing Williamson he will be making a huge mistake that will seriously damage his reputation.

The question which this begs is, have Rome and the SSPX reached an agreement on the serious points of divisions? I have long feared that Pope Benedict, who felt keenly and personally the failure to prevent Archbishop Lefebvre's schism in 1988, would undertake a rush to reconciliation with the SSPX. No doubt reconciliation and the healing of schism is a much to be desired thing. But is this a true reconciliation or a modern false union of Florence?

SSPX Rumors

Several usually reputable sources are buzzing with the rumor that Pope Benedict XVI is preparing to lift the excommunications imposed on the four schismatic bishops of the Society of St. Pius X. Some are suggesting that the decree may have already been signed and its publication is imminent. Rorate has the details.

SSPX: Tradition or Schism?

This is a very interesting question that is addressed and answered by Catholic blogger Brian Sudlow over at The Sensible Bond. As a former SSPXer myself who made the transition (though I obviously landed in a different place) I recommend this essay to any who have an interest in the SSPX / Lefebvrist question. It addresses a lot of issues in detail.

SSPX Rapprochement?

There are a number of reports in both the press and on the internet suggesting that the Holy See may have offered the schismatic Roman Catholic traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) a deal to restore them to full communion with the church. I caution the reader that such reports have made the rounds before only to be shown up as rumors without foundation. That said, there are some points which cause me to treat these reports as not completely lacking in credibility.

First the reports are being posted by normally reliable sources. Secondly at least some in the SSPX seem to be confirming that something big may be imminent. And thirdly, unlike with most of the false rumors, this one has a date definitive mentioned (the 28th of June). This not only gives us a date, but it also is only a very short time away. Am I skeptical? I always am skeptical whenever reports of this nature surface about the SSPX. But others whose opinions I respect are taking this seriously. So I am not dismissing it.

I recommend the coverage over at Rorate Caeli which has a long track record for reporting on all things Traditionalist that is both well sourced and accurate.

UPDATE 06-24-08 @ 1045 PST: The rumors are true. Rorate has the text of the letter.

Benedict XVI & The Liturgical Jacobins

Is Pope Benedict XVI determined to restore the Latin mass that many Roman Catholics thought had been consigned to the dustbin of history? The answer, in short, is both yes and no. But neither the "yes" nor the "no" quite fits the conventional speculations in several recent media reports following off-the-cuff remarks to a small Catholic association in Great Britain by a Vatican official. In unraveling this, it helps to begin at the beginning.

As he reminds us in his memoir, "Salt of the Earth," the young Joseph Ratzinger was deeply influenced, both spiritually and intellectually, by the mid-20th-century movement to reform the Roman Catholic Church's public worship--a movement that helped pave the way for the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Father Ratzinger was a peritus, a theological expert, at the council, and like many others, he welcomed the council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: here was a ratification of the liturgical reform movement he had long supported and a blueprint for further organic development of the celebration of mass. In the immediate aftermath of Vatican II, however, Ratzinger became convinced that organic development had been jettisoned for revolution, the liturgical Jacobins being a cadre of academics determined to impose their view of a populist liturgy on the entire Catholic Church.

In the decades between Vatican II and his election as Benedict XVI, Ratzinger became a leader in what became known as "the reform of the reform": a loosely knit international network of laity, bishops, priests and scholars, committed to returning the process of liturgical development in the Catholic Church to what they understood to be the authentic blueprint of Vatican II. Seeing a Gregorian chant CD from an obscure Spanish monastery rise to the top of the pop charts in the 1990s, they wondered why much of the church had abandoned one of Catholicism's classic musical forms. Finding congregations that seemed more interested in self-affirmation than worship, and priests given to making their personalities the center of the liturgical action, they asked whether the rush to create a kind of sacred circle in which the priest faces the people over the eucharistic "table" might have something to do with the problem.

And they reminded the entire church that Vatican II had not mandated many of the things most Catholics thought it had decreed: for example, the elimination of Latin (and chant) from the liturgy and the free-standing altar behind which the priest faced the congregation.

Read the rest of this excellent article here.

Get that old time religion!

The traditional Latin Mass – effectively banned by Rome for 40 years – is to be reintroduced into every Roman Catholic parish in England and Wales, the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy said at a press conference in London today.

In addition, all seminaries will be required to teach trainee priests how to say the old Mass so that they can celebrate it in all parishes.

Catholic congregations throughout the world will receive special instruction on how to appreciate the old services, formerly known as the Tridentine Rite.

Yesterday’s announcement by the senior Vatican cardinal in charge of Latin liturgy, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, speaking on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI, will horrify Catholic liberals, including many bishops of England and Wales.

Read the rest here.

(update) Another article on the subject...

For 40 years, English Catholic worship has been controlled by a bossy alliance of bishops and politically correct activists known as the "Sandalistas".

Now, a Colombian-born cardinal close to the Pope effectively announced that their time has come to an end.

Read the rest here.

Trad Catholics & Orthodoxy

From time to time I get comments or questions concerning so called Traditionalist Roman Catholics and their feeling towards Orthodoxy. The general thrust is usually one of "we can talk with these people, they speak our language." My response is normally skeptical. Not because I disagree with their attachment to the ancient liturgy of the Western Church. I commend it strongly. Nor because I think they are evil people (although there are some whose moral compass is dangerously out of wack, but we have groups like that too). Indeed I used to be an SSPXer for the better part of two decades (mea culpa mea culpa...).

My reason for skepticism is because way too many of the Trads are hard core Unam Sanctum types. Their respect for Orthodoxy is limited to a grudging nod to our liturgy and that's about as far as it goes. Many, perhaps a majority, harbor a hostility towards Orthodoxy that is on par with or even greater than that which they harbor towards Protestants because they see us as being so close and they are infuriated by our obstinate refusal to kneel and kiss the Pope's ring.

Case in point: One of the web sites I periodically check out is Rorate Caeli. This is a solidly Trad web site which often gets really good scoops on news from Rome. You can get some remarkable insights into the various elements of the often sharply divided Trad movement by reading the com boxes there. From time to time the site owner will post a story that touches on Orthodoxy and this generally elicits some pretty frank expressions of their true feeling towards us. These comments make James Likoudis and Diane (well known to Orthodox and Catholic bloggers alike) appear the very embodiment of ecumenical moderation. In witness I will post two comments in their entirety in response to the most recent post by the site owner. The post was from a newspaper interview with Patriarch +Alexeii of Moscow in which +Alexeii spoke of Pope +Benedict XVI in highly complimentary terms.

Anonymous said...

Man...some of you folks are just plain mean spirited...nasty!

Peter has spoken the cause is finished...

For the crime of schism is worse than that which they commit who have offered sacrifice, who, nevertheless, have been disposed to penance for their sins prayed to God with the fullest satisfaction; in the other the Church is opposed. So in this case he who has fallen, has injured only himself; in the other, who attempts to cause a schism deceives many by dragging them with himself. In this case there is the loss of one soul; in the other their is danger to many. Certainly the one knows he has sinned and laments and bewails it; the other puffed up with pride in his sin is pluming himself on the sins themselves, separates sons from their mother, seduces sheep from their shepherds, disturbs the sacraments of God, and, whereas the former having stumbled sinned once, the latter sins daily. Lastly although the lapsed, if afterwards he acquired martyrdom, is able to secure the promises of the kingdom; if the other is slain outside of the Church, he cannot attain to the rewards of the Church.

-Pope Pelagius II c. 585 in a letter to the schismatic bishops of Istria regarding the necessity of union with the Church.

Nasty? I think not! The last time I checked the Patriarch of Moscow was not in union with Rome. We should ignore him. Why should Catholics need the "support" of a schismatic whose "tradition" of willful separation from the unity of the Church jeopardizes his everlasting salvation?

j hughes dunphy said...

The Council of Florence taught infallibly, "The Most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews, heretics (protestants), and schismatics can ever be partakers of eternal life, but that they are to go into the eternal fire 'which was prepared for the devil and his angels,' (Mat. 25:41) unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this Ecclesiastical Body, that only those remaining within this unity can profit from the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and that they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, alms deeds and other works of Christian piety and duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his alms giving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved unless they abide within the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church."

Part of the "apostasy" that the Catholic Church is going through currently stems from the undermining of this infallible and unchangeable teaching of the Church.

Fr Pavone, you hinder the "salvation of souls" when you declare publicly that ecumenism is good and that Protestants are "real Christians". There is no "real" Church outside of the Catholic Church. All other so-called Christian churches are "false churches" under Satan. If you are going to talk about protestants, it would be more beneficial to the salvation of their souls and to the salvation of dissident Catholics to warn them that they must convert to or revert back to the Catholic Church for salvation before their time on earth is up.

This sort of vitriol is hardly unusual when Orthodoxy pops up as a topic of conversation over there. And it is why I remain profoundly skeptical when Orthodox think of Roman Catholic Traditionalists as a possible bridge to improved relations with Rome. They are really Rome's Old Calendarists. Sadly most of them didn't even recognize the humor when I once suggested their sede vecantists should do lunch with our Radical Old Calendarists, they have so much in common.

My general view is that we Orthodox should ignore the so called Traditionalists. Their disputes with Rome are fundamentally an internal matter for the Latin Church and there is no justification for sticking our nose into this conflict. With a few rare exceptions Trads are not our friends or simply Western Rite Orthodox who haven't gotten over the Pope yet. While it might be interesting to watch from a distance, we have no dog in this fight.

Memory Eternal: Cardinal ++Alfons Maria Stickler

He was never a huge player in the Roman Curia. And I don't think his name was ever mentioned as a possible future Pope even in jest. But Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler was in many ways an extraordinary figure in the Roman Church. A reserved intellectual from Austria he was named as the Vatican Librarian and Archivist in 1983. He received the red hat a couple of years later. After his retirement he spent much of the remainder of his long life becoming something of a joke amongst the trendy curia and liturgists of the Vatican during John Paul II's rock star reign. The shy and physically diminutive Cardinal began writing and lobbying for the liberation of the Missal of Pius V (really Gregory the Great but I digress....).

Virtually alone in the College of Cardinals he was a one man rally for the return of the West's ancient liturgy. He became the standard bearer for those in the Roman Church disaffected by the liturgical insanity which swept through its temples like a cyclone in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. He published essays sharply criticizing the manner in which the reform of the liturgy was carried out and advocating for the cause of what is now known as the Extraordinary Universal Rite of the Mass.

Card. ++Stickler lived just long enough to see the triumphant return of the Tridentine Mass. Many of us from New York will recall the day in 1996 when at the invitation of the late great Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor of New York he celebrated the first Tridentine Mass (Solemn High Mass from the Throne) in a quarter century in St. Patrick's Cathedral to a standing room only crowd and the music of Mozart's Coronation Mass. I don't really recall seeing that many grown men in tears before or since.

His Eminence reposed a couple of days ago at the age 97, the eldest living Cardinal of the Roman Church. May his memory be eternal.

O Joyous Day!

The Motu Proprio takes effect at midnight.

Orthodox worship and the language of the people

"In peace let us pray to the Lord!"

Given the recent news about the liberalization of the pre-Vatican II Mass (Tridentine) a recent article by Fr.Stanley Harakas may be of interest. He writes in part...

In reference to worship, the early Church in the East adopted a principle of worship in the language of the people -- not a single sacred language inaccessible to the average person. So there was variety of languages, but basically, one Divine Liturgy. In this the Orthodox Church followed the lead of St. Paul, who in discussing the uttering of incomprehensible "tongues" in worship, declared in his first letter to the Christians in Corinth, "If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. (1 Corinthians 14:14-15).

Like two trains traveling in opposite directions on parallel tracks, the Roman Church is returning to its Latin past, with the hope of recapturing a sense of sacred transcendence in its now popularized worship, while the Orthodox Church is in many ways traveling its historic track of worship toward as fuller practice of worship in the language of the people, while through its rich worship practices, allowing contemporary worshipers to sense the holiness, sacredness and other worldliness of the Kingdom of God.

But there is a rub in all this for the Orthodox. Though we use many different languages in our worship, Greek, Slavonic, Arabic, Romanian and other traditional languages, for many Orthodox these function just like Latin does for the Roman Catholics. It is the language, precisely because it is not understood, because it is exotic, and because of the lack of understanding, that carries for many people the sense of the holy, and not what actually is said and done in worship! Language becomes a barrier to true worship, that is, worship that invites the Orthodox Christian to say with St. Paul "I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also."

What this seems to point to for the Orthodox is the restoration of the fundamental principle of Orthodox worship, that worship take place in a language understood by the worshippers. However, like the Roman Catholics, but moving in the opposite direction, we have to relearn our tradition, and to do it in a way that accommodates all the faithful Orthodox Christians.

Read the rest here.