Important Declaration of the Superior of the Fraternity of St. Vincent Ferrer: "The Supreme Authority of the Church cannot go back on its word given to the members of the Ecclesia Dei communities: it is impossible for the members of our institutes to abandon our liturgical customs."

The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, dedicated to the preservation of the traditional practices (including liturgical ones) of the Dominicans, is one of the oldest of the so-called "Ecclesia Dei" communities founded under John Paul II with the solemn contractual commitment by the Holy See that they could dedicate themselves entirely to the Traditional liturgical books of the Roman Rite.

Their founder and current superior-general, Father Louis-Marie de Blignières, does not forget that these solemn commitment by the Holy See was made, and that thousands of men and women gave up their lives in the world because of this promise. It is not something that can simply be taken back from one day to the other. It is a not a joke. It is not a whim. It is a legal obligation that cannot be changed from one pope to the other, as it was made by the Holy See, not by Pope X, Y, or Z.

Their Christmas letter to the faithful is a most important declaration:

***

A Christmas Message from the Prior: 

On the Subject of the Motu Proprio

O Emmanuel!

December 23, 2021

Christmas Message

Dear friends,

In fervent expectation of the Savior, I feel the need to speak to you about a subject that concerns us all. I will do so with words that come from the heart of a priest who has celebrated the traditional Mass with deep joy for more than forty-four years.

The Motu proprio Traditionis custodes of July 16, 2021, and the Responsa ad dubia of the Congregation for Divine Worship of December 18, 2021, raises a question for us: should the Institutes of Ecclesia Dei adopt, as they are invited to do, the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments according to the missal and rituals of Paul VI? In other words, should these Institutes begin a process of abandoning the liturgical books that predate the 1969 reform?

Motus in fine velocior (2) - "With a Divisive, Useless, and Unjust Persecution, the Francis Crisis is Gathering Even More Speed" - by Roberto de Mattei

by Roberto de Mattei

On February 11, 2014, one year after the day on which Benedict XVI made known his decision to resign from the pontificate, I published an article entitled Motus in fine velocior to signal the beginning of a dizzying acceleration of time’s pace, starting with the resignation of Benedict and the election of Pope Francis on March 13, 2013. 

Benedict XVI reigned from April 19, 2005, to February 28, 2013, seven years and ten months. From the election of Pope Francis to the approach of Christmas 2021 eight years and nine months of pontificate have passed. Benedict XVI’s post-pontificate is therefore longer than his pontificate: a paradoxical fact, which makes his resignation even more inexplicable, if the only or primary reason for it was the burden of advancing age. Had he not abdicated, Benedict XVI might have died earlier, due to the natural physical and moral strain that the government of the Church entails, but he would have been forced to face what, in his view, was the most serious problem of the contemporary Church: the loss of faith.

IMPORTANT ARTICLE: LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RESPONSA ON TRADITIONIS CUSTODES - "Congregation cannot make authoritative interpretations. Juridical status of document highly questionable, does not have legally binding force."

by Father Pierre Laliberté, JCL* 

On 18 December 2021, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS) issued a peculiar document, a "Responsa ad dubia" regarding the 16 July 2021 motu proprio of Pope Francis, Traditionis Custodes. 

 

At the outset, some formal considerations on this document must be stressed. The main lines of the competencies of the CDWDS can be found as sketched in Pastor Bonus, the 28 June 1988 Apostolic Constitution of John Paul II. Articles 62-70 discuss the role of this congregation, which is to "foster and safeguards the regulation of the administration of the Sacraments, especially regarding their valid and licit celebration." (art. 63) The CDWDS, it must be mentioned, does not possess legislative power. 

 

As a consequence, this Congregation cannot make authoritative interpretations. Responses, in particular this document, are neither general decrees nor instructions (canons 29-34). Such responses to dubia are not binding executive decisions. While the CDWDS has noted that their responses are official and represent the mens Congregationis, they should be seen as just that - an expression of the mind of the Congregation. Since these Responsa do not appear to have been approved "in forma specifica" by the Holy Father, they would not have binding force, and would only bind those who posed the dubia. Despite this document being "consented to" by the Holy Father, the juridical status of this document is highly questionable, and thus cannot be considered as having legally binding force. Some have even stated that the document is "vox et praeterea nihil."

Suppression Has Consequences

When Church authorities start talking about banning traditional Latin books, including the Roman Ritual for diocesan priests, they are effectively jeopardizing the soul and spiritual well-being of Catholics around the world. The following story, provided to Rorate for publication by a tradition-minded priest (and friend) who serves at a diocesan parish that offers only the novus ordo liturgy, illustrates this point. Bishops, please read it as you prepare to make extremely important decisions that affect your flock. Before prohibiting the use of any traditional Latin books, remember this person's story.

***

Adversus Fatuitates

My life can be divided into a starkly different “before” and “after”, with an exorcism in between. The old rites and sacraments of the Catholic Church have power, as my personal experience bears out. This should not be a surprise to anyone; the Missale and Rituale Romanum were cultivated, tested, and refined over centuries of spiritual warfare, and their efficacy does not vanish overnight. If the hierarchs of the Church truly desire to journey together with their people, then let them consider my journey.

I was a Protestant by birth, an agnostic by choice, and I am now at last Catholic by grace. Over the course of my life, I accrued a lengthy list of mysterious symptoms which I initially attributed to the usual causes — depression, paranoia, or coincidence.

The trouble began early: an oppressive weight settled on my shoulders practically before I could walk, accompanied by intrusive thoughts and a strong urge to take my life. I sought various treatments over the years, including cognitive behavioral therapy, Stoicism, Buddhist meditation, rigorous lifestyle management, and more. I read self-help books, journaled, sought the counsel of friends and therapists, and kept my distance from sharp knives, steep cliffs, and alcohol. I accepted my lot and tried to manage it, with varying degrees of success from year to year.

Father Claude Barthe: We Must Resist the Illegitimate Norms on the Traditional Rite - "Vatican hardliners have started a war they can only lose."

Resisting an unjust liturgical law

Michel Janva

Le Salon Beige

December 18, 2021

[Rorate: Father Barthe is well known by our readers. One of the greatest experts in the history of the Traditional movement, and the chaplain of the pilgrimage to Rome, he knows what he talks about.] This morning, the Congregation for Divine Worship published responses to certain provisions of the Apostolic Letter in the form of a "Motu Proprio" Traditionis Custodes. We interviewed Father Claude Barthe.

Father, the offensive against the traditional liturgy seems to be intensifying considerably, judging by the publication on December 18 of responsa, answers to questions asked or supposed to have been asked to the Congregation for Divine Worship.

A "Revolution of Tenderness", or "The Roche Christmas Massacre": A Farce in Eleven Dubia

As reported by this blog a few days ago, the "clarifications" of Traditionis custodes from the CDWDS, which the Pope has given his assent to, have been published today - relentlessly appalling in their attempted suppression of the traditional rites, yet comically absurd in their claim to be "preserving the gift of ecclesial communion by walking together, with conviction of mind and heart". In this current joke of a pontificate, war truly is peace. 

The summary of what the Pope and the CDWDS are attempting to do is as follows:

Op-Ed: "Traditionis Custodes: Vatican II at the Throes of Death"

Father Claude Barthe

Res Novae

September 2021

The non-reception of the Second Vatican Council has focused in a concrete way on the refusal of the liturgical reform, even if a certain number of practitioners of the old Mass affirm their adherence to the "well interpreted" conciliar intuitions. In any case, the existence of the traditional liturgy is a persistent and even growing phenomenon of non-reception. Marginal? Pope Bergoglio, who wants to be the pope of the full realization of Vatican II, has come to be convinced that the phenomenon is sufficiently important that he must work to eradicate it. With the consequence that the possibly marginal has certainly become central: the Tridentine Mass is elevated as the evil to be destroyed; the seminaries training priests to say it, as cankers to be eliminated. And this is business as usual.

A return to the original violence of the liturgical reform

Compiling a list of Suppressed Traditional Latin Masses

 Dear readers,

If your mass (Sunday or weekday) has been suppressed following the advent of the new letter by Francis that reverted Summorum Pontificum, please let us know -- either by direct message on Twitter or by e-mail (newcatholic@gmail.com).

Thank you, and God have mercy!

[Update: Many readers have sent us news: we are updating them in this Twitter thread that starts with the tweet below (click for more updates). Please, keep sending us your information of suppression in your area, thank you!]

All 4 TLM Masses outside the Personal Parish of St John Henry Newman have been cancelled in the Archdiocese of Melbourne

— Rorate Caeli (@RorateCaeli) July 18, 2021

[Second Update: Originally published July 18, 2021, 6 p.m. UTC; the latest inclusions of suppressions and limitations were made today, Sep. 11, 2021: Atlanta and Paris. Regarding the very first item in the Twitter thread, we have learned that all TLMs previously taking place in the Melbourne Archdiocese have been restored, after Aug. 28.] 

COMMUNIQUÉ of the Superiors-General of the "Ecclesia Dei" Communities [on Traditionis Custodes]

"The mercy of the Lord is upon all flesh."

(Sirach 18, 13)

The signatory Institutes want, above all, to reiterate their love for the Church and their fidelity to the Holy Father. This filial love is tinged with great suffering today. We feel suspected, marginalized, banished. However, we do not recognize ourselves in the description given in the accompanying letter of the Motu Proprio Traditionis custodes, of July 16, 2021.

"If we say we have no sin ..." (I John 1, 8)

We do not see ourselves as the "true Church" in any way. On the contrary, we see in the Catholic Church our Mother in whom we find salvation and faith. We are loyally subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Pontiff and that of the diocesan bishops, as demonstrated by the good relations in the dioceses (and the functions of Presbyteral Councillor, Archivist, Chancellor, or Official which have been entrusted to our members), and the result of canonical or apostolic visits of recent years. We reaffirm our adherence to the magisterium (including that of Vatican II and what follows), according to the Catholic doctrine of the assent due to it (cf. in particular Lumen Gentium, n ° 25, and Catechism of the Catholic Church , n ° 891 and 892), as evidenced by the numerous studies and doctoral theses carried out by several of us over the past 33 years.

Have any mistakes been made? We are ready, as every Christian is, to ask forgiveness if some excess of language or mistrust of authority may have crept into any of our members. We are ready to convert if party spirit or pride has polluted our hearts.

"Fulfill your vows unto the Most High" (Psalm 49:14)

We beg for a humane, personal, trusting dialogue, far from ideologies or the coldness of administrative decrees. We would like to be able to meet a person who will be for us the face of the Motherhood of the Church. We would like to be able to tell him about the suffering, the tragedies, the sadness of so many lay faithful around the world, but also of priests, men and women religious who gave their lives trusting on the word of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Houston, We Have A Problem: The Latin Mass

The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in Texas is the fifth largest diocese in the U.S., a result of the explosive growth around the City of Houston -- the fourth largest city in the U.S. -- and its surrounding counties.  It has a massive priest shortage, with just 150 active archdiocesan priests of the 435 priests serving, retired or residing in the 146-parish archdiocese.  There are 411 "permanent deacons" in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Francis, in interview: Actually, the Traditional Mass was not abolished, I just wanted a “constructive reordering” of Summorum Pontificum…

 From an interview granted by Francis to Spanish Catholic radio COPE:

[Q.] I don’t know if Pope Francis is a man who likes to bang his fist on the table. Would it be possible that the last blow on the table has been the pontifical document limiting the celebration of the ‘Tridentine Masses’? And I also ask you to explain to my audience what the ‘Tridentine Mass’ is, what is it about the Tridentine Mass that is not mandatory.

After 14 Years, Pontifical North American College (Rome) cancels all Traditional Latin Masses, and all TLM training

Announced today to the NAC community -- the PNAC is the National College of the United States in Rome, and the most influential American seminary in the world. It is under the direction of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

This is a very important piece of the puzzle of the systemic cultural genocide Francis is imposing on Traditional Catholics. Our only options are to resist or to die and disappear.

Please, mention Rorate when reporting this piece of news.

Op-Ed: With 'Traditionis custodes', Francis Promotes Disunity (by Archbishop Aguer, Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina)

 A Regrettable Step Backwards

Archbishop Héctor Aguer*

Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina

for Infocatólica

The current Pontiff declares that he wishes to pursue even further the constant search for ecclesial communion and to make this purpose effective, he eliminates the work of his predecessors by placing arbitrary limits and obstacles to what they established with intra-ecclesial ecumenical intention and respect for the freedom of priests and faithful! It promotes ecclesial communion in reverse. The new measures are a regrettable step backwards.

I was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires on November 25, 1972; I celebrated my first Mass the following day in the parish of San Isidro Labrador (Saavedra neighborhood), where I resided all that year, exercising the diaconate. Obviously I celebrated according to the Novus Ordo promulgated in 1970. I have never celebrated "the ancient Mass," not even after the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum; I would have to study the rite, of which I have distant memories, having served as an altar boy. Recently, while attending the Divine Liturgy of the Syrian Orthodox Church, I seemed to notice a certain resemblance to the Latin Solemn Mass, with deacon and subdeacon, in which I often assisted, especially at funerals, which in my parish were often celebrated with special solemnity. I insist: I have always celebrated, with the greatest devotion I can muster, the rite in force in the Universal Church. When I was Archbishop of La Plata, I used to sing the Eucharistic prayer in Latin every Saturday at the "St. Joseph" Major Seminary, using the precious Missal published by the Holy See. We had formed, according to the recommendation of the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium n. 114, a schola cantorum, which has been eliminated at my retirement. In Traditionis custodes (Art. 3§ 4) it speaks of a priest delegated by the bishop to be in charge of the celebrations of the Mass and the pastoral care of the faithful of the groups authorized to use the Missal prior to the reform of 1970. It is stated there that he "should have a knowledge of the Latin language". It should be remembered that it is possible to celebrate the Mass currently in force in the whole Church in Latin. The Council affirmed in Sacrosanctum Concilium 36 § 1, "The use of the Latin language in the Latin rites is to be preserved, except by special law." Unfortunately, the "particular right" seems to be to prohibit Latin, as in fact it is done (this is not a boutade). If someone dares to propose to celebrate in Latin, he is looked upon as a misguided, unforgivable troglodyte.

Latin was for centuries the bond of unity and communication in the Western Church. Today it is not only abandoned, but hated. In the seminaries its study is neglected, precisely because it is not useful. They do not realize that this closes off direct access to the Fathers of the Western Church, who are very important for theological studies: I am thinking, for example, of St. Augustine and St. Leo the Great, and of medieval authors such as St. Anselm and St. Bernard. This situation seems to me to be a sign of cultural poverty and willful ignorance.

Francis' Cruelty - Costa Rica: Fr. Varela, the First Priest Suspended for Celebrating the Traditional Mass (and the New Mass in Latin!) Following the new Motu Proprio

FROM SUMMORUM PONTIFICUM TO TRADITIONES CUSTODES: CHRONICLE OF A PASTORAL DISASTER IN COSTA RICA

 by Augustine Aksala*

I feel the need to write this chronicle due to the concern expressed in different parts of the world to know clearly what is happening in Costa Rica after the promulgation of the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.

On July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI published his apostolic letter in the form of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. With this document, the Pope established that it was licit to celebrate the sacraments with the liturgical books prior to the post-conciliar liturgical reform. Thus, in the Roman Rite there was an ordinary form and an extraordinary form, and no priest needed any permission to celebrate Holy Mass with the 1962 missal, edited by St. John XXIII. Moreover, the faithful who requested it were to be admitted to such celebrations.

The little boy whose existence is a threat to the new kind of Church desired by Francis

 A young boy. A symbol of a wide open future ahead of us.

In the Pontifical Mass celebrated in Philadelphia's Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul on the Feast of the Assumption, a very small boy was photographed at the Communion Rail. His eyes are bright with expectation: he has certainly been taught enough about Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Andrea Grillo: The Mind Behind the Motu Proprio

Andrea Grillo: The Mind Behind the Motu Proprio

by Peter Kwasniewski*

Andrea Grillo (born 1961) is a professor of Sacramental Theology and Philosophy of Religion at the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm in Rome (Sant’Anselmo) and of Liturgy in Padua at the Abbey of Santa Giustina. With the promulgation of Pope Francis’s motu proprio of July 16th, 2021, Traditionis Custodes, he has become a more important figure in Catholic thought. Many indications point to Professor Grillo as an author or at least inspirer of the document, serving as the Pontiff’s “house” liturgist and theologian, as he is often called in Rome. He joins many others from Sant’Anselmo who have exercised a disproportionate progressive influence.

The Foundations of the Motu Proprio

For years now, Professor Grillo has espoused avant la lettre the tenets of Traditionis Custodes, maintaining that the Mass of Paul VI represents the exclusive rite of the Roman Church and that the Traditional Latin Mass should be legislated in such a way that its disappearance is assured.^[1]

Cardinal Sarah: A Church that Claims a Reversal of Her Liturgy is a Church with no Credibility

Cardinal Robert Sarah

Le Figaro

August 13, 2021

[Main excerpts:]

Doubt has taken hold of Western thought. Intellectuals and politicians alike describe the same impression of collapse. Faced with the breakdown of solidarity and the disintegration of identities, some turn to the Catholic Church. ...  But is the Church capable of responding to these calls? Certainly, she has already played this role of guardian and transmitter of civilization. ...

[Cardinal Sarah at the Abbey of Saint Mary of Lagrasse]

Without a sacred foundation, every bond becomes fragile and fickle. Some ask the Catholic Church to play this solid foundation role. They would like to see her assume a social function, namely to be a coherent system of values, a cultural and aesthetic matrix. But the Church has no other sacred reality to offer than her faith in Jesus, God made man. Her sole goal is to make possible the encounter of men with the person of Jesus. Moral and dogmatic teaching, as well as mystical and liturgical patrimony, are the setting and the means of this fundamental and sacred encounter. Christian civilization is born of this encounter. Beauty and culture are its fruits. ...

 

What is sacred for the Church, then, is the unbroken chain that links her with certainty to Jesus. A chain of faith without rupture or contradiction, a chain of prayer and liturgy without breakage or disavowal. Without this radical continuity, what credibility could the Church still claim? ... 

A Public Letter from Italian Laity: Francis, enough! Stop the ideological Civil War in the Church

This heartfelt letter by several Italian lay people was published today in Italian daily IL FOGLIO. The laity are exhausted after 8 years of war conducted from on top: we want peace. Stop, Francis, just stop.

Holy Father,

The latest book by Andrea Riccardi, founder of Sant'Egidio and a well-known voice of the progressive Catholic world is entitled "The Church is Burning: Crisis and the Future of Christianity ”.

We have not written any books, we have not conducted any detailed analysis, but we see every day the slow fire that devours and destroys the Catholic Church in Italy and around the world.

The resignation of Benedict XVI, eight years ago, left many in desolation and others in hope. For some time there was talk of the "Bergoglio effect", alluding to a rebirth that unfortunately never took place. On the contrary! The "Church that goes forth" has remained a slogan with no real application. On the contrary, the holy city of Christianity [Rome], in the age of covid, was the first to barricade its churches, giving the world a sign of total desertion.

Speaking to the Masses

Pope Francis' recent attack on the traditional Latin Mass and those who attend and offer it has produced quite the outcry around the world.  Yet another example of the unintended Francis Effect, slapping around faithful Catholics has blown up in the face of the Vatican.  When the Jesuit, left-wing America magazine and normally anti-TLM neoconservative George Weigel both voice public criticism of restricting the freedom to offer and attend Latin Masses, clearly the Vatican roll-out of Francis' hit-job can be considered a massive communications failure based on bad policy and poor planning.

To that end, we all have likely had family or friends with almost no interest in the traditional Latin Mass ask us what on earth is going on recently.  It is a terrific moment to educate -- the ideal time to further grow the TLM movement.  Very few people have publicly defended Francis' recent attack on the TLM.

There are usually two kinds of Catholics with respect to news and current events: those who pay close attention to daily updates, and those who scan headlines or get their news from someone else.  Rorate readers likely fall into the former category; and we commend you for staying educated.  At the same time, while even the mainstream media is interested in the traditional Latin Mass -- an opportunity that does not come often -- we have the chance to speak to the masses (pun intended).

On the moves against the Traditional Mass, “It’s all about the Violence”: “Why would anyone pretending to be of Christ’s Church lash out at the lambs?” (by Archbishop Thomas E. Gullickson)

The then Nuncio to Switzerland,Abp. Thomas Edward Gullickson,
ordaining new priests for the FSSP in Bavaria (2020)

In the wake of the cancellation of the Pontifical Mass in the National Shrine of the United States that he was going to celebrate on August 14, 2021, Archbishop Thomas Edward Gullickson, former ambassador (Nuncio) of the Holy See before several nations— most recently, Switzerland, until last year — wrote the following two notes in his personal blog:

July 28:

The Paulus Institute made a measured declaration about their disappointment over the DC Cardinal's prohibition of our Vigil Mass of the Assumption planned for our Country's National Shrine. They did well to do so and their statement fits the bill. My own disappointment over this bureaucratic dismissal of good people's best efforts has no real importance. I do not see myself as a man on a mission somehow stymied by whomever. I would have loved to enjoy this gathering of good and believing people in Mary's "house" in Washington. It was not to be. For me personally, that sort of sums it up. 

As such, I have nothing to say beyond the statement of the Paulus Institute, but as I ponder this picture from the Corpus Christi procession at the Sacred Theology Conference back in June in Spokane, I wonder why some are so taken up with trying to "scatter the sheep": Quare fremuerunt gentes... Why would anyone pretending to be of Christ's Church lash out at the lambs?