Monday, July 19, 2021

Who is Pope Francis punishing?

In his Apostolic Letter Traditionis Custodes and its covering letter, Pope Francis is introducing stringent new restrictions on the celebration of the ancient Latin Mass, now called not the Extraordinary Form but simply the 1962 Missal or “earlier Missal.”

Pope Francis writes, in the letter, that the use of the 1962 Missal is

often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the “true Church”.

Pope Francis indicates that this concern, and the desire for measures such as those he has adopted, has been expressed by bishops responding to the survey on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum which the Congregation for Divine Worship carried out in 2020. This is very surprising, since those who had sight of the results consistently reported that a great many bishops were positive about the place of the Old Mass in their diocese. Even the French bishops, whose rather negative collective response was leaked, had to acknowledge many positive aspects of the phenomenon, and concludes that “if it [Summorum Pontificum] honors a principle of reality, then a tireless work of unity is always necessary.” What the French bishops had in mind, to assist this “work of unity,” was things like reconciling the calendar and lectionary, issues which Pope Francis has not broached.

Read the whole things there.

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5 comments:

  1. Morale? Or am I missing something?

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    1. Yeah, in this case I think you are right the image should read "The beatings will continue until moral*e* improves!"
      Simple change on meme generator.

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  2. Young Traditional Catholics - however ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofhoyIHs0gw

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  3. I cannot see how Pope Francis can say that traditional Catholics do not accept Vat2. We might not AGREE with it but, certainly in this household, we attend BOTH forms of Holy Mass - always providing that the priest doesn't wear roller skates (as was seen in 1 Youtube item). What does need to be said is that when travelling abroad (no, not the Cooks Tour argument) one cannot even follow the Mass in a missal as there are so many variations (& that can apply in the UK too). I recall the days (& I'm 83) when one could attend Mass anywhere in the world &, using the missal translation, follow the Mass throughout & gain the necessary benefits which, certainly I, don't get when I have little or no idea of what the priest is doing. We were once the "One, Holy & Apostolic Church" using a universal language to worship our Lord & God whilst (IMHO) we now seem to be on the road to Babel. God grant us a unifying & holy Pope.

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  4. I've only one personal opinion to offer about the Apostolic Letter "Traditionis Custodes": let us not imagine that it was any way provoked by the average attitude of an attendee of the TLM towards Vatican II (since when did Pope Francis care about the opinions of laypeople?).

    The issue can only be understood in the context of the history of Europe over the last two centuries when the Church came into conflict with the rising liberal states over the issue of separation of Church and state.

    When Pope Francis speaks of adherence to Vatican II he means adherence to its central programme; which was a repudiation of the traditional claims of the Church in relation to the secular state as articulated by the Popes of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

    The main supporters of this programme were the secularised Catholics (lay & clerical) of Western Europe. Vatican II was their project (nobody else's), born out of their desire to be reconciled with the anti clerical liberal states & take their place in polite society. Those who seek to implement Vatican II regard the TLM as a stumbling block by the very fact that it existed before the Council: therefore, they take it for granted that anyone who adheres to it is hostile to the post Conciliar reforms.

    That is my view of this event: the attempted suppression of the TLM has a theological component but it is driven by politics.

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