Bergoglio expressed a “wish”, but won’t require it (for now?)…
Francis Wants Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) to Concelebrate Annual Novus Ordo Chrism Mass
On Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Superior General of the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), accompanied by French district superior and the German seminary rector, met with ‘Pope’ Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) for a private audience in the Vatican. A gallery of photos of the visit is available here.
The FSSP was established in 1988, facilitated by ‘Pope’ John Paul II, for those members of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) who wanted to continue “to celebrate Divine Worship according to the guidelines of immemorial tradition” but disassociate from the SSPX after the unlawful episcopal consecrations of Abp. Marcel Lefebvre, which John Paul called a “schismatic act” (Ecclesia Dei, n. 3).
During the audience, the false pope expressed his “wish” (but not order or command) that the priests of the FSSP concelebrate the Chrism Mass (an annual event during Holy Week) together with the diocesan bishop to demonstrate their ecclesiastical communion. This would be, of course, a Chrism Mass in the Novus Ordo rite (“New Mass”) established by ‘Pope’ Paul VI in 1969, a rite which the FSSP abhors, at least de facto.
A day after the audience, the FSSP released an official press release, but this statement did not include the somewhat explosive information regarding the Bergoglian “wish” for the once-a-year concelebration of the Novus Ordo Missae. This information was, however, included in an internal FSSP memo that accidentally made its way into the public. Both the Fraternity’s email with the official press release and the email with the confidential internal memo look rather similar so that it is easy to mistake the one for the other.
Here is a link to the official public press release issued by the Fraternity on Mar. 1, 2024:
- Official communiqué of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter: “Audience with Pope Francis” (FSSP.org)
The following is a screenshot of the internal memo — marked specifically “not for distribution outside the FSSP” — as it was accidentally posted on Twitter by a well-known journalist who is a person of integrity and who deleted the message again after he had realized his mistake (he shall remain nameless here, to protect him). For anyone concerned that it may not be morally licit to publish this, please be assured that we cleared this with a priest before publication. All circumstances considered, it is permissible.
For those unable to view the image, here is the text in full (formatting given):
To the members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter
(not for distribution outside the FSSP)Fribourg, February 29, 2024
Audience with Pope Francis
Following a request from the Fraternity of St. Peter to the Pope, expressed in letter dated December 8, 2023 from Frs. Benoît Paul-Joseph and Vincent Ribeton, with the approval of Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, the Holy Father replied on December 12, 2023, inviting our confrères to come and meet with him. He received them in private audience at the Vatican on Thursday, February 29, 2024.
The meeting, in which the Pope showed a fatherly care throughout, was an opportunity for them to express to the Holy Father their deep gratitude for the decree of February 11, 2022, by which the Pope confirmed the liturgical specificity of the Fraternity of St. Peter, but also to inform him of the difficulties encountered in its application. Fr. Komorowski informed the Holy Father that the decree had been signed by the Pope on the very day of the FSSP’s consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, at the end of a common novena of prayer. The Pope commented, raising his eyes and pointing his index finger to Heaven: It is from God!”.
The Pope was very understanding regarding the difficulties encountered In various dioceses, particularly in France. He rejoiced at the fruitfulness of the Fraternity of St. Peter in terms of vocations and was deeply impressed by the vitality of our Houses of Formation. He invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more through its own proper charism and the efforts of each of its members, expressing his wish – while respecting the freedom of each individual priest – for the concelebration of the Chrism Mass, or at least for the presence and Eucharistic Communion of priests at this ceremony. He encouraged continued communication with the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The audience lasted around 25 minutes.
An official public press release with photos will be posted on our websites shortly.
Clearly, the key sentence in the above memo is the following:
He invited the Fraternity of St. Peter to continue to build up ecclesial communion ever more through its own proper charism and the efforts of each of its members, expressing his wish – while respecting the freedom of each individual priest – for the concelebration of the Chrism Mass, or at least for the presence and Eucharistic Communion of priests at this ceremony.
So the ‘Pope’ wants the FSSP priests to show up for the Novus Ordo Chrism Mass and join in the concelebration behind the altar with the bishop and the diocese’s other priests. That would be a sight to behold!
As for the stipulation that Francis wishes at least “the presence and Eucharistic Communion of [FSSP] priests at this ceremony” of the Chrism Mass, this suggests that even if they choose not to concelebrate, they should at least attend it and receive ‘Holy Communion’ there. Or does Bergoglio simply mean that the FSSP would demonstrate their “Eucharistic Communion” with the diocesan Novus Ordo bishop and the other presbyters by their (mere) presence there? It does not seem likely. The natural reading is that he wants at the very least for them to receive Novus Ordo ‘communion’. However, he will not strictly require them to do so, since he “respect[s] the freedom of each individual priest” — at least for the time being.
It should not be surprising nor unreasonable that the man the FSSP recognizes as the Pope of the Catholic Church should desire its priests to concelebrate, or at least be present at, the Chrism Mass of the local bishop once a year. Nevertheless, granting Francis’ wish would pose a big problem for the Fraternity.
From the beginning it has been the FSSP’s distinguishing mark — in emphatic contrast with that of the Lefebvrist SSPX — that they are a group ‘loyal to the Holy Father’, in ‘full communion’ with Rome. At the same time, they are no less committed to the exclusive celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass (actually, they mean the John XXIII Missal of 1962, but close enough), so that Francis forbidding or restricting their use of said missal would put them in a real moral conundrum: Obey and continue to flaunt loyalty to the ‘Pope’, while compromising with the Novus Ordo? Or, alternatively, stick to their guns liturgically and thus break with the ‘Pope’, which is precisely what they have always criticized the SSPX for doing?
There is no way out of this conundrum for them without compromising in some fashion. For that reason, they are scared to death of the prospect of Bergoglio taking away ‘their Mass’, or requiring them to mix and mingle with the detested Novus Ordo, which they know is but the liturgical expression of the Vatican II Modernism they so oppose.
Francis’ publication of the decree Traditionis Custodes (2021), which gradually phases out the permitted use of the Traditional Mass, sent shivers down their spine, and they all breathed a sigh of relief when Francis assured them in person, and also by decree, that the FSSP was exempt from it. The facial expression the apostate Jesuit made when posing for their photo, however, did not inspire confidence in his trustworthiness:
Either way, of course, there is a big price to pay for the FSSP to be allowed to continue offering Mass according to the 1962 Missal. What price is that?
Look at the official photos of the meeting between Francis and Fr. Komorowski, Fr. Paul-Joseph, and Fr. Ribeton. These three know very well that the man sitting across the desk from them detests pre-Vatican II Catholicism like no one else (for details, see our topical page on’Pope’ Francis here). Like a mad tyrant, he has been trying to suppress, phase out, mock, and condemn not only the Traditional Latin Mass in dioceses but the magnificent perennial Catholic Tradition, as well as the ‘Old Church’ it represents. They know he is doing all he can to homosexualize the church, to cause a paradigm shift in theology, to revolutionize Catholic morality, to permit distribution of ‘holy communion’ to unrepentant public sinners, to deny the exclusivity of the Catholic Church for salvation, and even to deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only Way to Heaven. They know about his heresies, his blasphemies, his sacrileges. They know he does not try to lead souls to heaven but is leading countless ones to hell. Yet, they sit there smiling, begging him not to take away ‘their Mass’.
Francis is happy to oblige, but only, it appears, at the price of their silence. Or does anyone recall the FSSP issuing any kind of official condemnation of anything Francis has taught or legislated, said or done? True, certain individual FSSP priests might criticize something in a sermon, but that’s on an individual basis to a very limited audience. The FSSP as such, it seems, offers no resistance to, or critique of, the ever more intense onslaught on Catholic doctrine and practice at the hand of ‘Pope’ Francis.
It is a pitiful spectacle to behold.
Once again we must ask: What game is Francis playing with the Fraternity of St. Peter?
Image sources: FSSP (screenshot) / Twitter / FSSP (cropped)
Licenses: fair use / fair use / fair use
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