Theology has consequences…
Semi-Trads Alarmed: Francis surveys Diocesan Bishops on Summorum Pontificum Latin Mass Culture
The well-connected and journalistically-reliable Rorate Caeli blog reports today that the Unholy See, under the direction of the apostate Jesuit Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”), has sent a survey to all his Roman rite “bishops” in the world to report on the application of Benedict XVI’s 2007 motu proprio letter Summorum Pontificum, which essentially granted all priests of the Vatican II Church the right to celebrate Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962, commonly (though not entirely correctly) known as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”
Rorate Caeli has posted a copy of the actual survey and its cover letter, dated Mar. 7, 2020. The deadline for returning the questionnaire is given as July 31, 2020. Rorate comments:
Quite strangely, now, 13 years after Summorum, when it has become a permanent part of the life of the Church in many places throughout the world, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), now responsible for Summorum, has sent out a new survey for bishops on the application of Summorum Pontificum, because, “His Holiness Pope Francis wishes to be informed about the current application of the aforementioned document.”
It could be ominous. The questions seem neutral, but, once one reads them carefully, they may indicate serious consequences.
(“BREAKING – IMPORTANT – Summorum Under Threat? – Holy See sends survey to Bishops on Summorum Pontificum [Exclusive]”, Rorate Caeli, Apr. 23, 2020)
Indeed, an attentive review of what is being asked in the survey makes clear where this is going. There are nine questions in total, including the following:
- What is the situation in your diocese with respect to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite?
- If the extraordinary form is practiced there, does it respond to a true pastoral need or is it promoted by a single priest?
- Are the norms and conditions established by Summorum Pontificum respected?
- Does it occur to you that, in your diocese, the ordinary form has adopted elements of the extraordinary form?
The scan of the document sent to the world’s Novus Ordo bishops can be viewed here:
- Cover Page
- Page 1 (Questions 1-5)
- Page 2 (Questions 6-9)
The letter was duly signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Destruction of the Faith, Mr. Luis Ladaria, S.J.
As a “source close to the Vatican” told Church Militant: “When the CDF has compiled what we must expect will be an overwhelmingly negative appraisal of the Latin Mass from progressive or neutral bishops, the pontiff will put the ball in their court and say that it was a CDF recommendation to abolish the Old Rite.” That’s how the Frankster rolls!
What will the recognize-and-resist traditionalists do then? Francis is probably just waiting for “Pope Emeritus” Benedict XVI to die, and once that happens, he can revoke Summorum Pontificum, replace it with different legislation, or at least place significant restrictions on it. Three years ago, we heard first rumors about such a plan:
- “Vatican rumblings: Pope Francis aiming to end Latin Mass permission” (Life Site)
- “Is Francis planning to rescind Summorum Pontificum?” (Novus Ordo Watch)
It is no surprise that many semi-trads who refuse to go the disobedient route of the SSPX — who are essentially doing their own thing regardless of what the “Pope” says or does — are shaken by this development. Without their beloved Summorum Pontificum, without the free and wide use of the Latin Mass, what do they have? All that is left for them is the stark, naked, unmitigated reality of the Vatican II religion, which most of them — let’s be honest — detest to the core.
Their “indult Mass”, as it used to be called from 1984 until 2007, and as it is still often called on this web site, is the one thing that has kept them from going insane in the Vatican II Church, because it has masked the reality of the religion of which they are actually members; it has allowed them to live the illusion that one can be a Catholic in a Modernist church and in communion with a non-Catholic hierarchy.
The “indult Mass” has been the proverbial lipstick on the New Church pig. Take that away from them, and their chimera of being Catholic in a non-Catholic church vanishes. Thus their position is exposed as being a house built on sand: “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof” (Mt 7:27).
Francis’ contempt for the Traditional Mass and even the venerable ancient Communion fast is well known, not to mention his utter hatred for the Roman Catholic religion (amply documented here). He has stated before that the liturgical revolution of Paul VI’s Novus Ordo Missae is “irreversible”.
His strange kid-gloves treatment of the Society of St. Pius X, by contrast, probably has a political reason: It has been surmised that he may end up getting the SSPX back on board, without any conditions, and outsource all Latin Masses only to them, suppressing all the other “indult” congregations and societies. This way he would not lose his “Latin Massers” but would have them all under one umbrella organization, which would make it a lot easier to supervise, control, and manipulate. That is speculation, but it is not without foundation.
But even if nothing should change with regard to Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, it must be emphasized that that document was by no means the wonderful gift from Heaven that so many semi-traditionalists have believed it to be. One who dispassionately analyzes the document finds that it is theologically unacceptable and ultimately subversive of its purported goal:
The recognize-and-resist traditionalists are hand-cuffed by their own false theology. At the root of it all is their stubborn refusal to let go of the idea that Francis and his five predecessors of infelicitous memory are true Popes. Thus they have maneuvered themselves into being at the mercy of manifest Modernists, whom they have allowed to rule over them by recognizing them as legitimate Catholic authorities.
If Francis is a true Pope and he rescinds Summorum Pontificum, their liturgical goose is cooked, for the traditional Catholic teaching on the Pope’s authority in this matter is clear:
…the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the worship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify those he judges to require modification. Bishops, for their part, have the right and duty carefully to watch over the exact observance of the prescriptions of the sacred canons respecting divine worship. Private individuals, therefore, even though they be clerics, may not be left to decide for themselves in these holy and venerable matters, involving as they do the religious life of Christian society along with the exercise of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and worship of God; concerned as they are with the honor due to the Blessed Trinity, the Word Incarnate and His august mother and the other saints, and with the salvation of souls as well. For the same reason no private person has any authority to regulate external practices of this kind, which are intimately bound up with Church discipline and with the order, unity and concord of the Mystical Body and frequently even with the integrity of Catholic faith itself.
(Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei, n. 58; underlining added.)
The idea that Pope St. Pius V’s Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum made the Traditional Mass unchangeable because he declared it to be valid “in perpetuity” is a myth. When Pope Clement XIV suppressed the Jesuits in 1773, he likewise did so “to all eternity”, but the suppression lasted only until 1814, when Pope Pius VII restored the order. The reason for this lies in the fact that all Popes have equal authority, so no Pope can bind another in matters of ecclesiastical discipline. The same authority that grants, can also revoke; and the same authority that revokes, can also grant. Soon the semi-trads may be finding this out the hard way.
If Benedict XVI and Francis are both valid Popes, then obviously Francis can revoke what Benedict once granted. Denying that Francis has the authority to revoke Summorum Pontificum is tantamount to denying that Benedict had the authority to establish it in the first place. They are two sides of the same coin. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
What we are witnessing here is, as sedevacantist Bp. Donald Sanborn would say, (theo-)logical chickens coming home to roost — or maybe geese. Accepting a public apostate as the Vicar of Christ has consequences. People who recognize manifest anti-Catholics as true Catholic Popes, will necessarily suffer the consequences of their absurdity.
So, yes, the Novus Ordo Church’s “Latin Massers” have every reason to be worried. They have placed themselves at the mercy of Modernists, and thus the Modernists have the power to put an end to their “Catholicism corner” in the Modernist cathedral.
Thus, a heartfelt appeal to all semi-traditionalists who may be reading this: It’s time to end the cognitive dissonance! Quit recognizing anti-Catholic usurpers as lawful Catholic authorities! Dump Bergoglio and the entire Vatican II religion!
And join us in the wilderness.
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