The 2009 letter included this remarkable paragraph:
A synthesis of the commentary of Cornelius à Lapide' (1567 - 1637) on the Passion of Our Lord from St. Matthew's Gospel compiled by a priest and friend of Rorate Caeli.
Gethsemane
Will France, through Cardinal Aveline, be chosen by Pope Leo XIV as the training ground of how he plans to proceed with Traditionis custodes in the rest of the world?
Due to the relevance of the whole piece, we have tried to present it as faithfully as possible below:
Tridentine Mass: Will France Find the Solution to the "Traditional Question" in the Church?
by Serre Verweij
It is official. As predicted, Archbishop Rudelli, the relatively conservative nuncio in Colombia, is replacing the scandal-ridden Archbishop Peña Parra as "Sostituto" at the Secretariat of State. Peña Parra has been exiled from the Curia and appointed nuncio to Italy. Rudelli now takes his place as the second most powerful figure in the Secretariat, right under Cardinal Parolin. While he drew some criticism for using boilerplate synodal language during his time in Colombia, Rudelli has otherwise been firmly conservative — his doctoral thesis was on the theology of marriage, and in it he defended both its indissolubility and its openness to life.
Jerusalem, March 29, 2026
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
may the Lord give you peace.
Over the next few days in this Holy Week, we would like to offer our Readers a few meditations focussing on the Betrayal of Our Lord Jesus and His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. These are a synthesis of the commentary of Cornelius à Lapide' (1567 - 1637) on the Passion of Our Lord from St. Matthew's Gospel and were compiled by a priest and friend of Rorate Caeli.
This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.
The full press release of the unbelievable incident is from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem itself, in a joint statement with the Custody of the Holy Land:
Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).
As we set our gaze upon him who was crucified for us, we can see a crucified humanity. In his wounds, we see the hurts of so many women and men today. In his last cry to the Father, we hear the weeping of those who are crushed, who have no hope, who are sick and who are alone. Above all, we hear the painful groans of all those who are oppressed by violence and are victims of war.
Christ, King of Peace, cries out again from his cross: God is love! Have mercy! Lay down your weapons! Remember that you are brothers and sisters!
You are among the few countries in the world to have the Catholic faith as a state religion.
How Pope Leo is Reshuffling the Curia: Musical Chairs and Power Games
Randazzo named Prefect for Legislative Texts as modernists are sidelined
by Serre Verweij
Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Anthony Randazzo, formerly the Bishop of Broken Bay, as the new Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. He succeeds Archbishop Iannone, who was recently promoted to Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops—a role previously held by Pope Leo himself. Both Pope Leo and Iannone are seasoned canon lawyers with a history of opposing the German "Synodal Path" and resisting progressive attempts to undermine canon law in Rome. Randazzo appears to be a perfect fit for this emerging orthodox team.
The heads of the Ordinariates established by Benedict XVI under "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" were recently received by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and a long document of the DDF on the continuing relevance of the Anglican Patrimony for the Catholic Church was published.
The document is the following:
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| [Cathedral of the Ordinariate for North America, Houston] |
Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as
Lived in the Ordinariates Established Under
the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus
24 March 2026
During the Plenary Meeting of the Bishop Ordinaries of the Personal Ordinariates established under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus (2009), held at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1 to 3 March 2026, His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect, invited the Bishops to describe the lived experience of the patrimony at the heart of their Ordinariates, as it relates to how they have received and integrated elements that came from the Anglican tradition.
The Pope sent a message, by way of his Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin which included a paragraph on the matter -- emphasis added below:
Dear Brethren,
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The Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord stands as the ultimate ontological turning point for the human race. Within the liturgical framework of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, this day is treated with a gravity that acknowledges the sheer magnitude of the miracle being commemorated.¹’² It is not simply a historical memory of a conversation in Nazareth. Rather, it is a ritualized entry into the moment when the eternal Word of God first touched the finite reality of human flesh.³’⁴ For those of us living in a world defined by constant digital noise and internal distraction, this feast provides a necessary architecture for understanding how to listen, how to hear, and ultimately how to heed a divine invitation.⁵
[Update: Papal message on the matter]
From semi-official French Catholic daily La Croix (excerpt on the Traditional Mass only):
Geopolitics, liturgy, education, and the martyrs of Algeria on the agenda of the bishops' Plenary Assembly in Lourdes
By Céline Hoyeau
Published March 24, 2026, at 6:50 AM
…
Liturgy on the assembly's agenda
Arouca Press has published the biography of the great Michael Davies, one of the most consequential leaders of the struggle for Tradition and the Traditional Rites of the Church, written by none other than his friend Leo Darroch. It is a must-have for all those interested in the history of our movement and our times.
More information below:
For so many people who were enduring the trauma of the years of drastic change after the Second Vatican Council, Michael Davies' books and lectures were like manna from heaven and uplifted and educated many lay people and clergy. In his research and exposition of the real facts on the liturgy and architecture, he shed a great deal of light on matters that many in high places preferred to keep hidden. This may well be his lasting legacy to the Church, the provision of books and papers that rallied the faithful in a time of unprecedented upheaval that could truly be called one of the dark ages of the Church.
The Church is in need not of change, whether or not for its own sake. We have suffered spiritually under the tyranny of nothing but constant change for over sixty years with concomitant chaos and confusion. The Church has need of stability. Souls are at stake.
The contents of the letter are translated by us below, followed by a translation of the full interview granted by Dom Kemlin to the local news radio. (At the end, you will find the original images of the letter in French.)
+ PAX. ABBAYE
SAINT-PIERRE
DE SOLESMES
Dear Father,
I write to you in Lent, a season not only of penitence but also a season of reflection, reflection certainly on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also a time of personal reflection on one’s life. For me that reflection this Lent focuses on my priesthood of forty- two years. The two adjectives that come to mind at this time to describe my priesthood are “difficult” and “glorious”. To have been ordained a priest in the 1980s and to try to be a priest, as traditionally understood, was quite difficult. It was a time when I was stripped of much that I love, but that stripping away was necessary to understand the glory of the priesthood that has made me the happy man that I am today.
The following article was written for the fourth anniversary of Praedicate Evangelium by the Canon of Shaftesbury, a judicial vicar in a major archdiocese.
A gathering of the Presidents of all Conferences of Bishops is convened for this next October in Rome, in order to address the urgent needs of families -- made today, on the Feast of Saint Joseph:
Message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia (19 March 2026)
by Serre Verweij
Pope Leo has accepted the resignation of both Cardinal Sako and Bishop Emanuel Shaleta on the same day. The former the head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the latter a bishop of the same rite who is in charge of all Catholics in the Western part of the USA and who has been charged with financial crimes (though he has pled not guilty). He is also accused of having frequented a brothel connected to human trafficking.
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| SSPX Holy Thursday Mass- Credit Latin Mass Photographer |
Pope Leo has appointed Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia (68 years old) as the new apostolic nuncio for the USA. He will be replacing Cardinal Christophe Pierre who recently turned 80 and had served in the post since 2016. This change of guard comes at a time that the USA has become embroiled in controversial international conflicts, while the American episcopacy will see a significant turnover that will reshape the church for years, if not decades. After nearly ten years of Pierre, what change in era can we expect under Caccia?
Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent
Cardinal Joseph Zen
The SSPX Affair
Faced with the SSPX situation, it seems that even traditionalists are divided. This is very understandable — there are two things to consider. A) A schism must be avoided at all costs, because it will cause serious and lasting damage to the Church; but on the other hand, B) one must also respect a serious matter of conscience: "How can anyone be compelled to follow teachings that clearly deny the Holy Tradition of the Church?"
We thought it would be convenient to have all texts of the words of Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, of Trondheim, Norway, for the Pope's Lenten Retreat in one page, for future historical reference.
They all come from the Bishop's own page (in eleven separate installments) and no words have been altered or edited; links have all been kept active.
Finances and loyalists: Leo's risk
"In the sacred chambers, the silence of the Curia's spiritual exercises contrasts with the noise of rumors about upcoming appointments. Leo XIV is getting closer and closer to the end of his first year as pope. With the heavy task of concluding a Jubilee begun by his predecessor behind him, the sporty pope intends to start shaping his team. However, his will be a soft revolution because he aims to avoid any signs of a total break with the recent past. In this, he is helped by the natural expiry of some important appointments. The finance sector has become one of the most important for the government of the Holy See, and it is on this front that the Pontiff will pursue one of the most obvious changes. We can anticipate, in fact, that Carmelo Barbagallo, president of the Financial Supervision and Information Authority (ASIF) since 2019, will be leaving. On February 28, he will blow out 70 candles, a fateful milestone for the departure of lay people in power in the Curia. The Pope has not planned an extension for him. The succession “at home” sees Federico Antellini Russo in the lead, who has been director with the function of vice president since the end of 2024.
The Mother of God and salvation
by John Lamont
Faithful Catholics have rightly been outraged by the doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis published on November 4, 2025 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The document was signed by Cardinal Victor Fernández, the Prefect of the Dicastery, and its publication was ordered by Pope Leo XIV. In his address to the Dicastery on January 29th 2026, Pope Leo praised and endorsed the document, describing it as 'the doctrinal Note Mater Populi fidelis, on certain Marian titles referring to Mary's cooperation in the work of salvation (4 November 2025), which encourages popular Marian devotion, deepening its biblical and theological foundations, while offering precise and important clarifications for Mariology'.
