This is the specific part of the interview dedicated to it (our transcript):
We have often published the great texts of Bishop Rob Mutsaerts (Auxiliary of s-Hertogenbosch /Bois-le-Duc), Netherlands. He has just published (in English and Dutch) an open letter to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the need for concern for the salvation of souls amidst the confusion of synodality and other trends.
Holy Father,
With reverence for the office entrusted to you as successor of Saint Peter, and in communion with the Church which Christ built upon the apostles, I address you with this open letter. I don't do so lightly. What leads me to speak these words publicly is a concern that ultimately transcends every other ecclesial consideration: the salvation of souls. Salus animarum suprema lex — the salvation of souls is the supreme law. My question is a simple and earnest one: does the synodal process actually help bring souls closer to Christ and to eternal salvation? That is the decisive question for me.
Recorded for Father John Zuhlsdorf and his readers, it is a message of hope:
The recent attempt of tens of thousands of migrants to illegally enter Spanish territory via the sea at Ceuta has caused both political upheaval and sensational commentary. It led to immense criticism of Spanish Socialist prime minister Sanchez, not just by the domestic right-wing opposition but across the EU as a whole. Even the Trump administration joined in on the attacks. Even the fact that over 50 people died while attempting this illegal mass crossing has not resulted in overly sympathetic portrayals or criticisms of strict border policy.
August 7, 2026
Italian journalist D. Murgia recently published results of the 2016 deliberations within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), that shed important new light on the Vatican’s handling of the alleged apparitions at Medjugorje.
For, indeed, the reform of the Mass was accompanied by a profound overhaul of all the other sacraments—baptism, confirmation, marriage, holy orders, penance, and extreme unction (the last two renamed reconciliation and the anointing of the sick). And the changes to these were no less profound, no less meaningful, no less consequential.
More than two-thirds of the members of the College of Cardinals are said to possess little or no working knowledge of Latin. At first glance, this may appear to be little more than a curiosity for classical scholars. In reality, however, it may reveal one of the deepest crises confronting the Catholic Church today. For when the Church loses the language in which her faith, her liturgy, and her canon law have been articulated for centuries, she inevitably begins to lose direct access to her own tradition.
A truly monumental chapter in Sydney's religious history unfolded recently at St Michael's Parish in Belfield. On Wednesday, July 1, 2026, hundreds of faithful gathered to witness and partake in Sydney’s first-ever Solemn High Mass in the Traditional Croatian Glagolitic Rite.* Held on the Feast of the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord, the atmosphere was charged with deep reverence as the community united to revive a centuries-old liturgical tradition on Australian soil. (Full video below:)
But What Is the "State of Necessity"?
I wish to dwell on a concept that is frequently invoked in an ambiguous and contradictory manner — above all to justify the episcopal consecrations that took place at Écône on July 1, 2026: the "state of necessity."
[As always, guest pieces do not necessarily represent Rorate's position.]
Fr. Barré and the Roman policy towards the SSPX
by John Lamont
Fr. Clément Barré, of the Archdiocese of Toulouse, has criticized the ecclesiology of the SSPX in an article whose translation has been published by Rorate Caeli (The SSPX's Ecclesiology of Substitution: Part of the Whole, or a new Whole? — And the Problem with a Crisis that Never Ends).
And They Know It.
One of the most historically significant events of the last century was the fall of communism. In 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. And yet the ideology sustaining Soviet communism had already collapsed under Brezhnev in the 1970s and had consolidated that collapse under Andropov beginning in 1982. By those years, no one believed in the Soviet paradise any longer — not even the apparatchiks. The machinery nonetheless kept running until 1991, operated by a committee of gerontocrats who resisted the inevitable. There were twenty years of lag between the death of legitimacy and the death of the machinery. This is a historical regularity: systems survive fifteen to twenty years beyond their own legitimacy. They advance like the light of a dead star.
The following essay by Wolfram Schrems (M.A. in Theology, M.A. in Philosophy), a catechist and pro-life advocate in Vienna, takes issue with the suppression of the Old Mass and the discrimination against traditional believers by the Vatican and bishops, with reference to Peter Kwasniewski’s work The Once and Future Roman Rite: Returning to the Traditional Latin Liturgy after Seventy Years of Exile (TAN Books, 2022) of which he is reviewing the German edition, Der alte und künftige Römische Ritus—Die Rückkehr der traditionellen lateinischen Messe nach 70 Jahren des Exils (St. Stephani Verlags, 2023). The original German of the review may be found here.
“At that time, when Jesus entered into the boat, His disciples followed Him: and behold a great tempest arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered with waves.” (Matt. 8:23-27)
To reach the eternal shores of Heaven we have to cross the sea of this world. His Majesty taught us that the world will be against us. That is why the Gospel indicates that the disciples followed Him into the barque of St. Peter, which symbolizes the Church, after which a storm arose. Our journey to Heaven is very much like a sea voyage, meaning there will be moments of up and down on the high seas… times of calm and times of storm… times of hot and times of cold… enemies lurking about (even inside the barque itself) trying to sink or corrupt the ship… sharks circling in the waters… and so on.
Introduction
On 29 July 2026, Rorate Cæli published a lengthy guest piece on the canonical status of the Society of Saint Pius X, written under the pen name “Brother Linus Pio” and presented as the fruit of several years of research. It is offered as a monograph. It concludes that the Society is schismatic, that its sacraments are criminal and sacrilegious, that its Masses do not satisfy the Sunday precept, and that Archbishop Lefebvre taught heresy.
Fundamental Law of Vatican City State
31 July 2026
LEO XIV
The need to take into account new requirements of governance and certain important normative modifications that have occurred over the course of recent years prompts the issuance of a new Fundamental Law.
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| Archbishop Cordileone Celebrating the Traditional Mass |
From his interview to British Catholic periodical “The Tablet,” the words of Cardinal Roche are peremptory:
“But no, Pope Leo is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum.”
Meaning, the Traditional Latin Mass will remain in the Egypt of Captivity (Traditionis) and never return to the Promised Land of Liberty (Summorum).
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| Saint Jerome, El Greco (1590) The Frick Collection |
The recently published book on St. Jerome, written by Dom Basil Nixen, OSB, of the monastery of San Benedetto in Monte in Norcia, Italy, certainly “reckons with” St. Jerome but in an unusual way. Its title is The Last Communion of St. Jerome.
[As usual, Rorate publishes different views and perspectives, in order to promote healthy debate. Publishing a guest piece does not mean editorial agreement, or disagreement, with it.]
The Canonical Status of the Society of Saint Pius X: A Theological and Canonical Assessment
by Brother Linus Pio (pen name of a Religious Brother)
Introduction
They are everywhere in his newest propaganda piece: they are good, they are generous, they are kind. And, he emphasizes, they are "celibate" (God only knows how he would know that...)
In 20 Years, 91 Monasteries Have Closed — None Among Those Whose Office Is Exclusively in Latin
In 2026 alone — a year not yet finished — the Grande-Trappe de Soligny (Orne), the Carmel of Compiègne (Oise), and Notre-Dame du Port du Salut (Mayenne) have all closed.
1969? 1975?
No, this is the Year of Our Lord 2026, and this is still going on in the New Mass of Paul VI -- the liturgy that Francis called, "the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite." (Traditionis custodes).
On July 18 [recte: 16], 2021, Pope Francis published the Motu Proprio Traditionis Custodes. Five years later, numerous voices are calling for the revision or suppression of that document, or are pleading for the restoration of Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum. The urgency of such a measure is no longer in doubt, at a time when the Society of Saint Pius X has been struck by sanctions from the Church for having proceeded with the consecration of four bishops without a pontifical mandate. In France, however, the bishops are approaching this question with great caution. The Lex Orandi Union today calls upon them to abrogate the effects of Traditionis Custodes through concrete acts.
A guest article by the Canon of Shaftesbury. [This contribution expresses the opinions of its author and does not represent the official position of Rorate Cæli.]
Introduction
The superiors of the Society of Saint Pius X have argued that there exists a state of emergency in the Catholic Church. Those who deny this claim, who insist that all is well, that the concerns of the Society are exaggerated or unfounded, have, to employ a metaphor, buried their heads in the sand. The evidence is not obscure; it is visible in parishes, in chanceries, in synodal assembly halls, and in the documents these assemblies produce.
It is the duty of every Christian to maintain coherence between words and deeds. But what happens when deeds contradict words? When, for example, one publicly proclaims respect for and obedience to the Roman Pontiff and then, in fact, publicly defies him before the entire Christian people — as occurred at Écône with the episcopal consecrations of July 1, 2026?
On June 16th, Pope Leo XIV made a statement outside his residence at Castel Gandolfo concerning the Society of Saint Pius X, which was then preparing to consecrate four bishops without a pontifical mandate. The Pope affirmed that this decision grieved him, while concluding that he intended to press forward. "If they make that choice," he said, "it saddens me deeply, but we must move forward."
Move forward toward what?
There will be a pontifical high at the traditional pilgrimage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem July 18th.
More details below:
A guest article by a priest who writes under the name Fr. Romano Tommasi.
The current prefect of the formerly known Roman Inquisition (Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) has publicly highlighted his biblical studies and promoted his reputation as an academic, based upon his asserted thesis work at the Gregorian University.
Facing God, Rooted in Christ: On Tradition and Orthodoxy
The always remembered Pope Benedict XVI — whom it is quite possible will one day be declared a Doctor of the Church — sought, through his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007, on the two uses of the one Roman Rite in its ordinary and extraordinary forms, to liberalize the celebration of the Mass commonly called "traditional," "Tridentine," "of Saint Pius V," or "the Mass of all time." He did so with the aim of contributing to liturgical peace and out of the respect owed to an ancient and venerable usage. In this way, any priest could celebrate the "Latin Mass" without need of special permissions and without risk of ideologically motivated reprisals from certain bishops.
Here is the Communiqué of the SSPX General House:
Communiqué of 13 July 2026.
Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine Abbey Finds a New Community: The Benedictines of Le Barroux Breathe New Life into a Thousand-Year-Old Monastery
This Saturday, July 11th, Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine Abbey officially receives a new monastic community. For Dom Louis-Marie, Abbot of Le Barroux, the decision is above all the fruit of spiritual discernment: "From the beginning, it has been a matter of following the signs of heaven and the signs of the Lord."
On June 24, 2023, feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and coincidentally* the first anniversary of Dobbs, the Supreme Court decision overturning the aberration of Roe v. Wade (which had made abortion a constitutional right), a Catholic church was the object of the wrath of arsonists in Orlando, Florida.
It was the Incarnation Catholic Church, a parish in the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter that came into the full communion of the Catholic Church after Anglicanorum Coetibus.
Archbishop Pozzo: In 2018, It Was the Society That Refused the Agreement
