RORATE CÆLI

The Church of the Nihilists – guest article by Vigilius

Rorate welcomes once again a guest article by Vigilius, a traditional priest in Germany. The Anglophone reader will instantly conjure up the "Feiges" within his own local hierarchy... –PAK

The Church of the Nihilists

Vigilius

Magdeburg Bishop Gerhard Feige, along with his colleagues Bätzing and Marx, is one of those figures in whom the spirit of the German Church is particularly evident. More precisely: the spirit of that ecclesiastical establishment that has been at the helm of power for decades and firmly controls all ecclesiastical or church-related institutions, such as ordinariates, seminaries, faculties, educational institutions, and publications. It is remarkable how closely the psychological characteristics, as well as the activity and linguistic profiles, of the relevant officials—whether full-time or honorary—mirror their ideological outlook. To get a sense of their core beliefs, one need only take a look at any of the various religious magazines, such as Christ in der Gegenwart, Herder-Korrespondenz, Stimmen der Zeit, Publik-Forum, or katholisch.de [these would be like America, National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, Crux, U.S. Catholic - ed.]; if one is familiar with just one issue of any of these magazines, one is familiar with the entire intellectual cosmos of this well-nourished, hermetically self-contained milieu.

What essentially defines this type of personality is the nihilism that Nietzsche defines as “the devaluation of the supreme values of the past”. Nietzsche himself in fact associates these “supreme values” with the Christian religion.

According to Nietzsche, the “greatest recent event” consists in our having “killed” God, which, according to Nietzsche, means that “belief in the Christian God has become implausible.” One might interpret this as though Nietzsche, with his “God is dead” declaration, does not intend to make an objective statement about the existence or non-existence of God, but only about the state of our faith. In fact, however, the context is more complex. One must understand it in order to grasp the essence of the nihilism that has gripped European—indeed, the entire Western—civilization, and with it the Roman Catholic Church.

Dr. Kwasniewski's Lectures in Chicago (Sep. 30), Pittsburgh (Oct. 1-2), and Indianapolis (Oct. 4)

I am pleased to announce here at NLM my upcoming Midwest Lecture Tour (taking Midwest in a rather broad sense). Click on the images to see the details.

September 30 • Burr Ridge, Illinois (Chicago area): "Why Divine Woship Needs the Power of Non-Verbal Language"

October 1 • Ambridge, Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area): "Exploring the Common Riches of the Byzantine Rite and the Roman Rite"

October 2 • Catholic Identity Conference (Pittsburgh)*: "The Traditional Latin Mass: What Truly Unites All the Clains"

(To register for the CIC, visit this link.)

October 4 • Carmel, Indiana (Indianapolis area)*: "Not Peacenik and Bambi-Lover, but Mystic of the Mass and Defender of the Eucharist: Discovering the True St. Francis of Assisi" (N.B. This will be the 800th anniversary of the death of the great saint!)

(To register for this event, which includes dinner, go to this link.)

Each event will feature a talk followed by a Q&A and booksigning.

All details are found on the attached posters.

(*CIC and Carmel events require registration; the other two are free & open to the public.)

Papal Letter to the Bishops of Latin America: The Bishops Must Offer Clear Teaching

Letter of His Holiness to the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean on the occasion of the Third Centenary of the Canonization of Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo (8 September 2026)

Dear brothers in the Episcopate,

In response to the request of the Bishops of Peru and on the occasion of the third centenary of the canonization of Saint Turibius de Mogrovejo, patron saint of the Bishops of Latin America, I warmly greet you in the Lord and I thank you for the service that you render each day. As I address these words to you, my heart is once again filled with gratitude for the privilege of having exercised episcopal ministry in Peru. There I came to know first-hand the faith of a people from whom I received so much, and I came to understand better what it means to be a shepherd. That experience brought me particularly close to Saint Turibius, who also came from afar to a land that he eventually made his own through pastoral charity.

The Church in Crisis — and How We Must Not Save Her

Twelve Issues, Uncomfortable Truths, and a Catholic Way Forward

Bishop Rob Mutsaerts

Auxiliary of 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands

September 16, 2026

I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that the Catholic Church is in crisis. The good news is that she has been here before. Indeed, anyone with even a passing familiarity with Church history sometimes gets the impression that crisis is one of the few genuinely enduring Catholic traditions. We have had corrupt popes, worldly bishops, heresies, schisms, revolutions, persecutions, and liturgical committees. And yet here we are.

Something is afoot.

What? We, the hoi polloi, do not know.

The Catholic Tradition No Longer Concealed by Memories Denied

Grateful for this insightful analysis via Facebook that aligns closely with many of my own experiences and diagnostics. A bishop’s remonstrance to his young priests urging they never allow the young people to see the “old Mass”, for fear they would prefer it to the new, comes to mind. The denial and concealment the enemies of the Faith used for many years is no longer possible with the collective access and common memory provided by the Internet.

A Marian Minimalism in Accordance with Mater Populi Fidelis:

The Case of Cardinal Müller

By Karen Darantière

for Rorate Caeli

The saddening doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, promulgated a year ago by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Leo XIV, belittles the greatness of the Blessed Virgin by denying her Coredemption — that is, her participation in the acquisition of the graces of our salvation through the merits of her Compassion — as well as her universal mediation in the dispensation of graces. No one is surprised that Cardinal Fernández denies this traditional doctrine, given the lack of doctrinal credibility and moral authority of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, despite the holy office he holds. On the other hand, more than a few Catholics will be surprised to learn that Cardinal Müller, who in recent years has acquired a reputation as a defender of the faith for certain praiseworthy positions on other subjects, has made remarks about the Blessed Virgin that are not in keeping with the perennial teaching of the Magisterium. He has clearly declared himself against the doctrine of Mary's Coredemption, and has written ambiguous pages on the dogma of her Perpetual Virginity.

Two local readers sent reports of the recent restrictions set on Latin Mass locations in the Archdiocese of Toronto, Ontario.

One of the readers sent us the following detailed report:

As announced from the pulpit in a prepared statement, in lieu of the homily on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost: Traditionis Custodes is taking effect at Toronto Oratory parishes effective immediately, including the Modern Roman Rite Mass replacing the Sunday Traditional Latin Mass on successive Sundays once a month at each parish.

Under the cruel regime of gradual annihilation of the Traditional Roman Rite set into motion by Francis' illegitimate motu proprio Traditionis custodes, of 2021, the Dicastery for Divine Worship (DDW) has to give "permission" to some kinds of celebrations, or to extend the "permission".

The DDW has just published the Summarium Decretorum of 2025, and this is the full list of permissions officially granted last year. Here are all the "permissions" granted for celebration according to the 1962 Roman Missal (the Extraordinary Form), extracted from the document and translated:

January 16 — Prot. N. 683/24, Diocese of Kalisz (Poland)
We gladly grant, for a further two years, permission to celebrate according to the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962, in the parish church dedicated to God in honor of Saints Adalbert and Stanislaus, belonging to the Military Ordinariate of Poland, in the city of Kalisz.

January 16 — Prot. N. 10/25, Diocese of Siedlce (Poland)
We gladly grant permission to celebrate according to the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962, in the parish church dedicated to God in honor of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr, in the city of Siedlce.

January 16 — Prot. N. 15/25, Archdiocese of Taipei (Taiwan)

Leo XIV abrogates yet another Francis document

Leo XIV is not afraid to completely abrogate the measures adopted by his predecessor when he deems them unnecessary -- in this case, the reduction of stipends in the Holy See, including to Cardinals, and of pay increases, determined by this previous motu proprio.

Motu Proprio of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV

Vatican, September 1, 2026, the second year of the Pontificate

Assisted Suicide and The Despair of Our Time - by Roberto de Mattei

The Despair of Our Time

By Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana
September 9, 2026

In recent days, news has surfaced of the approval in Veneto of a regional law regulating assisted suicide. Veneto is the fourth region to pass such legislation, but the first governed by a center-right administration. The fact therefore carries a political and cultural significance that extends well beyond regional borders: it shows how the principle of absolute self-determination has now penetrated coalitions that, at least nominally, are supposed to be committed to the defense of life, the family, and the natural order.

Rome Pilgrimage for Christ the King: No Mass in St. Peter's this year

The final program of the "Summorum Pontificum" Peregrinatio ad Petri Sedem (Rome) was made public today.

What is noteworthy is that, unlike last year, there will not be a Pontifical Mass at the Vatican Basilica; after the pilgrimage and prayers there, the Saturday Mass will be at Saint Mary Major. Also, both pontifical Masses will be celebrated by Bishop Schneider, and not a cardinal, as in the past years.

Sign of the times?...

Schedule of the Pilgrimage
Ad Petri Sedem
which will take place in Rome from october 23 to 25, 2026
(registration is not necessary to participate in the pilgrimage)

Friday October 23, 2026

Persecution and Censorship of Conservative Priest and Professor in Austrian Catholic College

Heiligenkreuz: Theologians Welcome the Exclusion of Father Waldstein

Kathpress

September 4, 2026

[Note: Kathpress is the official news agency of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, dominated by extreme liberals, so their characterization of Father Waldstein should be read accordingly.]

Austrian theologians have expressed relief at the suspension of Father Edmund Waldstein from his teaching position at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Benedikt XVI in Heiligenkreuz.

Arouca Press is pleased to announce that they are now accepting pre-orders for their new sewn hardcover edition of Cardinal Bacci's Meditations For Each Day.

Professor Ratzinger Criticizes the Council

The following essay was published in German on July 4, 2020, by Michael Charlier at Summorum Pontificum but the topic is relevant again, so we have made it available in translation.—PAK

For all those who feel committed to the entire Catholic tradition, the Second Vatican Council is a difficult topic. On the one hand, we know that Vatican II could not have turned anything the Church has always taught upside down. On the other hand, we live in an environment where much seems to have been turned upside down—and we are told that this is precisely the will of the Second Vatican Council, which everyone is expected to acknowledge. And this is not being said by just anyone whose views one could easily dismiss, but by many professors of theology, almost all commentators in the Church media—and most bishops say it as well, or at least signal their tacit approval. Opposition to the “spirit of the Council” and what is passed off as such appears to be the ultimate “anathema” in a Church where one can otherwise say, doubt, or demand almost anything.

By François Savy, for Le Salon Beige

In his article À quand la paix liturgique ? (When will there be liturgical peace?), in the July-August 2025 issue (no. 382) of La Nef, Christophe Geffroy raised a question to which the consecrations recently conferred within the Society of Saint Pius X give particular prominence. In it, he championed the equality in "value and holiness" of the two forms of the Roman rite, and reproached the "priests who refuse any celebration of the new ordo" for contesting this value and holiness "because they judge this liturgy to be 'deficient'." However, it turns out that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith specifically mentioned the "legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae" in the preamble to the procedure allowing clerics of the Society of Saint Pius X to return to full communion after the consecrations.

As far as I can judge, this notion of legitimacy applied to the liturgy is of relatively recent use. We were familiar with the classical notions of validity and liceity. It is Pope John Paul II who seems to have introduced it, through the voice of the Congregation for Divine Worship, with Quattuor abhinc annos (October 3, 1984), establishing as a condition for the faculty of using the indult:

Traditional Masses Celebrated or Attended by Archbishops this past Fortnight

This past fortnight, at least two additional diocesan bishops were involved in Traditional Mass activities.

In the new FSSP mission in San Jacinto church, in Guale, the local archbishop, Abp. Eduardo Castillo Pino, celebrated the Traditional Mass:

From Dante’s Inferno to Erasmus’s In Praise of Folly: Papal Magisterium in Support of Satire and Invective Against Popes

We thank Fr. Romano Tommasi, the pen name of a theologian, for this guest article.

Writers on this site often inveigh against hyper-papalism or ultramontanism, evaluated as vices. Pre- and post-Vatican II popes agree in principle and have even taught it magisterially in a way unfortunately overlooked.

Sermon for the 14th Sunday After Pentecost: Do Not Be Anxious

by Father Richard Cipolla

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body.”

New bishop of West Virginia increases TLM locations from two to four*

By Mark Lambert via Twitter

This is genuinely encouraging news from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Bishop Evelio Menjívar has appointed Fr Timothy J. Grassi as Episcopal Delegate for Matters Concerning the Usus Antiquior explicitly “to foster greater unity among the Catholic faithful and provide for their various spiritual needs.”

The FBI, under the Biden Administration, spent unbelievable and unprecedented amounts of man-hours investigating and harassing Traditional Catholics from their office of Richmond, the capital of Virginia.

Bishop Mutsaerts: The Church Will Not Be Saved by Bureaucrats Who Think Everything Must Change

The Church Will Not Be Saved by Bureaucrats Who Think Everything Must Change

By Bishop Robert Mutsaerts

Auxiliary of 's-Hertogenbosch (The Netherlands)

August 27, 2026

There is a peculiar mistake common among modern people: when they discover that the Church is full of sinners, they conclude that Christianity has failed. This is rather like discovering that a hospital is full of sick people and concluding that medicine does not work.

For the Record - Cardinal Sarah Interview: Traditionis custodes and the Mass

Cardinal Sarah: "For Priests, the Ancient Mass Is the One That Helps Them Celebrate Better"

By Nico Spuntoni

Il Giornale
August 27, 2026

The denunciation of liturgical abuses is one of the signature themes of Cardinal Robert Sarah, former Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. The cardinal has returned to the subject in his latest book, Il Cantico dell'Agnello: Musica sacra e liturgia celeste (The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and the Heavenly Liturgy), co-authored with Peter Cater and published by Cantagalli.

Your Eminence, in your view, does an aversion to Latin and Gregorian chant exist in certain sectors of the Church?

The Lectionary for Mass—drawn up by Group XI of the Consilium, the “super-committee” charged with carrying out Sacrosanctum Concilium—is often held up as one of the greatest achievements of the post-Vatican II liturgical reform. Yet until recently, the full details of their discussions and labors have remained unpublished, accessible only to archival researchers and specialist scholars.

Newly published, The Post-Vatican II Reform of the Lectionary: The Schemata of Group XI offers an English translation by Matthew Hazell of the Latin and French schemata of Group XI in their entirety—the first time, in fact, that the complete documentation for any of the Consilium study groups has been made available in translation. The process of the reform of the lectionary can thus be traced through the various draft orders of readings as well as the debates among the members and consultors.

Hazell's detailed and masterly introduction contextualises the reforms within the history of the 20th-century Liturgical Movement and the Second Vatican Council. The introduction alone is a major addition to the scholarly literature, followed by a comprehensive bibliography of secondary sources ranging over many languages.

An Interview with Don Pietro Leone in which he discusses his latest book: Vatican II and the Eclipse of God - A Critique of the Council

'In this final version I have been forced to level the charge of atheism against the Council'.

What’s wrong with our schools?

A guest article by Joseph Bevan, author of Two Families and Traddy Daddy.

School children in 1947 (source)

How it started

My own father, who had taught in schools for over 50 years, liked to explain: “there are three essential items needed for the education of children: Kennedy’s Latin Primer, a bible and a cane.” This notion, also favoured in the 19^th century by the likes of Doctor Arnold, headmaster of Rugby School and featured in Tom Brown’s School Days, was the main principle behind the foundation of the Protestant English public schools and lasted until the 1960s.

The Vice-President of the United States, J.D. Vance, became, to our knowledge, the first sitting Catholic holder of either the Presidency or the Vice-Presidency to publicly and openly attend a Traditional Latin Mass since the death of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, in November 1963.

NEW BOOK: Publication of 'Vatican II and The Eclipse of God. A Critique of the Council' by Don Pietro Leone

Rorate Caeli is delighted to report that “Vatican II and the Eclipse of God” ‘A Critique of the Council’ by Don Pietro Leone has finally been published. Readers will recall that Rorate had the honour of posting instalments of this very important work over a period of two years. (See note)* Since then, the author has added further analysis to the original texts. Below is the link to Loreto Publications and a short presentation of the book. Readers can look forward to an interview with Don Pietro Leone in which he discusses his new book and which will be posted in the following days.

(N.B. Please note this book is not to be confused by the release of a book with a similar title:’The Eclipse of God’ by Dr. Erwin Lutzer in 2024).

https://loretopubs.org/eclipse-of-god-paperback.html

It is long past the time when faithful Catholics must cease any pretense that anything good has come from Vatican II. The revolution has done its work and has failed to produce anything but chaos and destruction, and those of us still attentive to God’s will and not our own must begin to pick up the pieces of a shattered civilization and endeavour to rebuild. To that end, we at Loreto Publications offer this magnificent analysis of the Council and its moral, theological, and philosophical failings, so that Holy Mother Church and Our Lady’s faithful children may rise up with knowledge and courage to build up once again, under the banner of the Immaculata, the wounded Mystical Body of Christ in today’s world, where even the most rudimentary knowledge of the Truth seems to be in eclipse.

The Editor

The General Audience yesterday was dedicated by Pope Leo XIV to Sacred Music — as foreseen in Vatican II, that is, not like what usually takes place in the new Mass of Paul VI.

Let us listen to his words:

Dear brothers and sisters,

"Mother Earth" Pagan Worship by Vatican Representative: Doctrine of the Faith Official makes Offering of Coca Leaves at Pachamama Ceremony during Official Church Meeting

Rorate Note: Official Vatican News covering of the event here (in Spanish); Spanish page Infovaticana adds the grotesque context.

A Pontifical Commissioner and a Bishop Deposit Coca Leaves in an "Earth Offering": Jordi Bertomeu as Offerer at a Pachamama Ceremony

Infovaticana

August 18, 2026

The Southern Macroregional Encounter "Interweaving Voices for Dignity" — presented by Vatican News as part of the preparation for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Peru — opened without any Catholic prayer whatsoever. In its place, a ritual invoking Mother Earth was performed, with the distribution of coca leaves, guided breathing exercises, and food offerings placed on the ground.

Sermon for the 12th Sunday After Pentecost

Father Richard Cipolla

Today we celebrate what one could call a triple header. For it is not only the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost but also the feast of St. Roch, more popularly known in the Italian form as San Rocco, and also the second day in the octave of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In an interview granted yesterday to Raymond Arroyo of EWTN, the Archbishop of Oklahoma City and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Abp. Paul Coakley, had choice words on the Traditional Latin Mass and the Francis document that aimed to gradually annihilate it, Traditionis Custodes:

This is the specific part of the interview dedicated to it (our transcript):

Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV - by Bishop Robert Mutsaerts

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.

Take Heart, Traditional Latin Mass faithful -- a message from Cardinal Burke

Recorded for Father John Zuhlsdorf and his readers, it is a message of hope:

Ceuta and the Church

by Serre Verweij

for Rorate Cæli

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.

Over the years, I've noticed a happy development, and it seems to me to confirm the general trend pointed out by countless observers, namely, that where Catholicism still remains, it is becoming more traditional, or at least more "tradition-friendly." Thus, it used to be the case that it was nearly impossible to find a group pilgrimage to the famous religious sites, be it Lourdes or Fatima, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela, or what have you, that also featured the daily celebration of the traditional Roman Rite. But today, if you look at companies like St. Charles Catholic Pilgrimages or Syversen Touring, you will quickly find several options with chaplains who will offer only the old rite.

Two Thirds of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Medjugorje was NOT Supernatural -- Francis waved it off anyway

Vjera i djela Catholic Portal (Croatia)

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.

Only Diocesan TLM in Diocese of Pittsburgh Abolished

The Diocese of Pittsburgh has canceled its only remaining diocesan indult Latin Mass, at St Titus in Aliquippa, about to enter its 20th consecutive year, because according to Bishop Eckman, it "was only ever meant to be temporary." (Information from the X account of the Mason-Dixon Latin Mass Society, which published the grotesque letter below):

In 1969, A Short Critical Study of the Novus Ordo Missae was published with the signatures of two powerful cardinals, Bacci and Ottaviani. Nicknamed The Ottaviani Intervention, it quickly become a classic, and has never gone out of print. But... where was its companion volume? You know, the one about the other six sacraments?

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.

When the Princes of the Church No Longer Speak Latin

A guest article by David Berger. (Original in German here.)

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.