RORATE CÆLI

“Christ is no longer to be spoken about—and can no longer be spoken about”: New essay by Vigilius on Pope Francis in Southeast Asia

Rorate welcomes once again the crystal-clear and profound contribution of Vigilius, pen-name of a German theologian. The original text may be found here; the following translation has been approved by the author.

Pope Francis in the “Tunnel of Friendship”

Vigilius

Pope Francis was completely in his element during his trip to Southeast Asia. This is because he was once again able to engage eagerly in “interreligious dialogue”. If you read the Pope’s now published speeches, this dialogue enjoys an almost sacred status of grandeur, which is fed by impressive moral claims. This is because the essence of the intended dialogue is aimed at unity, fraternity, harmony and concord. Central to the Bergoglian concept of dialogue is the “detection of what connects us”, i.e., everything that brings us together by allowing us to discover what is, in truth, always already identical—as symbolized by the underground “tunnel of friendship” between the Istiqlal Mosque and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Jakarta.

A campaign has been launched to help fundraise for the music of rarely heard liturgies in an extraordinary location.

By kind permission of the Church of England parish of Dorchester on Thames, the St Birinus Festival 2024 will take place at the beautiful mediaeval abbey, once host to the remains of St Birinus and a destination for pilgrims from around the world. St Birinus, along with St Augustine, was responsible for bringing much of England to Christianity. Just by the abbey runs the River Thame, in whose waters St Birinus baptised the king of Wessex in 636 AD.

The festival will include the singing of the major hours of the feasts of All Saints and All Souls according to the 1962 Roman Missal, which is normally celebrated at the nearby Catholic Church of St Birinus. These ceremonies will be sung with full Gregorian Chant and polyphonic music by the great Renaissance composers such as Victoria, Gabrieli, Palestrina and Byrd.

The newly formed St Birinus Festival Choir will be joined by sackbuts and cornetts, and will be directed by Gareth Wilson, of Girton College Cambridge. A Mass in up to 16 parts by the Venetian composer Andrea Gabrieli will accompany a solemn Pontifical Mass for All Saints on November 1st, at 11am. The celebrant will be Abbot Hugh Allan O.Praem.

Matins of All Souls will also be a unique experience early the next day, with some of the finest music of the Renaissance written specifically for this ceremony. This will be followed by a solemn Requiem with music by Lassus and Byrd.

The festival will also include major musical events in the evenings, such as concerts with the Davey Consort and students of the Royal Academy of Music, both directed by Ryan Wigglesworth, director of music for the BBC Scottish symphony orchestra. Sophie Bevan MBE will also give a masterclass.

The Festival is being organised in order to fundraise for the music at the beautiful Catholic Church in Dorchester on Thames. This neo-gothic gem [of a church] (also dedicated to St Birinus) boasts an Aubertin organ and a regular professional choir (the Davey Consort), as well as a children’s choir with ambitious plans for the future. Donations to support the costs of organising such an event can be made via the following link: https://gofund.me/42c651ff

All details of the festival events and where to get tickets can be found here: https://thedaveyconsort.co.uk/collections/st-birinus-festival

Papal Scandal in Singapore: The Error of the Equality of Religions -- and the Faith of St. Francis Xavier (De Mattei)

Pope Francis and the Act of Faith of St. Francis Xavier

by Roberto de Mattei

Among the most serious errors prevalent today, even in Catholic circles, is the one according to which all religions are equivalent because they all worship one God. This error is most serious because it denies, at its root, the intrinsic truth of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, Pope Francis' statements at the Catholic Junior College in Singapore last September 13, 2024, are along these lines and, with all due respect to the Pope, are objectively scandalous.

The official Vatican account quotes verbatim these phrases from Francis: "All religions are a path to get to God. They are - I make a comparison - like different languages, different idioms, to get there. But God is God for all. And because God is God for everyone, we are all God's children. "But my God is more important than yours!" Is this true? There is only one God, and we, our religions are languages, paths to get to God. Some Sikh, some Muslim, some Hindu, some Christian, but they are different paths. Understood?" Understood?

Our answer is immediate: no, Holy Father, we have not understood and cannot understand it. Our religion and also the history of the Society of Jesus, to which you belong, teach us otherwise.

Arlington Carmel Saga: the Texas Carmelites become a permanent TLM-celebrating community - by coming under the auspices of the SSPX

It seems there may be a pause in the sinuous saga of the Discalced Carmelite sisters of Arlington, Texas. After years of strange events and the relentless pursuit of their convent (coincidentally, a huge piece of property right in the middle of one of the fastest growing regions in the US) by the local bishop (Fort Worth) including Vatican intervention in their favor, they seem to have a reasonably stable moment — by becoming the newest community friendly to the Society of Saint Pius X in America.

From the note published by the SSPX US district:

Statement from the Arlington Carmel on Its Association with the SSPX
SEPTEMBER 14, 2024

"The motto of Pope St. Pius X was: To Restore All Things in Christ. Such is the case for our Community as well, which has prayerfully, over a period of many years, sought to return to Tradition."

Bishop Slattery, RIP

The Diocese of Tulsa announced His Excellency Edward J. Slattery died yesterday at the age of 84.

Bishop Slattery was the celebrant of the solemn pontifical Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., on April 24, 2010. He graciously stepped in after a media firestorm concerning the originally scheduled celebrant, Dario Cardinal Hoyos. The day turned out to be an absolutely glorious one -- standing room only in the largest church in North America. The dozens of clergy, the numerous choirs, the magnificent pipe organ, the beautiful vestments, the joy in all who attended in-person or watched live on EWTN -- it was a traditional Latin Mass that defined the liturgical restoration of its era.

The decision by Pope Francis and the Dicastery for Divine Worship (DDW) to reignite the liturgical wars by abrogating Summorum Pontificum will be remembered as a monumental, embarrassing blunder by a papacy marked by corruption and scandal.

Francis in Asia: "All Religions Lead to God." - Pius XI: That is a "false opinion"

Francis speaking in Singapore earlier today:

Every religion is a way to arrive at God. There are different languages to arrive at God but God is God for all.
But my God is more important than your God, is that true?
There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.

pic.twitter.com/TMHRDjEuJ9
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) September 13, 2024

***

On the other hand, Pius XI in Mortalium animos (1928):

Never perhaps in the past have we seen, as we see in these our own times, the minds of men so occupied by the desire both of strengthening and of extending to the common welfare of human society that fraternal relationship which binds and unites us together, and which is a consequence of our common origin and nature. For since the nations do not yet fully enjoy the fruits of peace - indeed rather do old and new disagreements in various places break forth into sedition and civic strife - and since on the other hand many disputes which concern the tranquillity and prosperity of nations cannot be settled without the active concurrence and help of those who rule the States and promote their interests, it is easily understood, and the more so because none now dispute the unity of the human race, why many desire that the various nations, inspired by this universal kinship, should daily be more closely united one to another.

A similar object is aimed at by some, in those matters which concern the New Law promulgated by Christ our Lord. For since they hold it for certain that men destitute of all religious sense are very rarely to be found, they seem to have founded on that belief a hope that the nations, although they differ among themselves in certain religious matters, will without much difficulty come to agree as brethren in professing certain doctrines, which form as it were a common basis of the spiritual life. For which reason conventions, meetings and addresses are frequently arranged by these persons, at which a large number of listeners are present, and at which all without distinction are invited to join in the discussion, both infidels of every kind, and Christians, even those who have unhappily fallen away from Christ or who with obstinacy and pertinacity deny His divine nature and mission. Certainly such attempts can nowise be approved by Catholics, founded as they are on that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule. Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it, and little by little. turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it is called; from which it clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion.

Event: 54-Day Rosary Novena in Saint Louis to Defeat Abortion Amendment

Event organized by Catholics in Saint Louis, Missouri:

Dear Fellow Missouri Catholics & People of Good Will:

As you may have heard, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled yesterday [Sep. 10] that Amendment 3 will be on the November 5 ballot.

Amendment 3 would enshrine abortion in the state Constitution. Learn more at Missouri Right to Life PAC.

To ask the Blessed Virgin to defeat 3 and keep abortion out of Missouri, join us at the statue of St. Louis in Forest Park to pray the Rosary for the next 54 days:

Those who devote themselves to the defense of traditional things (liturgy, catechism, resistance to deleterious doctrines) often hesitate to say that we are currently faced with an atypical ecclesial situation. Especially when it comes to the liturgy. Even if they assert that it is not for reasons of sensitivity but of faith that they attend the old liturgy, they feel they can effectively defend their position against the proponents of the new liturgy as a legitimate free choice. It is true that arguments of this kind can work quite well with Catholic opinion in general, for whom liberalism has become an unsurpassable horizon; but the fact that it is permissible to take tactical advantage of this state of mind does not mean it is justifiable.

Paradoxically, they even sometimes twist traditional doctrine to defend it. One example is the extreme reduction of the doctrine of obedience to ecclesiastical authorities and their teachings. Since, in many respects, submission to the authorities is untenable in conscience today, they practically come to affirm that free examination was the common doctrine of the Church, with each person deciding what is Catholic in the name of the “tradition” of which each is ultimately the custodian. Or they proceed to disembowel the doctrine of Roman infallibility by asserting that the First See has frequently issued heterodox doctrines. In other words, the abnormality of what is happening now is transferred to the Church of old.[1] And the anti-modernists become modernists.

We will deal here only with arguments in defense of the traditional Mass. In particular, we would like to consider two that are often used to justify the free option in favor of the traditional missal:

(1) The invocation of the bull Quo primum of 1570, insofar as it states that the missal it promulgates may be used “in perpetuity”. And

(2) the fact that the Church has always recognized the legitimacy of a diversity of rites.

From a reader:

"Our Lady as New Eve": International Theological Conference in Dundee Scotland (and Online), September 12-14

The Marian Franciscans in the UK have organized a magnificent conference on Our Lady, coming up quite soon. For those who cannot attend in person, an online option is available. Details in posters below.

As of tonight, the leftist judicial dictatorship currently in charge of the most populous Catholic nation on earth, Brazil, has banned the access to Twitter (X), which should be implemented in the next few days. What is worse, the judicial tyrant has also determined a complete ban on VPN access, which will inevitably affect ALL users of all applications.

We are used to the practice of Samizdat in our blog, so this is a special message to our our Brazilian readers and followers:

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

We place our blog, https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com, and our Twitter profile, @RorateCaeli , at your disposal for all Catholic-related content (including pictures, videos, articles, events, etc) you wish the world to know.

Please, send all items to newcatholic@gmail.com

Catholics and the U.S. Presidential Elections: Donald Trump clearly is the choice from a Catholic perspective - by Roberto de Mattei

There is a Catholic doctrine of the lesser evil that can be summarized in these terms:

1. One can never positively and directly commit even the slightest evil;

2. to avoid a greater evil, one may tolerate a lesser evil committed by others, provided one does not approve of it as such and remembers the existence of a greater good to strive for.

This doctrine is fundamental for orientation in a confused age in which the notion of the principle has been lost: “Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectu”(St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae I-IIae, q. 18, a. 4 ad 3).

Downside Abbey, where many events narrated in Two Families took place

Those who move in traditional circles in the UK tell me that “everyone has heard of the Bevans.” They are a large and highly musical clan whose members have been singing for decades in liturgies and concerts. Os Justi Press is proud to have just released Joseph Bevan’s book Two Families: A Memoir of English Life During and After the Council.

In running through his eventful life, Bevan vividly describes what the practice of Catholicism was like before, during, and after the Council: he shows the strengths and weaknesses of the preconciliar routine, the confusion unleashed in the 1960s, the collapse of the liturgy and especially of sacred music “in real time,” as it was unfolding.

Public Protest Against Panama City's Interreligious Syncretistic Meeting on Feast of the Assumption

August 16, 2024
Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Panama City
Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta
E. S. D.

Dear Metropolitan Archdiocese of Panama City,

On August 15, every year and since time immemorial, the Solemnity of Our Lady in her glorious Assumption is celebrated, in fact the city was founded under the name of Our Lady of the Assumption of Panama on August 15, 1519. This Solemnity demonstrates the crowning success of Mary Most Holy in this life, to such an extent that the Most High kept her away from the corruption of death to be taken body and soul to heaven to reign for all eternity with her Divine Son. The supreme joy in which the whole Christian world was immersed for centuries is incalculable and through the writings of the saints we can learn how sublime this solemnity is. Unfortunately, this brief letter is not an address of congratulations, but a cry that rises from the depths of a faithful that is overwhelmed and outraged by the serious lack of respect that is being committed against Our Holy Mother of Heaven.

Roche and Viola (Dicastery for Divine Worship) Forbid Latin Mass in Helsinki Cathedral (Finland) - celebrated (for the moment) in another Church

Finland. A land lost by the Church to Lutheranism.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND- As a response to restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass announced in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia, local TLM attendees organized a pilgrimage between the main cathedral of the Diocese of Arlington (St. Thomas More) and the main cathedral of the Archdiocese of Washington (St. Matthew). This pilgrimage was wildly successful and has now become a yearly tradition. Our goal: full freedom, once again, for the Traditional Latin Mass, and an end to any and all restrictions.

Since the mid-fifteenth century it has been performed in the Basilica of Santa Maria and in the streets of the old city of Elche (Elx), situated in the region of Valencia. It is a living testimony of European religious theatre of the Middle Ages and of the cult of the Virgin.

This theatrical performance, which is entirely sung, comprises two acts, performed on 14 and 15 August. These depict the death and crowning of the Virgin in a series of scenes and related paintings: the death of Mary, the night procession that is followed by hundreds of participants carrying candles, the morning procession, the afternoon funeral procession in the streets of Elche, and the enactment of the burial, Assumption and coronation in the Basilica. (Unesco)

Mystery Plays and Passion Plays inside a church were not uncommon before the Protestant revolts, but were severely curtailed after the Catholic Reformation. The Mystery Play of Elx (Misteri d'Elx in Valencian/Catalan, Misterio de Elche in Spanish) was a rare exception after Trent, allowed specifically for the Basilica of Saint Mary in Elx (Alicante, Valencia) by Pope Urban VIII. All participating actors are still today men, not women, as it has been since its inception, most probably in the 15th century.

Below, a version of one of the main compositions of the play, Esposa e Mare de Déu (Wife and Mother of God), and of the processional hymn, with images of the play and its traditional special effects, as well as the procession:

Readers will recall the unparalleled theological analysis of the Francis pontificate by Vigilius, first published here on July 10, 2024. Today, we are pleased to publish a follow-up (in a translation authorized by the author; original German here), in which Vigilius explains why he respectfully disagrees with the eminent Argentinean commentator about the theological program of the present pope. —PAK

Is Jorge Bergoglio a Strategist? A Reply to Caminante-Wanderer

How the Loss of Children and the Demographic Collapse Are Linked to the Loss of Tradition

How the Loss of Children and the Demographic Collapse Are Linked to the Loss of Tradition

J. Melonowska

After Part 1's exposition, I now turn to the connection between the central myth of Europe, namely the Christian myth, and the situation of our societies, specifically the demographic collapse (childlessness, by which I mean the declining birth rate). I will link the myth, the liturgy, and the demographical issue.

The World of the Dead and Childless Wives: A Philosopher of Religion on the Logos, Tradition, and Demographics

The World of the Dead and Childless Wives

A Philosopher of Religion on the Logos, Tradition, and Demographics

J. Melonowska

Roberto de Mattei

Centuries pass, circumstances are different, but God does not change, the Catholic Church is the same, and the struggle continues to be that between the two cities that oppose each other in history like two armies. The theology of Christian history assures us that the City of God is always victorious; Our Lady's apparition at Fatima assures us that the historical triumph of the Immaculate Heart is near; the historical and logical analysis of revolutionary dynamism, assures us of the irreversibility of the counter-revolutionary movement. However, those immersed in the struggle miss the great horizon of the battlefield, which sometimes seems shrouded in fog or the shadows of night. There is a risk of losing our way, but more importantly, of losing sight of the ultimate goal of our battles and our path. For the path is long and it is not linear. We advance along winding paths, with wide curves, sometimes the terrain is steep and impassable, sometimes flat, descending then suddenly rising again. Overall, the certain movement is ascending, but not straight. We climb to the top, but passing peaks, skirting chasms and cliffs, through an uneven path. And the enemies that assail us are of all kinds. Such is the history of humanity, such is our life. And when the night of confusion falls, the darkness of chaos, fear assails us.

The Strange Chapel of Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Pope's Ambassador to Paris

Paix Liturgique continues to place us all in its debt, even while its websites in various languages remain unaccountably defunct. The following letter 1080 of August 8, 2024, was sent in French to email subscribers, and now we bring it to you here in English. - PAK

Prayer card illustrated by Rupnik

Praying Every Day in Front of Mosaics Created by Top-Ranking Abuser Rupnik Is Strange for a Nuncio Who Is Supposed to Fight Abuse

Eucharistic Congress a Blessing for the Church — Now What Must be Done?

Father Richard Cipolla

Traditional Mass in Indianapolis during the Eucharistic Congress

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops recently sponsored a series of events that were meant to be an affirmation of witness to the Catholic belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The first was a series of Eucharistic processions from disparate points in the United States whose ultimate goal was the site of the major event of the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. I must confess that when I first heard about the plans for the processions and the Congress in Indiana, my southern Italian quasi-cynical genes kicked in, fed by my experience as a Catholic priest for much of forty years. Much of those forty years were marked by a severe lack of Eucharistic piety by both clergy and laity.

[Paix Liturgique published the following reflections on the article by Nico Spuntoni in Il Giornale on July 14, 2024. Translation for Rorate. -PK]

Given the nature of the Second Vatican Council as a kind of new beginning for the Church of all things, opposition to it, especially opposition to the new liturgy, carries a heavy psychological weight in successive conclaves.

The Paris Olympic Ceremony: Not Simply Bad Taste, but an Act of War against Christian Civilization

by Roberto de Mattei

Marie-Antoinette being taken to her Execution (1793), by William Hamilton (1794)

Among the many symbolic events of our time, the grotesque spectacle that opened the Paris Olympics on July 26, 2024, cannot simply be dismissed as a show of bad taste or a cultural provocation. It is the latest act of war against Christian Civilization that had one of its historical peaks in the French Revolution.

(The following text was published in no. 140 of Itinéraires, February 1970. It was translated by Gerhard Eger for Rorate Caeli.)

I must admit to you, my dear Jean Madiran, that I have been tempted more than once to leave the Catholic Church wherein I was born. If I have not done so, I give thanks to God and to the good peasant’s common sense with which he has blessed me. The Church—I murmur to myself at this moment—is like a sack of wheat infested with weevils. However numerous the parasites are—and at first glance, they are swarming!—they have not sterilized all the kernels. Some, no matter how few, remain fertile. They will sprout and the weevils will die once they have devoured all the others. Bon appétit, gentlemen, you are eating your own death.

Meanwhile, we suffer from famine, starving for the supernatural. The number of priests who distribute the bread of the soul to us dwindles at an alarming rate. In the hierarchy, things are even worse. And at the very top, whence we might expect some solace, they are disastrous.

"The Little Red Light": New children's book by a priest teaches the Catholic tradition of the sanctuary lamp

Father Benjamin A. Garcia of the Archdiocese of Washington, who is devoted to the traditional Mass, has published a children's book which reinforces the Catholic tradition of the sanctuary lamp, the sign of the real presence of Our Lord in our Catholic churches.

Almost exactly one year ago, Rorate reported on the plight of the Dominicans of the Holy Spirit, who from their founding adhered with principled consistency to the old liturgical rites. The Vatican sent Novus Ordo apologist Fr Henry Donneaud, OP to "regularize" them in accord with the Vatican campaign against traditional religious life and traditional divine worship.

Now, there is an important update. On July 25, the community issued the following press release, which we translate here:

FOR THE RECORD: Superior of FSSP discusses Synopsis of French Bishops' TLM Survey

Fr. Paul-Joseph, interviewed below, is on the left side

Considering how the Synopsis of the French Bishops' Survey on the TLM is being weaponized against traditional Catholics, it seems fitting to present here, for the record, a translation of the interview that Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph, the superior of the FSSP's French district, gave to Le Salon Beige on June 7, 2021. Recall that Fr. Paul-Joseph has met now twice with Pope Francis and may be considered to be in possession of the salient facts both at home and in Rome. - PK

Pope Francis with leadership of the French Bishops' Conference, December 2022

EDITOR'S NOTE

Another blog, known for its extreme adulation of Pope Francis, is currently discussing the synthesis the French Bishops' Conference put out in 2021 in response to the Summorum Pontificum Survey. They exaggerate its significance and its pertinence as a document that reflects the true opinion of the bishops. Aside from the forceful misinterpretations, sophisms, and plain exaggeration, the article also shows a desperate attempt to control the narrative on Traditionis Custodes.

Argentine Blog: The Prohibition Document Arrived in Francis Hands -- but he decided against signing it | The petitions and letters had an influence as well

From our friends at Argentine blog Caminante Wanderer:

July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the third anniversary of Traditionis custodes, was the date set for the release of a new document from the Holy See putting an end to the traditional Mass, which, it was said, would be reserved exclusively for the so-called “Ecclesia Dei institutes.” It was, as we called it in this blog, the final solution.

The current Catholic hierarchy, starting with the Pope, often refers to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) as the basis for the “reforms” it continues to carry out in the constitution of the Church (with synodality), in doctrine (with the ecumenical Declaration of Abu Dhabi), in Christian morality (with unprecedented concessions - liturgical and otherwise - to irregular couples of all kinds) and to justify its constant fight against the ancient rite of the Mass, also known as the “traditional Mass”, whose total disappearance it obviously wishes, so numerous are the restrictions and prohibitions now applied to its celebration.

The Wages of Vatican II in Italy: Without priests or faithful, the Diocese left behind by the enemy of the Latin Mass, Abp. Viola, is crumbling

Rorate Note: The diocese left behind by the arch-persecutor of the Traditional Latin Mass in the Vatican, Archbishop Vittorio Viola, is crumbling. He left nothing behind when he left the Diocese of Tortona to torture traditionalists worldwide.

Report from Italian daily Il Foglio:

Manila Alfano

Il Foglio

July 02, 2024

[Glorious, but empty, churches]

From Tortona to Milan, dioceses are grappling with contemporary challenges. Between inventiveness and realism, Ratzinger's prophecy is halfway through

Tortona also yields. Reorganization is the buzzword that from the hallways of the chancery crossed the threshold and quickly spread among the parishes: 313, most in Oltrepo, the others in the Tortona, Piacenza and Genoa areas, four different regions involved. Reorganization, they say, which means getting rid of the superfluous, of everything that is not essential, because the numbers do not add up and you trudge on. People are giving up, starting with the management of residences for the elderly and daycare centers, and sacrificing smaller and less attended churches. There is a shortage of priests and a shortage of worshippers. “This is certainly nothing new, and in the valleys then it is a disaster, and Covid has only accelerated a process that was already under way,” explains the pro vicar general of the Diocese of Tortona, Fr. Francesco Larocca. And so here is the reality: so many churches, chapels, parishes, oratories scattered over a vast territory and only one priest forced to go from one village to another. How can it be done?

Tradition and Traditionalism: Let us not be "men of little faith" - by Father Richard Cipolla

Father Richard Cipolla

In that by now well -read article posted at Messa in Latino just a few weeks ago in which a representative of that web site engaged in a conversation with Andrea Grillo, the famous (or infamous) professor of Sacramental Theology at the Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, I was of course, struck by Professor Grillo’s un-Catholic statement that “Tradition is the future”. The image that sprang to my mind is the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. Or perhaps Professor Grillo has watched the film Back to the Future too many times. That statement is not only a contradiction of the Catholic Church’s understanding of Tradition but also makes nonsense of the very word in Latin traditio, which comes from the Latin verb tradere meaning “to pass on”. (Lest a super-Latin scholar object that this verb can also mean to surrender, I do know that, but in Catholic thought the meaning of handing down or passing on is clear).

Benedictines of Norcia in today's New York Times

A lovely news article appears on page A4 of today's New York Times, online here, featuring the Benedictines of Norcia and their resilience following a magnitude-6.5 earthquake in 2016.

Elizabeth Povoledo, based in the Times' Rome bureau, wrote the feature article, with photos by Alessandro Penso. Abbot Benedict Nivakoff, OSB, discussed the delicious beer brewed there and how a percentage of the restoration effort has been aided by sales of Birra Nursia.

As booklovers know from oft-repeated experience, acquiring a long out-of-print classic can be a chore. Old copies, if they are not prohibitively costly, are beaten up and even malodorous; and newer "reprint" companies seem to take no pains either with their facsimiles or with their OCR'd products.

Our sources assure us that the draft of the document of almost total suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass is ready, and has been for some time - but it that it "remains unsigned."

Francis seems to hesitate. Maybe Viola - who is a true fanatic - has been trying too hard, and this is making Francis doubtful… Francis has been hearing alternative viewpoints from the hierarchy, and messages from Catholics and non-Catholics. And we always have our prayers...

Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State, is reportedly also very strongly in favor of the suppression.

Reflections on Pia Fraus in the Church: We must always be disciples of Truth and not of Lies!

Reflections on Pia Fraus in the Church

by Gustave Thibon

(Translated by Gerhard Eger)

[Rorate Note: Gustave Thibon was a French Traditional Catholic writer (1903–2001), and a prolific author, and wrote many essays for Itinéraires. He was known as a "peasant" philosopher. This essay appeared in the June 1970 issue of Itinéraires (Catholic periodical founded by Jean Madiran.]

Louis Salleron has recently put forward valuable insights into the issue of lying within the Church. Without any pretence of exhausting or resolving the debate, I should like to highlight some new points for discussion. I shall do this within the framework of what is nowadays called “interrogative philosophy.” [Note 1]

First question: to what degree can an institution that affirms it is divine in origin and end as well as necessary for the salvation of men fulfil its mission, insofar as it is a human and sociological phenomenon, without resorting to lying?

A pattern on TLM indults being denied and approved

There is an interesting pattern beginning to develop.

Two U.S. dioceses (Baltimore and Richmond) that have the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter in them, with personal parishes, will no longer have any diocesan parish traditional Latin Masses offered, despite the noble attempt by the local bishops for renewals of existing two-year parish indults. In the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Diocese of Richmond, no diocesan clergy at diocesan parishes may licitly offer TLMs.

On the other hand, two U.S. dioceses (San Antonio and Arlington, Virginia) that do NOT have the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, or any other TLM personal parishes, have been granted two-year indult renewals, this week, for their existing diocesan parish TLMs offered by diocesan priests.