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| hardcover on the left, paperback on the right |
I'm delighted to announce to Rorate readers that my new book from Angelico Press, Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed, has just been released!
“Close the Workshop: Why the Old Mass Isn’t Broken and the New Mass Can’t Be Fixed” — New Book by Peter Kwasniewski
COLLAPSE: 12 Years of the Bergoglio Age in Numbers
by Paix Liturgique
February 26, 2025
The Bergoglian Age in numbers: in ancient Christian countries, but not only, the number of Catholics is declining. Of course, there are many reasons for this, such as secularization, urbanization, competition from competing ideologies and religions, and the unravelling of family units and traditional values in many places. But the statistics point to a worrying acceleration since the start of Pope Francis' pontificate, particularly in places where bishops and indeed the Church as a whole pride themselves on their progressivism and their entry into the marvellous synodality.
Germany, spearhead of Catholic progressivism, loses 500,000 Catholics a year
New Books Vindicate Pius X's Teaching on Sacred Music and Show that the Church in Africa Is Not a "Vatican II Success Story"
First, in the "Studies in Catholic Tradition" series, we have Dr. Patrick John Brill's The Great Sacred Music Reform of Pope St. Pius X: The Genesis, Interpretation, and Implementation of the Motu Proprio "Tra le Sollecitudini."
Professional singer and choir conductor Dr. Andrew Childs sums it up well: “Dr. Patrick Brill provides thorough and much-needed support for what many traditional-minded Catholics have long known or at least suspected: that St. Pius X’s 1903 motu proprio Tra le Sollectitudini still provides the surest guide for the restoration of Catholic sacred music. Part I of this book provides a detailed commentary on the motu proprio, enlightening for amateur and expert alike, while Part II examines the document’s fate from the time of Pius to today, looking at its canonical force and status, positive efforts of implementation, and the neglect it has suffered since Vatican II. As tradition continues to make crucial gains, it will be books like this that serve as practical guides for restoration.”
Francis in "critical condition"
Blood transfusions were necessary and prognosis remains guarded.
The Holy See Press Office issued the following medical update on Pope Francis on Saturday evening:
Event: Spiritual Lenten Concerts in London, with Jeremy Summerly (March 2025)
Following the French tradition of “Le Concert Spirituel”, The Southwell Consort presents two Lentern recitals of sacred music in London, directed by Jeremy Summerly, the great early music specialist, conductor and lecturer.
The Jubilee Flop: the Flowering Nothingness of the Francis Pontificate
A letter sent to our friends in the Argentine blog Caminante Wanderer:
Dear Wanderer,
As I know you and your readers are interested, I am sending you a brief chronicle of my trip to Rome.
I expected, as did the [Italian] government and the merchants of the city, that by this time Rome would be full of pilgrims who had come for the Jubilee, and would join the usual crowds of tourists. Well, neither the one nor the other. Rome is empty and, above all, empty of pilgrims. Everyone agrees that last year at this time there were many, many more people lining up to enter St. Peter's Basilica or to visit the other churches.
RAI Vaticano Under News Alert for Eventuality
Our friends at Italian blog Messa in Latino have just learned that RAI Vaticano (the main and historic service covering the Vatican of Italian public radio and television broadcasting giant RAI) has been placed under news alert:
Sermon for Septuagesima 2025
by Fr. Richard Cipolla
This in the Traditional Roman Mass is Septuagesima Sunday, the first of three Sundays before Lent. These Sundays form a season of preparation for Lent. This season is one of the oldest elements of the Church calendar, which was omitted in the calendar changes after the Second Vatican Council with no explanation except they were omitted for pastoral reasons. What these reasons were was never explained, but my guess it was done to make things simpler for Catholics. That these arbitrary reformers thought that practicing Catholics needed simplicity at a time when Tradition and tradition were being attacked in the Western world shows both misunderstanding and contempt.
"The Masses of Holy Week & Tenebrae": A Publication to Assist in Pre-55 Services
Those who are blessed with access to Holy Week in the Tridentine Rite, that is, the rite celebrated for a thousand years and more prior to Pius XII's changes in the mid-1950s, may find helpful a resource published by Os Justi Press: The Masses of Holy Week & Tenebrae, which contains the liturgy (in Latin with English translation) for Palm Sunday, the Triduum Masses, and the Office of Tenebrae, including complete Gregorian chants. Summary rubrics are indicated. No page turning is required. The book features many medieval illustrations as well.
Cristina Campo -- and The World of Tradition, by Roberto de Mattei
Roberto de Mattei
for Voice of the Family
February, 2025
The profound crisis afflicting the Church is traced by many to the reign of Pope Francis, interpreted as a radical split with the pontificates before it. In reality, the very gravity of the crisis, which today pervades every ecclesiastical sphere, from the upper echelons to the smallest local realities, should make it clear to us that this process of self-demolition has remote origins. A reaction to it, however, manifested itself beginning in the 1960s, and knowing its protagonists is indispensable, out of a duty of justice towards those who, before us, fought the good fight.
A Sick Elderly Francis Hates America - Like Biden, Propped Up to Support Leftist Ideology
The current American administration took office three weeks ago. It has been a busy three weeks, but one thing that has surely not happened are "mass deportations"... Deportation procedures and flights have remained what they were under Biden, and still under much lower levels than they were under the previous Democrat administration (Obama).
Still, the fact that nothing in practice has changed so far, other than the pause of funds to NGOs (including those run by certain dioceses), has not prevented Francis from sending a highly unusual, undiplomatic, ideological (under the appearance of syrupy devoutness), and frankly embarrassing letter to "the bishops of the United States of America":
Birth Rate Collapse: Pets Instead of Children? -- Op-Ed by Archbishop Héctor Agüer
Children or Pets?
by Archbishop Héctor Agüer
Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina
Buenos Aires, February 11, 2025
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
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| [The collapse of birth rates in Argentina] |
I read in [the Argentine daily paper] “La Prensa” that, since 2016, births in the City of Buenos Aires have been decreasing. Between January and mid-December 2024, 37,864 births were registered, according to official figures from the Buenos Aires Civil Registry: a twelve percent drop compared to the previous year.
The true enemies of the Church are bad Catholics
On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the anniversary of her first apparition to Saint Bernadette, I offer this reprise from our kind benefactor NC:
It is a well-known account. Sister Marie Bernarde (Bernadette) Soubirous is in the convent of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, it is 1870, war is raging throughout northern France as the Prussian-led German armies march towards Paris. The first printed version of the account,* published while she was still living, is the following. A visitor came to Bernadette at that time and made her the following questions:
- Did you receive, in the grotto of Lourdes, or after then, any revelations related to the future and fate of France? Did not the Blessed Virgin deliver any warning for France, any threats?- No- The Prussians are at our gates; does that not cause you any fear?- No.- There is thus nothing to fear?- I only fear bad Catholics.- You do not fear anything else?- No, nothing else.
Catholic Church leaders are running scared
What would happen if the Holy Father restated some salient items of Catholic dogma?
First of all, I am thinking about this dogma: Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus. This is defined as follows: “We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.) If Pope Francis repeated this, one can only guess at what might happen. At the very least he would utterly destroy 60 years of ecumenical dialogue and cause a massive internal rift within the Catholic Church. He may even have to go into hiding!
Catholic Family News Conference - March 1st-2nd, in Orlando, Florida
Catholic Family News will be holding a Conference near Orlando, Florida on March 1-2, 2025. The theme is the Global Conflict to Implement the Catholic Plan for Social Order, covering a wide array of topics including politics, education and the current challenges traditional Catholics face today.
A Vatican II Moment: Dancing in Front of the Relics of Saint Maria Goretti
The relics of Saint Maria Goretti are on a worldwide tour — and in one of those stops, her martyred body has been subjected to the horror and humiliation of a dance by some apparently “devout” “Catholic youth” that is nothing but mockery of her purity.
“TikTok evangelization,” we guess — video below:
The Role of Sisters in the Church: Truly Appreciating Nuns Consists in Helping Them Live Their Own Vocation - by Abp. Héctor Aguer
Sisters in the Church
Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina
Buenos Aires, February 4, 2025
Pope Francis has discovered that machismo and misogyny reign in his Vatican Curia. And that, therefore, the sisters who work there - numerous in all ranks - are not properly appreciated. He believes that, in order to elevate them, they must be turned into civil servants. In this bureaucratization of the nuns, he has set an example by appointing one as prefect and another as secretary of a dicastery. A belated and curious feminism!
"The Spectacle of a Double Collapse, of the Church and of the State"
We are grateful to David Critchley for providing us with a translation of the Foreword to a recently published collection of essays by the eminent French traditionalist Jean-Pierre Maugendre: Quand la mer se retire: La tragédie de l’Église au XXIe siècle (When the Sea Withdraws: the Tragedy of the Church in the 21st Century) (Contretemps, 2024). Hopefully this entire book will be translated soon. Meanwhile, the Foreword itself is worth sharing for its directness and plain speech.
Foreword by Michel de Jaeghere
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