Via Messa in Latino; the Roche report against the Mass at the end, made available by Diane Montagna:
Nico Spuntoni for Il Giornale
January 13, 2026
Almost a week has passed since the extraordinary Consistory, and curiosity remains about what the Pope and the cardinals said behind closed doors in the new Synod hall.
As Il Giornale had anticipated on December 16, the four topics brought to the twenty working tables were a re-reading of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, the Synod and synodality, an in-depth study of the Apostolic Constitution Predicate Evangelium, and the liturgy. However, only the first two were the focus of the Consistory's work. This was because during the first session, the cardinals were asked to make a choice dictated by the limited time available.
Thus, the two sessions on the final day were introduced by reports from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, on Evangelii gaudium and synodality, respectively. Il Giornale can reveal the content of these texts, which in some ways outline a program of government.
No to the obsessive proclamation of doctrine
Fernández, one of Francis' most trusted men, wrote (and read in the hall) that “there may certainly be changes compared to the previous pontificate, but the challenge posed by Evangelii Gaudium cannot be buried.” The appeal of the head of the former Holy Office is to “re-read” the first apostolic exhortation according to which the proclamation is not “an obsessive proclamation of all the doctrines and norms of the Church.” According to the Argentine prefect, evangelization “requires creativity.” Reflection on the Gospel involves “two concrete requests,” which are “the need to remain open to reforming our practices, styles, and organizations, aware that often our patterns may be the best” and “the need to frequently review the content of our sermons and interventions” so as not to end up “always talking about the same doctrinal, moral, bioethical, and political issues.”
Consensus from the Synod
The other report read in the hall was that of Cardinal Grech dedicated to the Synod. The Maltese cardinal said that “it is always up to the bishop of Rome to convene, accompany, conclude, and—if necessary—suspend the synodal process. In no way do the Synod of Bishops and the exercise of synodality limit the exercise of primacy.” For Grech, the symbolic face of the synodal Church of the Bergoglian pontificate, “it is also possible to hypothesize a multi-level exercise of synodality, which provides for a differentiated involvement of the subjects depending on the issues to be dealt with.” Grech calls for a sort of multiplication of synodality, which includes the convocation of the College of Cardinals itself, as well as the “desirable periodic meeting of the Holy Father with the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences.” According to the cardinal, the Synod should “offer the Bishop of Rome a consensus on the issue at hand.” He also calls for “an informal way of exercising synodality” and defends the work done in recent years, arguing that “the orderly exercise of synodality is already bearing fruit,” including, in his view, an “evident impact on missionary zeal.”
The unread reports
But not knowing which of the four topics would be chosen, the cardinals also had on their table reports on Predicate Evangelium and liturgy that had been prepared by Cardinal Fabio Baggio and Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In the first case, it seems significant that the Pope entrusted Baggio, currently a simple secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with the task of reporting on the reform of the Curia desired by Francis. This choice could foreshadow a possible career advancement for Cardinal Baggio, who is highly esteemed by Leo XIV. The text, viewed by Il Giornale, proposes a “Roman Curia at the service of the Church's mission.” For Baggio, the reform desired by Bergoglio provides “the universal Church with a service structure that responds more adequately and effectively to the missionary challenges of our time, a renewed exercise of the ‘aggiornamento’ initiated by the Second Vatican Council.”
But according to the cardinal, Praedicate Evangelium does not only say that the Curia is at the service of the Pope, but that “it is also at the service of the bishops, both individually and collectively, and of the Episcopal Conferences.” The reform uses “healthy decentralization” as a criterion and wants the Curia to leave “to the competence of the bishops the faculty to resolve (...) issues that they know well and that do not affect the unity of doctrine.” This report also speaks of a “reform (...) that aims to give the Church the face of synodality” and calls for “the dicasteries and offices of the Roman Curia to be primarily ‘centers of listening.’”
Roche and the Tridentine Mass
Roche's report, on the other hand, has been the subject of debate, even though it has remained only on paper. An anonymous cardinal told Niwa Limbu of The Catholic Herald that the prefect's document was “quite negative about the traditional Mass.” These words have aroused much curiosity about the report, which has remained unpublished until now. Once again, Il Giornale can reveal its contents today and confirm that it was indeed not at all favorable toward the so-called ancient liturgy.
The text states that “the liturgical reform desired by the Second Vatican Council is not only in full harmony with the truest sense of tradition, but constitutes a lofty way of serving tradition so that the latter, like a great river, may lead the Church to the port of eternity.” The British cardinal adds that “without legitimate progress, tradition would be reduced to a collection of dead things, not all of them healthy; without healthy tradition, progress risks becoming a pathological search for novelty, which cannot generate life.” But the ‘broadside’ against lovers of the so-called Tridentine Mass comes at the end. Roche acknowledges that “the application of the reform has suffered and continues to suffer from a lack of formation, and this is the urgent issue to be addressed, starting with the seminaries,” but then goes on to defend the restrictions he has placed on the celebration in the extraordinary form.
For this reason, he cites Francis' apostolic letter “Desiderio desideravi,” which further rejected the liberalization granted by Benedict XVI in 2007, and writes that “we cannot return to that ritual form that the conciliar fathers, cum petro and sub petro, felt the need to reform, approving, under the guidance of the Spirit and according to their conscience as pastors, the principles from which the reform arose.” And so there is the claim of the document that has once and for all shelved Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum: “I wrote Traditionis Custodes so that the Church might raise, in the variety of languages, one and the same prayer capable of expressing her unity.” In his report on the liturgy, therefore, Roche does not back down but doubles down on Francis' restrictions, writing:
"The use of the liturgical books that the Council wanted to reform has been, from St. John Paul II to Francis, a concession that in no way provided for its promotion. Pope Francis – while granting, in accordance with Traditionis Custodes, the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum – has indicated the path of unity in the use of the liturgical books promulgated by the holy popes Paul VI and John Paul II, in accordance with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman rite."
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The Roche report delivered in print to the cardinals in consistory:
