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.

Two TLM Pilgrimages in 2027 Worth Knowing About – France & Holy Land

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):

Latest Book by Fr. Claude Barthe Compares & Contrasts the Traditional & New Sacramental Rites

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.

Video - Reliving History: Sydney’s Historic Glagolitic High Mass

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"? What about the Econe Consecrations? - by Roberto de Mattei

 But What Is the "State of Necessity"? 

By Roberto de Mattei

August 3, 2026

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."

Does the Society of Saint Pius X really espouse an Ecclesiology of Substitution?

[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). 

Brezhnev Conciliarism: The Progressives Have Already Lost — And They Know It.

 

The Progressives Have Already Lost. 

And They Know It. 

Wanderer (Argentina)

August 3, 2026

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.

Book Review: "The Once and Future Roman Rite" Throws Down the Gauntlet to the Entire Liturgical Revolution

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.

 

Ecclesiology of the Sun and the Moon: the Church’s greatness comes from God, and it cannot be diminished

by Fr. Joannes Petrus

for Rorate Cæli

  

 “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. 

Spaghetti and Windmills: A Reply to Brother Linus on the Canonical Status of the SSPX

This guest article has been contributed by Kennedy Hall, replying to “The Canonical Status of the Society of Saint Pius X: A Theological and Canonical Assessment,” published here on July 28, 2026. As always, views are those of the author and do not represent the official stance of Rorate Caeli.

 

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.

 

New Fundamental Law of the Vatican City State, fully replacing Francis' 2023 version - Full English Translation

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.

The Anti-Nice Faction is Fading in Rome: Archbishop Cordileone's Interview and the Need to Restore the Rights of the Latin Mass ("I don't know how well Cardinal Roche knows the mind of the Holy Father")

Archbishop Cordileone Celebrating the Traditional Mass

Good and proper American bishops are once again being recognized in Rome, and the nomination of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, of San Francisco, to the supreme tribunal of the Catholic Church, the Signatura Apostolica, by Pope Leo XIV last Saturday is just such an example.

The Avant-Garde Champion of Tradition: In Honor of Martin Mosebach on His 75th Birthday

The Avant-Garde Champion of Tradition:

In Honor of Martin Mosebach on His 75th Birthday

by Jan-Heiner Tück for Communio (original in German here)

The writer Martin Mosebach is a novelist of extraordinary worldly experience and descriptive skill, but also a Catholic intellectual who has made a name for himself through his public interventions. His most influential theological book, Häresie der Formlosigkeit (in English, The Heresy of Formlessness), is more than just a contribution to the liturgical debate. In it, Mosebach develops the thesis that form is not an external accessory, but rather the manifestation and vehicle of truth. The liturgy leads people into a reality greater than themselves: the mystery of the sacred. Where forms are experimented with recklessly, where sacred texts are replaced based on criteria of comprehensibility, Mosebach argues that not only the beauty of the liturgy but ultimately its theological substance is at risk of erosion.

Divine Worship Prefect Roche: “Leo will not change Traditionis or go back to Summorum.”

 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).

The Last Communion of St. Jerome - a Book to be Reckoned With

by Fr. Richard Cipolla

for Rorate Cæli

Saint Jerome, El Greco (1590)
The Frick Collection

 The Frick Museum in New York City is not too far from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And yet the venues are radically different. The Met is a large art museum with many rooms and lofty corridors and grand staircases.  But the Frick building was once a home, a large and lovely home indeed, one of the great mansions in New York City. The Frick mansion was built for the industrialist Henry Clay Frick in the mid 1920s in the Beaux Arts style. Frick built the home to house his art collection, mainly paintings, and planned for it to be an art museum after his death, which directive his wife and daughter fulfilled some years after his death.  The collection is amazing, including paintings from the late medieval period through the nineteenth century. My favorite room is the Living Hall, which includes paintings by Holbein, Giovani Bellini and Titian.  Above the fireplace in this room is the portrait of St. Jerome by El Greco. The artist paints St Jerome in full Cardinal’s robes. His face is somewhat gaunt, his hair and long beard are white, his cheek bones stick out, and his dark eyes gaze intently at someone or something just to his left. His face is a face of someone to be reckoned with. 

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.

The Canonical Status of the Society of Saint Pius X: A Theological and Canonical Assessment

[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

Justified, Schismatic, or Neither — The SSPX Consecrations and the Future

Justified, Schismatic, or Neither — The SSPX Consecrations and the Future

A guest article by James Baresel. 

James Martin's Gay Priest Moment: Yet We Remember the John Jay Report that identified 81% of the Abuse Victims as Boys

 

He did it. At last he did it. James Martin, the "LGBT"-obsessed Jesuit, has made a true encomium of "gay priests." 

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...)

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Song of Songs Through the Heart of Jesus Christ

If you’ve ever read the Song of Songs (also called the Canticle of Canticles) in the Old Testament, you probably had more than a few questions about it! What is this very sensuous book about a lover and a beloved doing in the canon of Scripture? 

Cardinal Fernández’s Opera Omnia (dissertationibus haud repertis): An Initial Report

A guest article by Fr. Romano Tommasi.

In 20 Years, 91 Monasteries Have Closed in France — None Among Those Whose Office Is Exclusively in Latin

 In 20 Years, 91 Monasteries Have Closed — None Among Those Whose Office Is Exclusively in Latin

 

By Michel Janva

Le Salon Beige

July 22, 2026

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.

A Vatican II Moment in Mexico

 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).

The July 18th Appeal of the French Faithful to the Bishops of France: Summorum Pontificum must be restored

Appeal of July 18, 2026, to the Bishops of France 

Lex Orandi Union

July 15, 2026

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.

The Challenge of a Synod That Walks Away from Christ

The Challenge of a Synod That Walks Away from Christ

 

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.

Facta Sunt Potentiora Verbis: Words and Deeds in the Law of the Church - Rome and the Écône Consecrations | Roberto de Mattei

By Roberto de Mattei

July 2026

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?

Quo Vadis, Domine? - "Lord, whither goest Thou?": Rome and the Society of Saint Pius X

 

by Côme de Prévigny

for Renaissance Catholique

July 16, 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?

Event: Pilgrimage in Manhattan With Traditional Mass Tomorrow

 There will be a pontifical high at the traditional pilgrimage of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem July 18th. 

More details below:

Your Holiness, Tear Down This Wall ! It's time for Traditionis Custodes to fall.

Traditionis custodes, the cruel document of Francis that aimed to completely (even if gradually) annihilate the Traditional liturgy of the Latin Church, was promulgated on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, exactly five years ago.

Some Notes on Cardinal Fernández’s Mariology: “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ”[1]

Some Notes on Cardinal Fernández’s Mariology: “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ”[1]

 

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: The Latin Mass, Tradition, and Orthodoxy - by Abp. Agüer

Facing God, Rooted in Christ: On Tradition and Orthodoxy

By Archbishop Héctor Aguer

 Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina 

Buenos Aires, Monday, July 13, 2026

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.

Important - Communiqué: SSPX Files Appeal Against Excommunication Decree

 

The Society of Saint Pius X  (SSPX) filed an appeal against the decisions of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) -- a canonical possibility which we mentioned here the day following its publication.

Here is the Communiqué of the SSPX General House:

Communiqué of 13 July 2026.

Traditional Benedictines of Le Barroux Breathe New Life into Millenary Bellefontaine Abbey

 

Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine Abbey Finds a New Community: The Benedictines of Le Barroux Breathe New Life into a Thousand-Year-Old Monastery 

Philippe Marie 

Tribune Chrétienne

July 11, 2026

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."

Contribute to the Reconstruction of Church Burned Down After Overturning of Roe

 

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, former head of Ecclesia Dei and Chief Negotiator: In 2018, It Was the Society That Refused the Agreement

 Archbishop Pozzo: In 2018, It Was the Society That Refused the Agreement 

By Stefano Chiappalone

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

July 7, 2026

The rupture at Écône is "a grave wound to the Church that could have been avoided" eight years ago: it was not the Apostolic See that closed the door, but the Society that demanded Rome acknowledge its own errors and rejected a Declaration that was "the fruit of common work," recalls the former Secretary of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

The SSPX's Ecclesiology of Substitution: Part of the Whole, or a new Whole? — And the Problem with a Crisis that Never Ends.

 This long work by Father Clément Barré, a priest of the Archdiocese of Bordeaux, was published on May 28, 2026, not long before the episcopal consecrations of the Society of Saint Pius X (July 1st, 2026), but months after they had been announced. We post an English translation here for the record of events.

***

The SSPX's Ecclesiology of Substitution 

From the Distinction Between "True Rome" and "False Rome" to the Justification of Consecrations Without a Pontifical Mandate Based on Primary Sources of the SSPX (La Porte Latine, FSSPX Actualités, DICI)

by Father Clément Barré

Archdiocese of Bordeaux

Author's note: This article draws extensively on the work of Father Albert Jacquemain, whom we cite in the introduction. It is from him that we receive the thesis this study seeks to demonstrate.

Introduction

The Society of Saint Pius X, founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, presents itself officially as a work in the service of the Catholic and Roman Church, not as an alternative to it.