by Professor Massimo Viglione*
"The only hope for a new beginning lies in the new scribes, the new monasteries, the heroic minds of Vichiana memory, the new academies, and the promising gardens, such as the one a stone's throw from barbaric, forgetful and rather dissolute Rome."
What would you say if one day you found yourself among gatherings of young people from all over the world speaking to each other in Latin and Ancient Greek, attending lessons on Plato in the original language, painting mythological scenes from the classical world, playing music on traditional instruments, discussing Homer and Virgil, reading books and taking notes, without cell phones or artificial intelligence? Probably that you were dreaming or suffering from an ex post facto hallucination, the effect of a cultural withdrawal from the classics.
On October 16, 1793, what was perhaps the most disgusting crime of the French Revolution took place: the execution of the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, after a sham trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal. Plinio Correa de Oliveira wrote of Marie Antoinette: "There are certain souls who are only great when the winds of misfortune blow upon them. Marie Antoinette, who was futile as a princess and unforgivably frivolous in her life as queen, was transformed in a surprising way when faced with the vortex of blood and misery that flooded France; and the historian verifies, with respect, that a martyr was born from the queen and a heroine from the doll."
The Co-Redemptrix and Mater Populi Fidelis
by Father Pierre LaLiberté*, JCD/PhD
for Rorate Cæli
The document Mater Populi Fidelis of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, specifically in numbers 17 and 18 gives a undeservedly over-simplified overview of this important doctrine of the Catholic Faith. The fact that Our Lady cooperated in the work of the Redemption, at least mediately, is a de fide teaching. To doubt it would incur theological censure.
DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
Mater Populi Fidelis
Presentation
The present Note responds to numerous requests and proposals that have reached the Holy See in recent decades, and particularly this Dicastery, regarding questions pertaining to Marian devotion and certain Marian titles. These are questions that have concerned recent Popes and have been repeatedly addressed in the last thirty years in various areas of study within the Dicastery, such as Congresses and Ordinary Assemblies. This has enabled the Dicastery to compile an abundant and rich body of material that nourishes the present reflection.
Even when it is a question of the execution of a condemned man, the State does not dispose of the individual's right to life. In this case it is reserved to the public power to deprive the condemned person of the enjoyment of life in expiation of his crime when, by his crime, he has already disposed himself of his right to live.
In 2017 Pope Francis spoke, in a not dissimilar context:
Those pastors who argue for the need to change teaching on homosexuality and other moral issues should be reminded that “the Church does not have the authority to change ‘even one iota or one sign’ ” of Revelation, of which the Catechism is a faithful interpreter. The Catechism can “change,” or develop, only in the sense of advancing understanding of the doctrine, but without distorting it. La Bussola interviews Fr. Nicola Bux.
On Friday evening, October 24, in Rome, in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), presided over solemn Vespers in the ancient rite in the context of the 14th “Summorum Pontificum ad Petri Sedem” Pilgrimage, commonly referred to as “the Jubilee of the Traditionalists.”
29For the faithful departed
If this be true, doubtless also the providing for the interment of bodies a place at the Memorials of Saints, is a mark of a good human affection towards the remains of one's friends. Yet it follows not that the bodies of the departed are to be despised and flung aside, and above all of just and faithful men, which bodies as organs and vessels to all good works their spirit has holily used. For if a father's garment and ring, and whatever such like, is the more dear to those whom they leave behind, the greater their affection is towards their parents, in no wise are the bodies themselves to be spurned, which truly we wear in more familiar and close conjunction than any of our putting on. For these pertain not to ornament or aid which is applied from without, but to the very nature of man. Whence also the funerals of the just men of old were with dutiful piety cared for, and their obsequies celebrated, and sepulture provided: and themselves while living did touching burial or even translation of their bodies give charge to their sons.
And when this affection is exhibited to the departed by faithful men who were most dear to them, there is no doubt that it profits them who while living in the body merited that such things should profit them after this life. But even if some necessity should through absence of all facility not allow bodies to be interred, or in such places interred, yet should there be no pretermitting of supplications for the spirits of the dead: which supplications, that they should be made for all in Christian and Catholic fellowship departed, even without mentioning of their names, under a general commemoration, the Church has charged herself withal; to the intent that they which lack, for these offices, parents or sons or whatever kindred or friends, may have the same afforded unto them by the one pious mother which is common to all. But if there were lack of these supplications, which are made with right faith and piety for the dead, I account that it should not a whit profit their spirits, howsoever in holy places the lifeless bodies should be deposited.
- From the book of St. Augustine, the Bishop, on the Care for the Deceased, Cap. 2 & 3
Mark well how Jesus goeth upward with His disciples, and downward to the multitude. How should the multitude behold Christ, save in a lower place? Such go not up to the things which are above; such attain not to the things which are high. And when Jesus cometh down, He findeth such as are diseased, for such like go not up to the heights. Hence also Matthew saith that there were there all sick people, iv. 23. Of these every man had need of healing, that, when he had received strength, by and by, he might go up into the mountain. And therefore, being Himself come down, He healeth them in the plain, that is to say, He calleth them away from their lust, and freeth them of their blindness. He cometh down to our wounds, to the end that by a certain use of His nature, and by the abundance thereof, He might make us joint-heirs of the kingdom of heaven.
German public broadcaster ZDF has for decades presented Sunday "divine services": Evangelical and Catholic. This past Sunday, for the first time, the Catholic "mass" was a "Queer Divine Service." We take the opportunity to remind all that Traditionis custodes, the document that attempted to abolish the Traditional Rite of the Latin Church, had the illegitimate audacity of stating: "The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite."*
by Serre Verweij
This was the first year in a while that I did not attend the annual Summorum Pontificum Conference in Rome. My memory of last year’s conference--the laity held up in the lines to get through security, the singing of one of the minor Hours of the liturgical day at the Confessio instead of a Mass that had been forbidden, the feeling of being treated like strangers in a place that is near the very heart of the Church--all this contributed to my decision to stay home. And this in spite of the remarkable papal decision to allow Cardinal Burke, whom I love as a friend, to celebrate Pontifical Mass in the Traditional Roman Rite at the altar of the Throne. And this in spite of Cardinal Zuppi’s celebration of Solemn Vespers at San Lorenzo in Lucina on Friday evening.
The event has an importance—even symbolic—far greater than one might imagine today; and its memory deserves to be handed down to the reflection of tomorrow's historians.
It was around 2:30 p.m. when the singing of the Creed echoed under the majestic vaults of St. Peter's Basilica, intoned with powerful voices by a procession of over two hundred priests, advancing slowly, followed by thousands of faithful participating in the 14th International Pilgrimage Ad Petri Sedem.
The always fantastic AROUCA PRESS has just released a great book for these times of crisis in the Chuch, Spes Nostra (Our Hope), a book dedicated to reminding us of the good and spiritual things of Catholic life to strengthen us in our weary days:
Father Danziec writes for French weekly newsmagazine Valeurs Actuelles on the Pontifical Mass of the Rome pilgrimage celebrated on October 25, 2025, by Cardinal Burke in the Vatican Basilica
Leo XIV: Liturgical pacification in Rome?
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Yesterday, a Latin Mass was celebrated in the traditional rite at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Attended by a huge crowd of faithful, the ceremony was authorized by Pope Leo XIV. A sign of détente?
(source)
Standing Room Only at the Return of the Old Rite to Saint Peter's
Reinstated after a three-year ban, the traditional liturgy fills the Vatican Basilica: over two thousand people attend the pontifical Mass celebrated by Cardinal Burke for the annual Summorum Pontificum gathering. High numbers and a low average age testify to the excellent health of the faithful attached to the Vetus Ordo.
Rome has not been the only place in the Catholic world in these past few days where bishops and priests have cooperated to make the Church's venerable and ancient rite more available to God's faithful people.
Today, at the chapel of Saint John's in Forest Glen, Silver Spring, Maryland, a solemn high Mass for the feast of Christ the King, observed on the last Sunday of October annually in the traditional calendar as established by Pope Pius XI in 1925, was offered by priests stationed in the Archdiocese.
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| (Cardinal Burke in St. Peter's, at the main evening news broadcast in Italy, TG1) |
It is the source of deepest joy for me to offer the Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair of Saint Peter as the culmination of the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage of 2025. In the name of all present, I express heartfelt gratitude to those who have labored so diligently and well to make possible the Pilgrimage. I am offering the Holy Mass for the faithful in the Church throughout the world, who labor to safeguard and promote the beauty of the Usus Antiquior of the Roman Rite. May today’s offering of the Pontifical Mass encourage and strengthen us all in love of our Eucharistic Lord Who, through Apostolic Tradition and with unfailing and immeasurable love for us, renews sacramentally His Sacrifice on Calvary and nourishes us with the incomparable fruit of His Sacrifice: the Heavenly Food of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Deo gratias!
Guest writer, Mark Rose - Founder & Executive Director of Heed, a nonprofit that supports eremitic vocations
In an age defined by ceaseless activity, digital distraction, and a near-compulsory social engagement, the eremitical vocation stands as a profound and jarring contradiction. To the modern mind, the hermit’s life of withdrawal, silence, and hidden prayer seems not only anachronistic but useless—a flight from the pressing needs of the world. Yet, from the perspective of the Faith, this radical retreat is not an abandonment of humanity but a deeper plunge into the heart of the Mystical Body. The hermit, hidden with Christ in God, stands in the breach, offering a spiritual warfare of prayer and penance that is mysteriously fruitful for the salvation of souls.
With the conclusion of the 10th Pax Liturgica Meeting at the Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum, which we reported on live in previous articles, the 14th Peregrinatio ad Petri Sedem has officially begun: the editorial staff of MiL-Messainlatino.it is and will be present for all three days!
[Note: Aldo Maria Valli is the famous retired Vaticanist of Italian public broadcaster RAI.]
October 23rd
2025
Dear Aldo Maria,
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Sunday, November 2, 2025 • 5:00 p.m.Mass Venue: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 6301 Woodbine Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
From Easthampton, in the Connecticut River valley of Massachusetts, comes this fantastic report on the power of the Traditional Latin Mass for a new generation of young Catholics and their large families.
Main excerpts, from the Daily Hampshire Gazette:
EASTHAMPTON — It’s a fallacy to say that young people are only into new things.
First, those who love the traditional Mass are excluded, and then they are accused of excluding. They are set apart, and then that marginalization is used as proof that they are “divisive.” It is a perfect circle of exclusion and blame. But the reality should be precisely the opposite: when the Vetus Ordo coexists with the ordinary form, it does not generate division, but rather a fruitful balance. This is what Benedict XVI stated in Summorum Pontificum and in his letter to the bishops: the two forms of the Roman rite should not be in conflict, but should coexist in peace. Where this has been correctly applied, parishes and seminaries have filled again.
(Repost from 2017)
Benedict XVI
[Corriere della Sera, April 15, 2017]Nihil Operi Dei praeponatur - "Let nothing be set before the Divine Worship." With these words, Saint Benedict, in his Rule (43,3), established the absolute priority of Divine Worship in relation with any other task of monastic life. This, even in monastic life, was not necessarily obvious, because for monks the work in agriculture and in knowledge was also an essential task.
This is the official letter of the Bishop Beckman annihilation of the Traditional Latin Mass in Knoxville (East Tennessee):
39% of priests in the United States ordained after the year 2000 consider access to the Traditional Latin Mass a priority -- 1in 4, compared with just 11%, or 1 in 10, for priests ordained before 1980.
Cardinal Sarah granted an interview to Tribune Chrétienne from his home in Rome (video, in French, at the end). In it, he had important words regarding a matter close to his heart, the Traditional Latin Mass, and the traditionalist faithful:
[Interviewer:] In Saint-Anne d'Auray, you reminded us that man is great when he is on his knees. A man is great when he is on his knees. So, we know your attachment to traditional liturgy. You recently said that you hoped that the motu proprio Traditionis custodes might be amended. Today, well, there is nothing really new. What do you expect from the new pope with regard to this motu proprio, which has been particularly painful in France, due to the sometimes very clumsy application of this motu proprio by certain bishops? Do you hope that it will be modified at least, or withdrawn?
The cruelty taking place under Leo XIV is becoming loud and deafening. Rome does nothing.
Tragic.
And not even one alternative venue was offered in a diocese of 14,000 square miles occupying all of East Tennessee. The current bishop was named by Francis last year.
Document below:
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| The paralytic healed by Jesus (James Tissot) |
Leo XIV's first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te ("I have loved you"), signed on October 4, 2025, and published on October 9, deserves our attention more than some of the pope's interviews, which are sometimes given excessive media coverage. We are faced not with a few words, but with a comprehensive document comprising 121 paragraphs, divided into five chapters plus an introduction. As has been noted, it is not a social encyclical, but an apostolic exhortation. An encyclical is a doctrinal document, while an apostolic exhortation is a pastoral document, which does not define principles, but exhorts us to behave in a certain way.
