Catholicism in France is safe. Its future is sound and bright. The one million Catholics lining the streets of Paris for the Successor of Saint Peter show its immense and renewed vitality.
And with a Catholic France in her heart, a Christian Europe is certain, no matter what difficulties may come.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto!
From the Pope's homily today at the Place de la Concorde:
Dear friends, it is from the Incarnation — “God sent forth his Son” — that the identity of the Church flows, for she is called always to be a Church “going forth”.
The impressive figure, which Rorate had foreseen years ago, has now become reality: according to the French opinion pollster IFOP, headed by Jerôme Fourquet, 55% of priests aged 25-34, celebrate the Traditional Mass.*
A Ratzingerian Reading of Assisi Prevails over the Spirit of Abu Dhabi
Pope Leo's Vatican has released A Journey of Hope, a document celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council's declaration on the Church's relation to non-Christian religions. It is signed by three dicasteral prefects — Cardinal Fernández for the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Koch for the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Cardinal Koovakad for the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue — as well as by the secretaries of all three dicasteries (Archbishop Matteo, Archbishop Pace, and Msgr. Kankanamalage, respectively).
From October 7 to 14, 2026, the announced gathering will take place at the Vatican between Pope Leo XIV, the heads of the Eastern Catholic Churches sui iuris, and the presidents of the Bishops' Conferences. The event is conceived with the aim of "proceeding, in mutual listening, to a synodal discernment on the steps to be taken to proclaim the Gospel to families today, in the light of Amoris Laetitia and taking into account what is being realized in the local Churches."
Dear brothers in the Episcopate,
In response to the request of the Bishops of Peru and on the occasion of the third centenary of the canonization of Saint Turibius de Mogrovejo, patron saint of the Bishops of Latin America, I warmly greet you in the Lord and I thank you for the service that you render each day. As I address these words to you, my heart is once again filled with gratitude for the privilege of having exercised episcopal ministry in Peru. There I came to know first-hand the faith of a people from whom I received so much, and I came to understand better what it means to be a shepherd. That experience brought me particularly close to Saint Turibius, who also came from afar to a land that he eventually made his own through pastoral charity.
Twelve Issues, Uncomfortable Truths, and a Catholic Way Forward
I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is that the Catholic Church is in crisis. The good news is that she has been here before. Indeed, anyone with even a passing familiarity with Church history sometimes gets the impression that crisis is one of the few genuinely enduring Catholic traditions. We have had corrupt popes, worldly bishops, heresies, schisms, revolutions, persecutions, and liturgical committees. And yet here we are.
Grateful for this insightful analysis via Facebook that aligns closely with many of my own experiences and diagnostics. A bishop’s remonstrance to his young priests urging they never allow the young people to see the “old Mass”, for fear they would prefer it to the new, comes to mind. The denial and concealment the enemies of the Faith used for many years is no longer possible with the collective access and common memory provided by the Internet.
The Case of Cardinal Müller
The saddening doctrinal note Mater Populi Fidelis, promulgated a year ago by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Leo XIV, belittles the greatness of the Blessed Virgin by denying her Coredemption — that is, her participation in the acquisition of the graces of our salvation through the merits of her Compassion — as well as her universal mediation in the dispensation of graces. No one is surprised that Cardinal Fernández denies this traditional doctrine, given the lack of doctrinal credibility and moral authority of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, despite the holy office he holds. On the other hand, more than a few Catholics will be surprised to learn that Cardinal Müller, who in recent years has acquired a reputation as a defender of the faith for certain praiseworthy positions on other subjects, has made remarks about the Blessed Virgin that are not in keeping with the perennial teaching of the Magisterium. He has clearly declared himself against the doctrine of Mary's Coredemption, and has written ambiguous pages on the dogma of her Perpetual Virginity.
One of the readers sent us the following detailed report:
As announced from the pulpit in a prepared statement, in lieu of the homily on the 16th Sunday after Pentecost: Traditionis Custodes is taking effect at Toronto Oratory parishes effective immediately, including the Modern Roman Rite Mass replacing the Sunday Traditional Latin Mass on successive Sundays once a month at each parish.
The DDW has just published the Summarium Decretorum of 2025, and this is the full list of permissions officially granted last year. Here are all the "permissions" granted for celebration according to the 1962 Roman Missal (the Extraordinary Form), extracted from the document and translated:
January 16 — Prot. N. 683/24, Diocese of Kalisz (Poland)
We gladly grant, for a further two years, permission to celebrate according to the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962, in the parish church dedicated to God in honor of Saints Adalbert and Stanislaus, belonging to the Military Ordinariate of Poland, in the city of Kalisz.
January 16 — Prot. N. 10/25, Diocese of Siedlce (Poland)
We gladly grant permission to celebrate according to the Roman Missal promulgated by Saint John XXIII in 1962, in the parish church dedicated to God in honor of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr, in the city of Siedlce.
January 16 — Prot. N. 15/25, Archdiocese of Taipei (Taiwan)
Leo XIV is not afraid to completely abrogate the measures adopted by his predecessor when he deems them unnecessary -- in this case, the reduction of stipends in the Holy See, including to Cardinals, and of pay increases, determined by this previous motu proprio.
Motu Proprio of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV
Vatican, September 1, 2026, the second year of the Pontificate
The Despair of Our Time
In recent days, news has surfaced of the approval in Veneto of a regional law regulating assisted suicide. Veneto is the fourth region to pass such legislation, but the first governed by a center-right administration. The fact therefore carries a political and cultural significance that extends well beyond regional borders: it shows how the principle of absolute self-determination has now penetrated coalitions that, at least nominally, are supposed to be committed to the defense of life, the family, and the natural order.
The final program of the "Summorum Pontificum" Peregrinatio ad Petri Sedem (Rome) was made public today.
What is noteworthy is that, unlike last year, there will not be a Pontifical Mass at the Vatican Basilica; after the pilgrimage and prayers there, the Saturday Mass will be at Saint Mary Major. Also, both pontifical Masses will be celebrated by Bishop Schneider, and not a cardinal, as in the past years.
Sign of the times?...
Schedule of the Pilgrimage
Ad Petri Sedem
which will take place in Rome from october 23 to 25, 2026
(registration is not necessary to participate in the pilgrimage)
Friday October 23, 2026
Heiligenkreuz: Theologians Welcome the Exclusion of Father Waldstein
[Note: Kathpress is the official news agency of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, dominated by extreme liberals, so their characterization of Father Waldstein should be read accordingly.]
Austrian theologians have expressed relief at the suspension of Father Edmund Waldstein from his teaching position at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Benedikt XVI in Heiligenkreuz.
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By François Savy, for Le Salon Beige
In his article À quand la paix liturgique ? (When will there be liturgical peace?), in the July-August 2025 issue (no. 382) of La Nef, Christophe Geffroy raised a question to which the consecrations recently conferred within the Society of Saint Pius X give particular prominence. In it, he championed the equality in "value and holiness" of the two forms of the Roman rite, and reproached the "priests who refuse any celebration of the new ordo" for contesting this value and holiness "because they judge this liturgy to be 'deficient'." However, it turns out that the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith specifically mentioned the "legitimacy of the Novus Ordo Missae" in the preamble to the procedure allowing clerics of the Society of Saint Pius X to return to full communion after the consecrations.
This past fortnight, at least two additional diocesan bishops were involved in Traditional Mass activities.
In the new FSSP mission in San Jacinto church, in Guale, the local archbishop, Abp. Eduardo Castillo Pino, celebrated the Traditional Mass:
by Father Richard Cipolla
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body.”
By Mark Lambert via Twitter
This is genuinely encouraging news from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Bishop Evelio Menjívar has appointed Fr Timothy J. Grassi as Episcopal Delegate for Matters Concerning the Usus Antiquior explicitly “to foster greater unity among the Catholic faithful and provide for their various spiritual needs.”
The Church Will Not Be Saved by Bureaucrats Who Think Everything Must Change
There is a peculiar mistake common among modern people: when they discover that the Church is full of sinners, they conclude that Christianity has failed. This is rather like discovering that a hospital is full of sick people and concluding that medicine does not work.
Cardinal Sarah: "For Priests, the Ancient Mass Is the One That Helps Them Celebrate Better"
The denunciation of liturgical abuses is one of the signature themes of Cardinal Robert Sarah, former Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. The cardinal has returned to the subject in his latest book, Il Cantico dell'Agnello: Musica sacra e liturgia celeste (The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and the Heavenly Liturgy), co-authored with Peter Cater and published by Cantagalli.
Your Eminence, in your view, does an aversion to Latin and Gregorian chant exist in certain sectors of the Church?
'In this final version I have been forced to level the charge of atheism against the Council'.
A guest article by Joseph Bevan, author of Two Families and Traddy Daddy.
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| School children in 1947 (source) |
Rorate Caeli is delighted
to report that “Vatican II and the Eclipse of God” ‘A Critique of the Council’ by Don Pietro Leone has finally been published.
Readers will recall that Rorate had the honour of posting
instalments of this very important work over a period of two years. (See note)* Since then, the author has added further analysis to the original texts.
Below is the link to Loreto Publications and a short presentation of the book. Readers can look forward to an interview with Don Pietro Leone in which he discusses
his new book and which will be posted in
the following days.
(N.B. Please note this book is not to be confused by the release of a book with a
similar title:’The Eclipse of God’ by Dr. Erwin Lutzer in 2024).
https://loretopubs.org/eclipse-of-god-paperback.html
It is long past the time when faithful Catholics must
cease any pretense that anything good has come from Vatican II. The revolution
has done its work and has failed to produce anything but chaos and destruction,
and those of us still attentive to God’s will and not our own must begin to
pick up the pieces of a shattered civilization and endeavour to rebuild. To
that end, we at Loreto Publications offer this magnificent analysis of the
Council and its moral, theological, and philosophical failings, so that Holy
Mother Church and Our Lady’s faithful children may rise up with knowledge and
courage to build up once again, under the banner of the Immaculata, the wounded
Mystical Body of Christ in today’s world, where even the most rudimentary
knowledge of the Truth seems to be in eclipse.
The Editor
Let us listen to his words:
Dear brothers and sisters,
A Pontifical Commissioner and a Bishop Deposit Coca Leaves in an "Earth Offering": Jordi Bertomeu as Offerer at a Pachamama Ceremony
Infovaticana
August 18, 2026
The Southern Macroregional Encounter "Interweaving Voices for Dignity" — presented by Vatican News as part of the preparation for Pope Leo XIV's upcoming visit to Peru — opened without any Catholic prayer whatsoever. In its place, a ritual invoking Mother Earth was performed, with the distribution of coca leaves, guided breathing exercises, and food offerings placed on the ground.
Father Richard Cipolla
This is the specific part of the interview dedicated to it (our transcript):
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.
Recorded for Father John Zuhlsdorf and his readers, it is a message of hope:
