Rorate Caeli

McCrery, Architects of Catholic Beauty, chosen to renovate the White House

McCrery Architects, New Carmel, Wyoming


Those familiar with the architectural work of James McCrery know he is among the greats of the 20th and 21st centuries. 

Saint John Henry Newman, Doctor of the Church - Proclamation by Pope Leo XIV -- "For fifty years, I have resisted Liberalism in religion. Never did Holy Church need champions against it more sorely than now!"


His Predecessor of the same name, Leo XIII, created John Henry Newman Cardinal. Today, Leo XIV proclaimed him Doctor of the Church.


From the Bollettino (in Italian).


On July 31, 2025, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience His Most Reverend Eminence Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.


During the same audience, the Holy Father confirmed the affirmative opinion of the Plenary Session of Cardinals and Bishops, Members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, regarding the title of Doctor of the Universal Church, which will soon be conferred on Saint John Henry Newman, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Founder of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in England; born in London (United Kingdom) on February 21, 1801, and died in Edgbaston (United Kingdom) on August 11, 1890.


Cardinal Newman's lifelong struggle was against liberalism in religion. He made that very clear in his famous Biglietto speech, upon the acceptance of the cardinalatial title:

A high point of the Middle Ages: the Dictatus Papae of St. Gregory VII - by Roberto de Mattei


A high point of the Middle Ages: the Dictatus Papae of St. Gregory VII

by Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
July 30, 2025


The pontificate of St. Gregory VII (1073-1085), Ildebrando di Soana, constitutes one of the high points of the Christian Middle Ages. The culmination of the Gregorian pontificate is the Dictatus Papae, a collection of twenty-seven sentences defining the prerogatives of the Pope and his relations with temporal authority, proclaiming the superiority of the Pontiff over the Emperor in the religious and moral sphere and claiming for the Papacy the role of the highest and most eminent power on Earth. The work was probably written between 1075 and 1078, at the height of the conflict with the German sovereign Henry IV, not yet Emperor of Germany, who had initiated the so-called Investiture Controversy against the Church.

Diocesan Traditional Latin Mass stops being celebrated in Sweden

Statement from the congregation responsible for the Mass, celebrated since 2007 in Franciskusgården, in the town of Jonsered:


STATEMENT


For several years, the friars of the Delegation of St. John the Baptist of the Third Order Regular have celebrated Holy Mass at the Franciscan Monastery according to the 1962 Roman Missal, which is the Extraordinary Form of the Church's Liturgy. These Holy Masses, which are usually celebrated at 12:00 on Sundays, have been celebrated in addition to the Ordinary Form of Holy Mass at 10:00.

Conclusion of Major New Economic Research Paper: "Vatican II, in 1962-1965, triggered a decline in worldwide Catholic attendance relative to that in other denominations."

 


From the summary of a major new paper just published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), in Cambridge, Massachusetts, authored by some of the greatest names in Economic research, including the famous Dr. Barro, of Harvard University, Dr. Dewitte, of the University of Oxford, and  Dr. Iannaccone, of Chapman University:


Looking Backward: Long-Term Religious Service Attendance in 66 Countries

Robert J. Barro, Edgard Dewitte & Laurence Iannaccone

Issue Date July 2025


The Detroit Purge


The massive loser annointed by Cupich (and accepted by Francis) to ruin Detroit, Edward Weisenburger, has reached a new phase in his Stalinist conquest of the Archdiocese.

Italian Daily Il Foglio: Where Have All the Bergoglians Gone?

Michelangelo Pistoletto and Fr. Spadaro SJ


BERGOGLIANISM IS OVER

Carlo Langone
July 24, 2025

 

Where have all the Bergoglians gone? Since Pope Francis died, it seems as if they never existed. As if the friends of the enemies of Jesus, the Jesuits, had been suppressed once again, to Pascal's delight... 

For the Feast of Saint Anne: Honouring Grandparents and the Elderly in Catholic Tradition -- and the Catholicization of the African Heritage



Honouring Grandparents and the Elderly in Catholic Tradition:

A Christianised Ganda Cultural Reading



by Michael Kakooza

for Rorate Cæli


Introduction



In 2021, Pope Francis instituted the fourth Sunday of July as the annual World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly in the reformed Roman calendar.  This year, the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly will fall on 27 July 2025.


In the message he issued for the first World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, the pope stated:

 

Think about it: what is our vocation today, at our age? To preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young and to care for the little ones. Never forget this.

It makes no difference how old you are, whether you still work or not, whether you are alone or have a family, whether you became a grandmother or grandfather at a young age or later, whether you are still independent or need assistance. Because there is no retirement age from the work of proclaiming the Gospel and handing down traditions to your grandchildren. … The future of the world depends on this covenant between young and old. … Keeping memory alive is a true mission for every elderly person: keeping memory alive and sharing it with others.



In the following discussion, I wish to contribute to broadening our appreciation of the concepts of grandparents and the elderly within the context of Catholic Tradition, drawing from the wisdom of my own cultural background as a Ugandan Catholic who is attached to the Traditional Latin liturgical heritage. 


Sign Petition to Save the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, in Manhattan


The Village Preservation Society is circulating a petition to have The Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, on East 3rd Street, Manhattan, landmarked and saved -- that is halting Masses this fall. The Archdiocese of New York is being unclear about its future.


From the Petition website, where you are encouraged to sign the petition:

BREAKING: Pope Leo XIV issues exemption to San Angelo Diocese for parish TLM

by Katie Scholl
Posted July 17, 2025

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — In a quiet corner of San Angelo, the past is very much alive. At St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic Parish, the ancient rite of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) — also known as the Extraordinary Form — continues to

11th Edition of the Recreation of the Majestic Procession "Le Grand Sacre d'Angers" in France


 For centuries, the most famous Eucharistic procession in France, as grandiose and ornamented as that of Toledo in Spain, was that of Angers. Shawn Tribe had a great article last March on some of the liturgical beauties used in the past, and now saved in museums.

At least two dead in Israeli destruction of Catholic Church in Gaza: Enough - Updated

 The Cross still stands, after an Israeli attack causes grave damage on the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza:

(Image source: @catholicsat on Twitter)

At least two of our fellow Catholic sisters in Gaza have been killed, and many are injured, including the Parish Priest. In declarations to Vatican News, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa, said the following: “What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church.”

(Image source: Vatican News)


The Cardinal is right: it seems hardly possible that a tank, viewing what was clearly a church (pictured below before the attack) would fire by mistake.

The Newly Canonized Saints of Compiègne: "To the poorest daughter of Carmel, honor speaks louder than fear."


Mother Marie: Sister Blanche...

First Commissary: I forbid you to continue...

Mother Marie: You have the power to force me to silence, but none to command me to it. I represent here the Reverend Mother Prioress and I shall take no orders from you.

A Commissary: Confounded old hag! She cannot be made to hold her tongue, fellow Citizen, but remind her that the Republic has a machine at its disposal that will leave her somewhat short of breath!

First Commissary: Enough! I repeat that you must behave as a true representative of the people! [He turns to Sister Blanche:] Young citizen, you have nothing to fear from us, who are your liberators! Say but one word, and you will find yourself beyond the sway of those who, to better put you in their power, have not feared to offend nature in usurping even the sacred name of "mother". Henceforth, you are under the protection of the Law.

"I felt inspired by God to create an all-blue banner with a circle of stars, like that of the Miraculous Medal. Hence, the European flag is that of Our Lady”. [Arsène Heitz].

 



 


Typically, the European Union is ashamed of the twelve stars of the Madonna.

4 Years of Traditionis Custodes - 4 Years of Lies

 An interview with Christian Marquant, of French association Paix Liturgique:


Paix Liturgique – Dear Christian, what do you mean by the title you chose for this interview?

 

Christian Marquant – That the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which was published exactly four years ago on July 16, 2021, was an extraordinary exercise of manipulation aimed at putting and end once and for all to the increasingly disturbing question of the renewal of those who are known as traditionalists, and whom I prefer to call faithful Catholics.

 

The Broad Ocean of the Latin Rite: What True Liturgical Diversity Looks Like

Recent years have seen a surge in curiosity about the classic Rome rite, its forms, symbols, and history. Everywhere neophytes can be heard asking cautiously about “the Latin Mass,” while those who are more versed in the traditional Catholic world may be found disputing the merits and shortcomings of the ’62 missal and the Office of St. Pius X, or extolling the glories of the pre-’55 Holy Week.

Mad Hatter Francis "Liturgist" Andrea Grillo: The Bishops Were All Wrong, I'm Right -- plus a major assessment by Sandro Magister of the Lies on which Traditionis custodes were based

 


Weeks after mocking soon to be canonized Carlo Acutis for having faith in the Blessed Sacrament -- a public statement that was so shocking that his own university disowned him -- the Mad Hatter of the liturgical world, Andrea Grillo, is again showing his colors. 


He, who was the man behind Francis document Traditionis custodes, establishing a gradual extinction of the Traditional Latin Mass, now does not deny (as many of his liberal friends first try to do) the complete truth that the report by the world's Bishops that preceded Summorum Pontificum is real. In his new piece on this saga of shame (translation below), Grillo now says that, yes, the Bishops' report is all too real, and, yes, it is very positive -- but the bishops were simply wrong.


Let us all recall that Francis put into writing in Traditionis custodes what can only be called a lie: "At this time, having considered the wishes expressed by the episcopate..."; and in the accompanying letter, Francis lied even more shamefully: "With the passage of thirteen years, I instructed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to circulate a questionnaire to the Bishops regarding the implementation of the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. The responses reveal a situation that preoccupies and saddens me, and persuades me of the need to intervene."


What we now know, in fact, was that the situation revealed by the responses was fantastically positive. Whoever persuaded Francis to write the lies that he put in writing created a moment of immense shame and perpetual regret for the good name of the Apostolic See.


Grillo's latest words are a response to the measured analysis of the situation by the prestigious Vaticanist Sandro Magister, also transcribed below.


First, Grillo:

An Interview with Monsignor Bux: "The Bishops weren't responsible for launching the War Against Tradition."

Right after the explosive news on the actual positive nature of the global bishops' report on Summorum Pontificum was published last week, Monsignor Nicola Bux, one of the great liturgical names of our times and a major advisor under Benedict XVI, released a book with more details on the event. We now know that Vatican insiders close to Francis lied about it, and Francis himself did not tell the truth about it (on paper, in Traditionis custodes, the restrictions document).


Monsignor Bux spoke at length about these matters in an interview granted to Stefano Chiappalone, of Italian news website Bussola Quotidiana, and published today:


Msgr. Bux, so it was not the majority of bishops who were pushing to “do away” with the traditional Mass?

The Shifting Sands of Traditionis custodes

by Kevin Tierney
for Rorate Cæli 


Following Diane Montagna’s bombshell revelation of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's summary of the Bishops opinion on Summorum Pontificum, it was wondered by many how the defenders of Traditionis custodes would respond. While the first 24 hours saw a flurry of defenses call into question her reporting (none of them very compelling), defenders have received their talking points and have settled upon a defense. What they do not realize is this defense puts them into an even more precarious position.

Traditionis Custodes "failed": The leak could have been "strategic."



 by Felix Naumann
Katholisch.de
July 3, 2025


The leak could be strategic: For years, only the very negative feedback from the French Bishops' Conference on the survey by the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the “Old Mass” was known - completely in line with Francis. Now that a new pope is in office, who has repeatedly revived traditions abandoned by his predecessor - from the Corpus Christi procession and the handing over of the pallia to new archbishops to the traditional vacation spot - a new picture is being painted.

Dr. Kwasniewski’s Lectures in Spain — Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Madrid, Segovia, Oviedo — July 18 to 25, 2025

I’m pleased to share with Rorate readers the themes and schedule for my lecture tour in Spain later this month. Between July 18 and 25, I’ll be speaking on the traditional Roman liturgy in Seville, Cordoba, Toledo, Madrid, Segovia, and Oviedo, then participating in the 3-day pilgrimage to Covadonga. Lectures will be given in English with a Spanish translation provided.

Even the German Conference news website concedes: Francis lied

 In a piece on the explosive revelation of the generally positive response of the world's bishops to Summorum Pontificum, the news website of the German Bishops' Conference uses the most diplomatic of languages:


Pope Francis appears to have ignored the advice of the bishops previously consulted worldwide when he restricted the Traditional Latin Mass. According to documents that have now become public, the responses to a survey conducted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the implementation of the rules for the pre-conciliar liturgy put in place by Pope Benedict XVI were significantly more positive than the Pope himself presented. [emphasis added] 


Yes: Francis lied. He lied.

Journalist Obtains Exclusive Access to World Report on Summorum Pontificum: Francis' Restrictions Based on Lies

 


American journalist Diane Montagna, who has long covered the Vatican, has obtained an explosive exclusive document: the original summary and report of the Global Assessment of the Application of Summorum Pontificum, the 2007 document by Pope Benedict XVI that freed the Traditional Latin Mass and Liturgy.


Summorum Pontificum itself foresaw a report, in order to adjust any issues with implementation -- and the report now obtained was generally positive. As Montagna reports:

Detroit, Destroyed - July 1st: Detroit's ban on parish Traditional Masses takes effect

  Thousands of souls are without home today, after the generous post-Summorum application in the Archdiocese of Detroit is replaced with episcopal Tradition-hating whim.


Just a few dandelions remain standing from what was a flowering garden...


Let us pray for our abandoned brothers and sisters, and that the Church may have good and holy bishops.

Palestrina 500 Years: Tu Es Petrus

Motet for the Feast of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, in a composition published in 1572 by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), whose 500th birthday is being celebrated this year. 


Tradition and Vocations



My small parish gave birth to a priestly vocation in less than seven years. How did we do it? It’s not rocket science. It’s called Tradition. And this includes the source and summit of Tradition: the holy Mass.


A young man, who was converted away from a worldly and hedonistic lifestyle by exposure to the traditional Latin Mass, quite logically figured out that his continued conversion would more likely than not be best supported by such continued exposure. 

Leo XIV: The First 50 Days -- an Analysis


by Serre Verweij
for Rorate Cæli


It has been 50 days since Pope Leo XIV was elected, but the world does not have a clear picture of him yet. Some cardinals and professional Vatican analysts seem to be getting a more detailed profile of the Pope (one which is apparently more orthodox than many initially had expected), but the world at large does not view him as a new Pope Benedict XVI to be opposed vigorously (yet).

13% of all US Catholics attended a Traditional Latin Mass in the Past 5 Years: Traditional Catholics are 7.1% of all practicing Catholics in America

 


From the Pew Research extensive statistical study of American Catholics:


13% of Catholics say they have attended a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) at least once in the last five years, including 2% who say they attend a TLM weekly today.


Now, let's break this down. 

Abbot of Fontgombault on the Liturgy: "Unity does not mean Uniformity. Actually, Imposing Uniformity is Detrimental to Unity." "We need to get away from the traditionalist-progressive dispute, which is exhausting for everyone, and bring peace back to the altar!"



Interview granted by the Father Abbot of the most influential Traditional abbey in the world, Our Lady of Fontgombault (France), to French Catholic periodical La Nef --  Lothar Rillinger (for Kath.net) and Christophe Geffroy (for La Nef, for complementary questions) are the interviewers.


La Nef
June 2025


Dom Jean Pateau: “Unity is not uniformity”

His Own University is Now Against Him: Andrea Grillo, Francis' Liturgist and the Father of Traditionis Custodes, Hates the Eucharist and Must Have His Imprint Erased

 


Andrea Grillo: has any man done more to rekindle the liturgical wars?


The detestable Italian professor was introduced by some malevolent Vatican spirit to Francis and created the document that would later be signed by the late pope as "Traditionis custodes", whose aim is explicitly to destroy the Traditional Latin Mass in the long term.


But it seems Grillo has at last bitten more than he can chew (or at least at last because it happened during this new pontificate). In an article from early June, the Father of Traditionis Custodes, lambasted Carlo Acutis, the young man beatified by Francis and to be canonized by Leo XIV in October. 

Britain's Total War Against Life


by Fabio Fuiano
for Corrispondenza Romana
June 25, 2025


In recent weeks, the world witnessed an unprecedented escalation in the war between Israel and Iran. A war that could assume the proportions of a global conflict, with a not remote probability that nuclear weapons would be employed. Against this terrible backdrop, the modern West is now helpless and incapable of reacting: instead of acknowledging its own errors, starting with the denial of those Christian roots that constituted the essence of its glorious past, it now seems to be in the grip of a mad rush toward moral suicide. Indeed, the British Parliament, after passing laws to impose penalties on those who interfere, even silently praying, with access to “abortion services,” has gone even further by passing an amendment to existing abortion legislation that “women should be excluded from the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 in relation to their pregnancies, bringing England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland.” The amendment, tabled by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, passed with 379 votes in favor and 137 against.

June of the Sacred Heart - The Communion of Saints and the Sacred Heart


Here is to be found one of the deeper aspects of the dogma of the Communion of Saints. 
The closer one of these privileged souls is to God, the author and source of every good which can adorn and rejoice souls, the greater is her beneficent action on those around. What graces she can demand from the Spouse, wresting them from Him for the whole Church!

The Pope meets French Bishops -- The Traditional Mass Orders Ignored in Vocation Crisis report

 

Projection from 2014 based on active France-bred vocations from religious orders


The gravest crisis in a great part of the Church is that of vocations -- and France is no exception, of course. In Rorate, we have covered it often, including making clear that, with current trends persisting, a huge proportion of active priests in France in a few decades will be those dedicated exclusively or mostly to the Traditional Latin Mass (cf. here, for instance).


Leo XIV met with the outgoing board of the French Bishops' Conference (CEF) last week, and, as Silere non Possum notes, it is the silence on vocations -- particularly of the traditional communities, completely ignored in the bishops' 2025 dramatic report -- that is noteworthy:



Notably absent: the communities linked to the traditional liturgy

Back on Track

O Salutaris Hostia!

Dear friends, Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his Body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you! Jesus’ invitation reflects our daily experience: in order to remain alive, we need to nourish ourselves with life, drawing it from plants and animals. Yet eating something dead reminds us that we too, no matter how much we eat, will one day die. On the other hand, when we partake of Jesus, the living and true Bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God. Our hungry nature bears the mark of a need that is satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist. As Saint Augustine writes, Christ is truly “panis qui reficit, et non deficit; panis qui sumi potest, consumi non potest” (Serm. 130, 2): he is bread that restores and does not run short; bread that can be eaten but not exhausted. The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real, and substantial presence of the Saviour (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), who transforms bread into himself in order to transform us into himself. Living and life-giving, the Corpus Domini makes us, the Church herself, the Body of the Lord.
Leo XIV
Corpus Christi 2025

Restore Individualistic Piety

 

By James Baresel

            In the twentieth chapter of Loss and Gain, Saint John Henry Newman gives an extended description of how Catholics attended Mass: “Each in his place, with his own heart, with his own wants, with his own thoughts, with his own intention, with his own prayers, separate but concordant, watching what is going on, watching its progress, uniting in its consummation;—not painfully and hopelessly following a hard form of prayer from beginning to end, but, like a concert of musical instruments, each different, but concurring in a sweet harmony, we take our part with God's priest.”

Sermon for Corpus Christi 2025

Father Richard Cipolla



From the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to St. John:  “At this the Jews quarreled among themselves saying:’ How can he give us his flesh to eat’”?



Who are these Jews?  These are the co-religionists of Jesus’ time, those who could not bear to hear Jesus’ words about his flesh and blood as real food and real drink.  But “the Jews” are also those who at any time and any place cannot bear to hear these words of Jesus.  They are those who murmur in opposition, they who ask “What is the point of this feast of Corpus Christi?  We have Holy Thursday to celebrate the institution of the Eucharist. That is a logical feast.  Why this other feast, what is the point, and what does this tell us, what does this teach us, what difference does this feast make in my life?”

Leo XIV on Politics to Politicians: Cicero and Saint Thomas More


In order to have a shared point of reference in political activity, and not exclude a priori any consideration of the transcendent in decision-making processes, it would be helpful to seek an element that unites everyone. To this end, an essential reference point is the natural law, written not by human hands, but acknowledged as valid in all times and places, and finding its most plausible and convincing argument in nature itself. In the words of Cicero, already an authoritative exponent of this law in antiquity, I quote from De Re Publica: “Natural law is right reason, in accordance with nature, universal, constant and eternal, which with its commands, invites us to do what is right and with its prohibitions deters us from evil... No change may be made to this law, nor may any part of it be removed, nor can it be abolished altogether; neither by the Senate nor by the people, can we free ourselves from it, nor is it necessary to seek its commentator or interpreter. And there shall be no law in Rome, none in Athens, none now, none later; but one eternal and unchanging law shall govern all peoples at all times” (III, 22).

Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage to Rome - 2025 (100th Anniversary of the Feast of Christ the King) - Under the Patronage of Cardinal Burke



The Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage will take place in Rome for the 14th time, concluding on the Sunday of Christ the King, October 26. This exceptional pilgrimage, in the first year of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate, has the particularity of taking place during the Holy Year and the 100th anniversary of Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quas Primas, on the institutional kingship of Christ.

Two Traditional Pastors Removed in Under Three Years - Is This What Pastoral Care Looks Like?

The following article was submitted by a reader to Rorate. We publish it here without further comment. Since the time of writing, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh has picked up the story (see here and here). - PAK

Over the last few years, parish mergers have become the norm here in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Our parish, Mary, Queen of Saints, is comprised of four churches in four different communities throughout Beaver County. We've been blessed with Benedictine monks from St. Vincent Monastery in Latrobe, PA who have served as pastors and parochial vicars. Our parish has been thriving - packed churches, young families, an increase of converts to the faith, baptisms, and weddings. 

Nuclear Thoughts


 Morality and the Atom Bomb

by Roberto de Mattei
Corrispondenza Romana
June 18, 2025


The war between Israel and Iran, which overlaps with the war between Russia and Ukraine, makes the international scenario increasingly alarming. Let us leave aside the historical, political, and economic context in which these wars arose and developed and dwell on the moral problem on the horizon. In the Cold War era, the balance between the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, was ensured by the strategy of “deterrence,” or “mutual assured destruction” (MAD), according to which nuclear weapons, due to their destructive potential, constituted a tool to deter the enemy from an attack that would have a devastating response. Nuclear arsenals had as their sole purpose “to nullify nuclear weapons” (Herman Kahn, Philosophy of Atomic Warfare, tr. it., Il Borghese, Milan 1966, p. 138). In the post-modern era following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, there are no longer any shared international rules. The use of nuclear weapons is evoked, for example, by Vladimir Putin, as a means to rebalance military inferiority in the field of conventional weapons or, in the case of Iran, as a strategic goal to be achieved to destroy the State of Israel. One of the rules of deterrence was not to take the name of the bomb in vain. The verbal escalation we are witnessing could lead to actual war more quickly than we can imagine.