Cardinal Koch, Prefect of Christian Unity, on the SSPX Consecrations: "We need to rethink Traditionis custodes, especially for those faithful who feel drawn to this liturgy without sharing the ideology of the SSPX."

The Illicit Episcopal Ordinations of the Society of St. Pius X

Interview with Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity

[Update: we had erred in the transcription of the name of the interviewer, Prof. Dr. Jan-Heiner Tück. We thank the German-language edition of Communio for allowing us to publish our translation of their podcast. The podcast is available in German on Spotify.] 

Communicatio (Podcast of the German edition of Catholic Journal Communio)

July 2, 2026

Jan-Heiner Tück: Yesterday, on July 1, 2026, the two bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, ordained 4 traditionalist priests as bishops in Écône, Switzerland, without a papal mandate. This brings the conflict history between the Popes and the Society of St. Pius X, which has been simmering since the 1970s, to a conclusion. In this episode of the podcast Communicatio, I am speaking about this significant event in the history of the Catholic Church with Kurt Cardinal Koch, who has been the Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity since 2010. My name is Jan-Heiner Tück. I am a co-publisher and managing editor of the journal Communio.

***

[Interviewer:] Cardinal Koch, how do you, as a theologian and bishop who comes from Switzerland and worked there for a long time, classify the illicit episcopal ordinations that took place yesterday in Écône in the Valais?

A RORATE CÆLI EDITORIAL -- Traditionis Custodes IS the State of Emergency: While it Exists, the Ecclesial Situation of Traditional Catholics Remains Precarious

There were many reasons for Summorum Pontificum, the motu proprio document by Benedict XVI that gave back full rights of citizenship to the Traditional Liturgies of the Latin Church in our age.

Justice, for one. The then-Cardinal Ratzinger had written extensively on the mistakes of the Pauline liturgical reform. But also, and very importantly, the situation of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).

The SSPX had long defended the full freedom of the Traditional Mass as one of its conditions for a final settlement with the Apostolic See. Then, Benedict XVI accomplished the other condition: the lifting of the excommunications of the four SSPX bishops consecrated by Abp. Marcel Lefebvre in 1988; and the German response to the lifting of one of them (that of Bp. Richard Williamson) created one of the gravest storms of the Ratzinger Pontificate. The reaction gave rise to one of the most traumatic writings ever composed by a Pontiff in the modern age:

The Question of the Traditional Mass in Pope Leo XIV’s Pontificate

A guest article by the Canon of Shaftesbury, who serves as a canonist in a major archdiocese.

We find ourselves in the early days of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate, and there are reasons for cautious optimism. Several signs suggest that the Holy Father wishes to address some of the more pressing challenges inherited from his predecessor.

Archbishop Gänswein: Benedict XVI’s path “is the right way,” Traditionis custodes “is and remains a mystery to me”

Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI and current nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, recently gave an interview to Athinea Andryszczak, broadcast in two parts (1, 2) on the German Catholic television station K-TV.

Cardinal Sarah in interview: I have spoken to the Pope about the Traditional Mass, he is aware, he is the Father of all.

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?

Traditional Latin Mass annihilated in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee (Update: and a humiliating homily)(Update: The International Una Voce Federation responds to the insulting Half-Truths)

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:

For the Record: TLM back at upper church of Saint Peter's Basilica on Michaelmas (End of March 2021 Ban)

[Important update (3 pm EDT): We've been told by a Roman priest in the know that this same Michaelmas mass was also announced for the same altar at the same date, at 7 am, in the two previous years. However, it was celebrated very discreetly under the previous pontificate.]

September 29, 2025

 

In March 2021, we published a very sad post regarding the end of the Traditional Latin Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica: 

New TLM Suppression: Diocese of Austin axes scheduled Latin Mass at Texas A&M University

 

News sent by our friends at Texas A&M in College Station:

College Station, Texas – In a stunning intervention, the Diocese of Austin has forced the cancellation of a scheduled Traditional Latin Mass at Texas A&M University, silencing one of the most vibrant and growing expressions of Catholic faith among young people in America.

Outgoing Bishop Kills Traditional Latin Mass in Monterey (California) -- Poor Catholics of Austin, Texas!

 Bishop Daniel Garcia was named by Leo XIV for the huge diocese of the Texan capital, Austin, in July -- transferred from Monterey, California, to which he had been named by Francis in 2018.

As a parting gift to the faithful of Monterey, he decided to kill the 17-year-old Traditional Latin Mass in the diocese. Could something be more petty, more pathetic, and more ridiculous?

Pope Leo XIV Talks About the Traditional Latin Mass (updated with full excerpt)

 

From an excerpt of the new book-interview with Elise Ann Allen, of Crux, released today -- a direct quote from the Pope's response:

[Elise Ann Allen]: Regarding the study group on liturgy, what is being studied? How much of the reason for establishing this was related to divisions surrounding the Traditional Latin Mass, for example, or issues such as the new Amazonian rite?

 

[Leo XIV]: My understanding of what the group came out of is primarily from issues that have to do with the inculturation of the liturgy. How to continue the process of making the liturgy more meaningful within a different culture, within a specific culture, in a specific place at any given time. I think that was the primary issue.

The Architect of the Restrictions to the Latin Mass really - REALLY - hates the newly canonized Carlo Acutis

Andrea Grillo is such a detestable character. But, unfortunately, we are forced to return often to covering him because of the outsized influence he was given by the late Francis. As Rorate mentioned in the earlier words about this matter,

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.

Last month, we covered the first consequences of his tirades against the (now newly canonized) Carlo Acutis, when his own university disowned him. 

There are criticisms to be made of the Acutis canonization, but mostly regarding (as often in recent decades) an accelerated procedure, not the person himself. By all accounts, Acutis was really a fine boy who, despite growing up in a secularized, barely nominally Catholic, family, was saved by a supernatural love for the Blessed Sacrament.

Important Sign: Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage Once Again Will Have a Mass in the Vatican Basilica -- Celebrated by Card. Burke

(Mass in the Altar of the Cathedra, in St. Peter's Basilica, in 2021)

 In 2024, the Traditional pilgrims of the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage (Last Sunday in October - Christ the King) were not allowed to celebrate the Traditional Mass on an altar of the main nave on Saturday of the last weekend in October: they just entered as pilgrims, with scheduled prayers, but the main masses were all in Churches that already have the Traditional Latin Mass regularly in Rome. The same had happened in 2022 and 2023.

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.

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. 

From Saginaw, Michigan: Bishop allows TLM to continue in parish, overturning previous decision to end it

Saginaw Bishop allows TLM to continue in parish, overturning previous decision to end it -- 

"Bishop Gruss has said the Latin Mass can continue at Holy Family in Saginaw every Sunday at 3pm"

New Pope - New Methods: Charlotte Bishop Martin Pauses Restrictions on Latin Mass until (at least) October

 Thank you to all Catholics who reached out to request a reprieve -- and to all authorities who asked the bishop of Charlotte, Michael Martin, to be reasonable in his struggle against the Traditional Latin Mass. Did he get a phone call about his restrictions? Apparently...

Here's hoping this minor reprieve will be extended indefinitely. (Notice important point near the middle of the article: "In the interim, Bishop Martin said, should the Vatican issue any official changes to Traditionis Custodes, the diocese would abide by those instructions.")

From his diocesan newspaper:

CHARLOTTE — Changes to Traditional Latin Mass offerings in the Diocese of Charlotte will take effect Oct. 2 to align with a deadline mandated by the Vatican – not July 8 as previously planned, Bishop Michael Martin announced Tuesday.

Traditionis Custodes Persecution continues under Leo XIV - Traditional Masses Removed from Parish Churches in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte is a vast diocese in one of the fastest growing regions in America: 5.5 million people and over half a million Catholics. For all these, one chapel in an isolated area in an unnamed building on a country highway.

They really think we're idiots.

The dishonorable bishop's letter (dated from today, Friday, May 23) below [Updated with picture and information of the chapel offered by the dishonorable bishop to the pariahs of the diocese.]