RORATE CÆLI

‘The Council and the Eclipse of God’ by Don Pietro Leone: CHAPTER 10 (part 5 c): The Principal Agents of the Council (continued): 2.The Bishops 3. The Freemasons 4. The Protestants 5. The Periti 6. The Press

The Bishops at the Second Vatican Council

Old Latin Mass Finds New American Audience, Despite Pope’s Disapproval
An ancient form of Catholic worship is drawing in young traditionalists and conservatives. But it signals a divide within the church.
By Ruth Graham
The New York Times

Nov. 15, 2022

DETROIT — Eric Agustin’s eight children used to call the first day of the week “Party Sunday.” The family would wake up, attend a short morning Mass at a Catholic parish near their house, then head home for lunch and an afternoon of relaxing and watching football.
But this summer, the family made a “big switch,” one of his teenage sons said on a recent Sunday afternoon outside St. Joseph Shrine, the family’s new parish. At St. Joseph, the liturgy is ornate, precisely choreographed and conducted entirely in Latin. The family drives an hour round trip to attend a service that starts at 11 a.m. and can last almost two hours.
The traditional Latin Mass, an ancient form of Catholic worship that Pope Francis has tried to discourage, is instead experiencing a revival in the United States. It appeals to an overlapping mix of aesthetic traditionalists, young families, new converts and critics of Francis. And its resurgence, boosted by the pandemic years, is part of a rising right-wing strain within American Christianity as a whole.
...

When you’ve lost Enzo Bianchi…

Bianchi is well known as the founder of the “ecumenical” monastic community of Bose. He was removed as lay prior a few years ago not due to personal scandal, but to unclear issues of "the exercise of authority". Regardless, he has always been a consistent voice for radical liberalism in Catholic Italy, and a staunch defender of all things Francis.

Up until now.

Even Bianchi is shocked and embarrassed with the mistreatment and shunning of Traditional Catholics in the current pontificate. In the current issue of "Vita Pastorale", the also very "progressive" monthly of "progressive" Italian Catholics, Bianchi had some choice words regarding a Church that listens and wants dialogue with everyone -- everyone, except Traditionalists:

***

Ecclesial communion

Mass cannot be a place of contestation and fraternal division.
And the liturgy if it is not celebration of the Gospel cannot attract anyone. Vita Pastorale - 10 November 2022
By Enzo Bianchi

Pope Francis writes in his apostolic letter Desiderio desideravi that the tensions, unfortunately present around the celebration, cannot be judged as a simple divergence of sensibility towards a ritual form, but that they should be understood as ecclesiological divergences. This is why he felt it his duty to affirm that "the liturgical books promulgated by the Holy Pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II in comparison with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council are the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" (TC, art. 1).

The expression is strong and peremptory, but it certainly does not deny that the Vetus Ordo in force until the Liturgical Reform was in those centuries an expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.

‘The Council and the Eclipse of God’ by Don Pietro Leone: Chapter 10 (part 5 b – the Devil’s Agency continued: vi) Anti-Realist Subjectivism: more on the universal and systematic scope of the Council’s anti-realist subjectivism.

Christ the King Statue in Świebodzin (POLAND)

‘The Council's anti-realist subjectivism is directed uniquely towards the dethronement of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the enthronement of man in His place.’

Cross-posted from the FIUV blog.

Since the PCED and its successor, in the form of the 4th Section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, lost its responsibility for the Traditional Mass, the Ordo it used to publish for the 1962 Missal has also ceased to appear.

In recent times, we have witnessed, here and there, the use of cathedrals and other sacred buildings for conferences and other events for politicians, social leaders and members of other groups of different orientations. In this way, for example, recognition is sought for the ten years since the pontifical election. And the Pope himself endorses them with words such as: "It comforts my soul that my person has made possible this moment of communion, of encounter beyond differences." In these meetings, the Holy Father's teachings in the encyclicals Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti are invited to be taken up.

James Bogle: was Queen Elizabeth to blame for the Abortion Act?

In the Octave of the Feast of Christ the King…

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the one only God, be honour and glory forever…

By James Bogle Esq

2008 photo by 'brokenkey' via
Wikipedia commons.

The article on the web-site of the British-based lay initiative, Voice of the Family, formed to defend Catholic teaching on the family, headed “To God alone be the honour and glory” by my good friend, Dr Alan Fimister, has all the good intentions that I have learned to associate with him. However, it misrepresents the true position of the British monarch, not least our late Queen Elizabeth II, and that on a very serious and important issue.

I respond now to Alan’s piece in fraternal charity with the sole aim of arriving at the truth which, of course, should be the first concern of all Catholic journalists and writers. I am grateful to Rorate Caeli for publishing this article and saddened that Voice of the Family was unwilling to do so or to correct the highly misleading and damaging impression left by Alan’s article.

Gregorius Magnus: new edition of the FIUV magazine published

Cross-posted from the FIUV blog.

A new edition of our biannual magazine Gregorius Magnus is published! The magazine is free and available to all; you can read it online, we handed out 150 copies to participants of the Summorum Pontificum Ad Petri Sedem pilgrimage in Rome, and a small number will receive it in the post.

The following speech was given at the Pax Liturgica conference on Friday, October 28, 2022, at the start of the Populus Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage weekend. Mr. Valli graciously sent me the text for translation and publication at Rorate Caeli.

“The Traditional Mass—The Rediscovered Treasure”

Aldo Maria Valli

Rome, October 28, 2022

I wish to speak to you about the ancient Mass -- but perhaps it would be better to call it the Mass of Ages -- as a rediscovered treasure. A precious pearl, a priceless treasure long hidden from generations of Catholics, including myself, but finally rediscovered, by divine grace and the commitment of so many courageous believers.

"And the Word became ideology": At the Synod, a falsified Church

Luisella Scrosati

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

November 7, 2022

(source)

On Oct. 27, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, spoke first during the press conference presenting the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod, a document summarizing what emerged from all the diocesan consultations. "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent" (this is the title of the document) is the "synthesis of syntheses."

Review of New Edition of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre's "Catholic Liturgy: Its Fundamental Principles"

Review of the new and expanded edition of Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, OSB's "Catholic Liturgy: Its Fundamental Principles" (Romanitas Press, 2022).

Dutch Bishop: “God is out of the picture in this damned synodal process. The Holy Spirit has absolutely nothing to do with it.”

Once again, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, auxiliary of Den Bosch, the Netherlands, has the right words for the right time.

In a better age, like Cardinal Pie, he would have long been created a Cardinal. Alas…

***

Synodal process as an instrument to change the Church?

Bishop Robert Mutsaerts

November 4, 2022

On Thursday, Oct. 27, the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in Rome presented the working document for the Continental Phase of the Synod "For a synodal Church: communio, participatio, missio.” This took place at a press conference chaired by Cardinal Grech held at the Holy See press center in Rome. The document was entitled "Increase the space in your tent" (Isaiah 54:2). Based on all the final documents of the meetings in the various Continents, the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops then compiles the Instrumentum Laboris, the working document for the 2023 and 2024 Synod meetings.

'The Devil Entering Through A Window In The Church'(Detail from St. Anthony the Hermit in the Isenheim Altarpiece)by Matthias Grünewald (late 15th early 16th century)

II The Principal Agents of the Council

“Church” without sacraments and priests? On the desacerdotalization of the German Church

The following article by Michael Charlier appeared in German at his website on November 3, 2022. It is translated for Rorate Caeli.

The diocese of Mainz has published by circular letter the liturgical form for a "death blessing," which would be able to be given by lay people. It is apparently intended to replace the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick/Last Rites, which has been completely abandoned in many places and the administration of which is reserved to the ordained priest. After kath.net published a theological critique of this procedure by Msgr. Schroedel, several readers wrote in to say that this practice is by no means new but has gone on in several dioceses for ten years or more. The "Handreichung zum Sterbesegen" (Handout on the Blessing of the Dying) of the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart dating from 2012 proves this (link).

Vatican Sec. of State Parolin to French Bishops: Help Trads "disoriented" with Traditionis Custodes

Message sent by the Vatican Secretary of State, Card. Parolin, to the French Episcopal Conference meeting this week in Lourdes:

The Holy Father Pope Francis wishes to assure you and all the members present [at the 2022 Fall Plenary Assembly] of his prayer and his fraternal and spiritual support.

At a time when the Church of France is once again shaken by the drama of abuse on the part of some of its pastors, he invites you, with your eyes fixed on the cross of Christ, not to be discouraged but to persevere in the assurance that the Holy Spirit will accompany your efforts, which will once again be the object of your work. He knows your determination to give the Church of France its true missionary face, and he encourages you to go forward with audacity and discernment.

Cardinal Zuppi, Abp. of Bologna, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, led Traditional Vespers at the oldest standing religious building in Rome, the Pantheon (Sancta Maria ad Martyres), on this first day of the 2022 Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage to Rome:

The Church, which, as a main publicly owned tourist website, remains open for visitation during ceremonies had its seats filled with lay faithful, mostly young, and young priests. Fr. Claude Barthe, chaplain of the pilgrimage, made a brief pronouncement, and so did Cardinal Zuppi, joyfully welcoming the traditional pilgrims to the Eternal City.

More images below:

2023 Traditional Catholic Calendars! - Transalpine Redemptorist Calendars Now Available

The 2023 Papa Stronsay Calendar is now available!

Giving you the liturgical feast and colour of each day of the year, the calendar also includes other information such as particular feasts, traditional days of abstinence, saints’ anniversaries, the liturgical zodiac, the phases of the moon, public holidays of eight English-speaking countries and more. Each month features a picture from the Holy Island of Papa Stronsay, or of Transalpine Redemptorist activity elsewhere around the world.

The calendar is available for purchase here. Images from inside the calendar below:

Event: Christ the King Mass, Procession (Bridgeport, Connecticut)

Some "Highlights" from the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod on Synodality

You may have heard that the "Working Document for the Continental Stage" of the "Synod on Synodality" was released today. (You may not have heard, in which case, I apologise for this article!) Numerous Catholic news outlets (of varying quality) have already commented on this document, but I thought I would provide a few of my own "highlights" for readers.

1. The document claims that "Globally, participation exceeded all expectations" (n. 5). Given that the participation of even those Catholics who attend Mass has been exceptionally low - something even cardinals have recognised! - this is either a lie, or the expectations were very, very low to begin with!

2. One of the few positives is that the document explicitly says that "it is not a document of the Church’s Magisterium" (n. 8). Thus, when the time inevitably comes, we can just chuck it in the bin and concentrate on more important things in the life of the Church. Deo gratias!

“The Hermeneutics of Benedict XVI” — Talk by Fr Alfredo Morselli

Transcript of a talk given on October 13, 2022, as part of the online conference "The Second Vatican Council. By its fruits we shall know it." (Translated for Rorate from the Italian original, here.)

Ave Maria! Dear Brothers, I have been asked to speak about the Hermeneutics of Benedict XVI, with reference to his address to the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005 (almost 17 years ago)[1]: Benedict XVI, 40 years after the closing of the Council, wondered about the reasons for a certain post-conciliar crisis.

Quoting St. Basil, the Pontiff, now emeritus but then reigning, said, "the confused noise of uninterrupted clamors has now filled almost the whole Church, distorting, by excess or by defect, the correct doctrine of the faith...." The Pontiff, wanting to reflect on all this, asked, "Why has the reception of the Council, in large parts of the Church, so far been so difficult?"

Let us keep in mind that that situation, compared to today, was rosy; compared to the post-conciliar crisis, described by Benedict XVI, today we have far more serious uninterrupted clamors that distort "by excess or by defect, the correct doctrine of the faith." I draw a summary list of them:

The main hall in Pennsylvania Station, 1910-1963

Few other occurrences in history have their achievements celebrated as often as does the Second Vatican Council. So, although rather tiresome, the laudatory commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the opening of the Council is de rigueur for today’s rather tiresome ecclesial establishment. Worthy of note, however, is the defensive tone adopted for the birthday party in which the Council’s partisans have made a point to defend the Council ab initio—insisting that it was necessary to hold the Council and that it was, in conception, a great and a good moment in history—one that remains untarnished by, and even divorced from, its aftermath.

Those who see the Council in this manner are, for the most part, Baby Boomers (e.g., George Weigel) and members of the generation that preceded the Boomers (what name shall we give the generation that produced Bergolio, Biden, and Pelosi?). For this cohort, the Council was the New Frontier for Religion. Just as the political torch was passed to a new generation in the wake of the disasters of the first half of the twentieth century, so too the Council would usher in a new age of Catholicism that would surpass Church’s reliance upon morality manuals and the stale memorization of Scholastic conceptions and rules. It was the moonshot for the Church.

The 60th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (11th October 1962) has recently passed, accompanied with the usual panegyrics and plaudits, this time round with the addition of so-called "synodality". Indeed, we should, so the Pope says, "return to the Council's pure sources of love... rediscover the Council's passion and renew our own passion for the Council."

“Cursed Cultus or Worthy Worship: The Choice that Faces Us” — Dr. Kwasniewski's Presentation in Arlington, VA

Sophia Institute Press held a booklaunch for Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s The Catholic Mass, in Arlington, VA on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. Diane Montagna was the moderator. Bishop Schneider delivered a talk on the centrality of Christ in the Mass. (When this talk becomes available, I will share it.)

As part of the event, I gave a 30-minute presentation entitled “Cursed Cultus or Worthy Worship: The Choice that Faces Us.” This is now available on YouTube:

Francis names pro-abortion atheist as member of Pontifical Academy for Life

A nightmare that has no end: that is the sick pontificate through which we are suffering.

The Pontifical Academy for Life was one of the very few positive post-conciliar creations. Unsurprisingly, it was born of the mind of Dr. Jerôme Lejeune, one of the greatest pro-life heroes, who suggested it to John Paul II and was named its first president.

Since the advent of Francis, the new Pontifical Academy for Life has become a hotbed of dissent from Catholic moral teaching: from contraception to homosexuality to abortion, and other doctrinal issues, there is no matter on which it has not caused scandal under the leadership of Abp. Vincenzo Paglia.

Its newest members were named by Francis yesterday, among them a radical leftist economist, an Italian living in the U.S. named Mariana Mazzucato. Mazzucato is an avowed atheist:

60 Years of Vatican II – ‘THE COUNCIL AND THE ECLIPSE OF GOD’ by Don Pietro Leone – CHAPTER 10: ‘The Causes of Council Teaching’ Part 3 – C. Religion

The section on Gnosis is particularly damning - it's a long read but highly recommended. F.R.

We here (as we have done above) understand ‘religion’ broadly as a system of belief and ethics. The religion (in this sense) which proposes the self-deification of man [1] in its original and paradigmatic form, is Gnosis.

Here we consider:

1. The Origin of Gnosis,

2. The Development of Gnosis;

3. Gnosis in the Council.

“The Church’s Newman Problem” — Article by John Byron Kuhner

Rorate Caeli is grateful to Inside the Vatican Magazine for permission to republish the following article from their September-October issue. Inside the Vatican is celebrating 30 years of covering events in the Vatican and around the universal Church, with balance, insight, and faithfulness. It is keeping free thought alive by remaining in print (in addition to the digital version and website) so that it can’t be “cancelled” or de-platformed. A special 30th anniversary subscription rate of $20 per year (half off the regular subscription rate) is available for a limited time. Either go to this link OR send an email to this address.

The Church’s Newman Problem

John Byron Kuhner

“Traditionalism: Fidelity, Resistance, Work of the Church”: Jean-Pierre Maugendre

On Saturday, September 24, 2022, a symposium on the future of the traditional Mass was held in Paris, bringing together nearly 500 participants. The great success of this event, co-organized in particular by the associations Oremus-Paix Liturgique and Renaissance Catholique, was due to the quality of the interventions and in particular that of Jean-Pierre Maugendre, President of Renaissance Catholique, a translation of which appears below.

Everything began well:

Padre Pio and the Seminarian’s Guardian Angel

Don Marcello Stanzione

Il Nuovo Arengario

October 9, 2022

Padre Pio with Father Jean Derobert

On the 60th Anniversary of the Opening of Vatican II... let's talk about more pleasant things (with beautiful pictures)

The "prophets of doom" mocked by John XXIII in his opening speech were right. Of course they were. Those who warn of the disastrous results of revolutionary projects are always right. They were right when they warned Louis XVI against calling the Estates-General. They were right when they warned Franz Joseph not to declare war on Serbia after the ultimatum had been basically all accepted or when they warned Nicholas II not to decree "partial mobilization" in 1914.

Anyway, many good things are still going on despite the noxious fumes coming from the Vatican still now with the nonsensical Satan Synod ("Synod on Synodality") as this completely bankrupt pontificate unravels.

This past Saturday, for instance, hundreds of faithful, mostly young people, attended the Pontifical Mass celebrated at the Church of Saint Roch, Paris, for the 40th Anniversary of the association that promotes the yearly Paris-Chartres Pilgrimage (Notre-Dame de Chrétienté). The Mass was celebrated by the Abbot of St. Madeleine of Le Barroux.

60 Years of Vatican II – ‘THE COUNCIL AND THE ECLIPSE OF GOD’ by Don Pietro Leone – CHAPTER 10: ‘The Causes of Council Teaching’ (part 2): B. THEOLOGY

Father Fahey’s analysis of Modernism serves as an all too accurate critique of the Council’s theology.

B. Theology

The theology of which we here treat is Modernist theology, which we understand to be the theology of the Council. In fact one of the more perceptive Council Bishops, Monsignor Borromeo, noted less than two months after the first Council session: ‘Siamo in pieno modernismo’ [1]. Professor de Mattei, an expert on the subject, explains how the term ‘Modernism’ makes its first official appearance in Pascendi as a concept intended to group together a complex of errors in all fields of Catholic doctrine: Holy Scriptures, theology, philosophy, and cult. He quotes the description of it as a ‘fluid and incandescent material… the character of which was the very indetermination of its program’ [2]. He states that: ‘The roots and motives of this movement reside in the attempt to establish a ‘dialogue’ between the Church and the process of secularization which followed the French Revolution’ [3].

Conversatio Nostra in Caelis Est

Fr. John Rickert, FSSP

The decline of education in the United States, and, I fear, in much of the Western world, has become increasingly apparent and dire, and the decline has accelerated in recent years. It brings chagrin, or even shame, to realize that many college graduates would not even pass the final examination for the 8th grade from Salina, Kansas, of 1895.[1]

One response to this decline has been the rise of Classical curricula, academies, and colleges. This response is undoubtedly a great improvement and may even succeed in staving off the utter collapse of education. I believe it is too early to tell, but it is worth a valiant effort. Yet, there is a caveat that I believe is absolutely necessary, or else these efforts will ultimately be in vain.

Classical education, in whatever form or implementation it takes, must be informed by the supernatural truth of the Catholic faith. Too often, I fear, “Classical curricula” are really some variant of Renaissance Humanism, which was a more-or-less conscious rejection of the Church and hence a move towards intellectual apostasy. To read, study, and discuss Plato and the Philosopher King, in and of itself, can be intellectually beneficial, but why should there be less interest in kings who were actually saints? Why should the wisdom of Plato be held in higher esteem than the divinely revealed wisdom of Solomon? Why is that students read the consciously non-committal C.S. Lewis yet have no acquaintance at all with the highly-committed Juan Donoso Cortés?

I am pleased to announce to readers of this blog the release of my latest book, The Once and Future Roman Rite: Returning to the Traditional Latin Liturgy after Seventy Years of Exile (TAN Books, 2022). Although it was initially conceived as a response to the fiftieth anniversary of the Novus Ordo (1969-2019) and work began on it then, it developed over time into a full-on response to the numerous errors and lies of progressive liturgists as we find them regurgitated in Traditionis Custodes and its accompanying letter.

The fruit of decades of research, experience, reflection, and debate, Once and Future Roman Rite argues that the guiding principle for all authentic Christian liturgy is sacred Tradition, which originates from Christ and is unfolded theologically and liturgically by the Holy Spirit throughout the life of the Church, in each age and across the ages. The prominent identifying traits of all traditional rites, Eastern and Western—including, of course, the classical Roman Rite—are markedly and designedly absent from or optional in the Novus Ordo, estranging it from their company and making it impossible to call it “the Roman rite” at all.

Paul VI’s new liturgical books, drafted in unseemly haste by an audacious committee of arrogant men who placed themselves above and outside of the stream of tradition as its jury, judge, and executioner, visited upon the longsuffering Roman Catholic faithful a hasty and far-reaching reform permeated with nominalism, voluntarism, Protestantism, rationalism, antiquarianism, hyperpapalism, and other modern errors. But this much is always true and will always be true: man is not master over divine liturgy; rather, all of us, from the lowest-ranking layman to the pope himself, are called to be stewards of God’s best and choicest gifts. This, in turn, imposes genuine moral and ecclesial duties upon us and bestows corresponding rights.

Brooklyn, Nov. 12: Solemn High Requiem Mass for the soul of Gerald Russello

Holy Name of Jesus Church is hosting a Solemn High Requiem Mass in honor of Gerald Russello, an integral player in the NYC Catholic scene for years.

More information below:

60 years of Vatican II - THE COUNCIL AND THE ECLIPSE OF GOD - by Don Pietro Leone- Chapter 10: THE CAUSES OF COUNCIL TEACHING (part 1) : A. METAPHYSICS

Rorate Caeli marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of The Second Vatican Council on October 11th 1962, with an analysis of its causes, Metaphysical, Theological and Religious – causes as dramatic as the effects that the whole world has been living for the past two generations. Don Pietro Leone delves deep into the very heart of modern error and traces it back to its roots in the Rebellion of the Angels and the First Man at the dawning of creation. Parts 2 and 3 of this analysis will be published on the 11th and 13th of October respectively.

F. R.

THE CAUSES OF COUNCIL TEACHING

Ecclesial Center-Right and Center-Left Strategies Have Been Tried and Found Wanting — Article by Abbé Claude Barthe

Vatican II, we need more Vatican II! But the reforming elixir has long since grown stale...

Reforming what, by the way? Francis's grand design, symbolized by Prædicate Evangelium, the constitution that reforms the Curia, is as much a reform of the Church according to the spirit of Vatican II as it is a reform of the Curia. There is certainly an ambiguity about the object -- the Curia, the Church -- which is prolonged and increased by the media, but the links between the two reforms are no less intrinsic: the reorganization of the Roman government necessarily has consequences for that of the whole Church.

This Saturday: Requiem for Queen Elizabeth in London

A Traditional Latin Requiem Mass will be held in London this Saturday in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to mark a month since the death of the monarch.

The Sung Mass organized by the Latin Mass Society will be held at 11am at St Mary Moorfields church in the City of London. It will feature music by Tomas Luis da Victoria sung by the Southwell Consort directed by Gareth Wilson with the unusual accompaniment of Sackbutts and Cornetts.

Church location: 4-5 Eldon St, London EC2M 7LS; click for a map.

Nearest tube stations Moorgate and Liverpool Street.

On September 30, 2022, Crisis Magazine published a very important article by James Baresel, "When Bishops Put Obedience Above Charity," concerning the true (Thomistic) and false (anti-Thomistic) notions of obedience and how they have played out in the dramatic situation in the Arlington, Virginia diocese. In particular, Baresel explains how true episcopal authority is exercised in charitably placing the spiritual needs of his flock above servile adherence to unnecessary laws or requirements, as indeed Canon Law itself provides for.

Mass at the St Catherine's Trust Summer School in 2022

Cross posted from LMS Chairman blog.

There is an interesting article in the Una Voce Scotland Newsletter, from April 2022, by a young mother who took part in the Synod on Synodality discussions in her parish. The article in anonymous. She describes how she explained to the meeting she attended that her own experiences of the Novus Ordo 'children's liturgy' and catechesis had been underwhelming, and that most of her contemporaries had lapsed. She, however, had discovered the Traditional Mass, and her small son was so taken by the bells and smells that he was copying the bell and the thurible in his play.