"Got a revolution, got to revolution!" 40 years of Pontificalis Romani and the new Roman Rite

Forty years ago, on June 18, 1968, Pope Paul VI signed the Apostolic Constitution Pontificalis Romani, which put into effect the first part of the first completely new liturgical book in the history of the Church, the new Rite of Ordination of Deacons, Priests, and Bishops of the new Roman Pontifical.

It was not a mere liturgical reform, but a brand new product, a fruit of the frenetic work of the Consilium ad Exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia, under the presidency of Cardinals Lercaro and Gut and with the unifying influence of Monsignor Annibale Bugnini. After the profound reforms of some liturgical texts and rubrics in the post-Conciliar years, the New Rite of Ordination was something else entirely: a radically new text for a new People of God.

Dom Bernard Botte, chairman of the subcommittee for the New Pontifical inside the Consilium, recalled with his characteristic modesty the events which led to the new text of the rite of Episcopal Consecration (or, rather, Ordination):

The reform of these rites imposed a delicate problem: was it necessary to return purely and simply to the primitive tradition and to suppress all the subsequent additions, or should these alterations, which were justified by a largely millennial tradition, be preserved? ... To suppress with one stroke all which had been added throughout the centuries would be against the very laws of life. On the other hand, the Roman Pontifical could not anymore be considered an untouchable monument elevated to its perfection by a master of ceremonies of the 13th century. The study of the early tradition, on the other hand, made clear that, in many of its points, a deviation of the true tradition had taken place. A superficial revision of the text, therefore, could not be enough

The commission charged with the reform chose an intermediate way: to preserve, in the Roman tradition, whatever could be kept or adapted without compromising the essence. I say keep or adapt for certain rites, while themselves legitimate, could appear falsified by the formula which accompanied them .
...

Formula of Ordination:

What bolstered the formula of Hippolytus was, in first place, its doctrinal wealth and its clarity.

After the reading of the text [of the new formula of episcopal ordination], many Fathers [members of the Consilium] were delighted, yet others remained in doubt, and some were certainly hostile to the idea. What prevailed in the decision [favorable to the new text] was the ecumenical value of the text.
...
["L'ordination de l'évêque". Published in La Maison-Dieu, 98, 1969/2, p. 113-126]

In his short memoir (published in English as "From Silence to Participation: An Insider's View of Liturgical Renewal"), Dom Bernard Botte would recall the almost feverish mood of the Consilium which needed the temporary approval of the new text by the appropriate Roman authorities as soon as possible so that the first "New Episcopal Ordination" might take place - it was the ordination of the famous Swiss liturgist Anton Hänggi as Bishop of Basel, which took place on February 11, 1968.

The text of the new Rite, "De Ordinatione Diaconi, Presbyteri et Episcopi", was then approved by Pope Paul along with his Apostolic Constitution on June 18. Other new texts for rites included in the Roman Pontifical would be published in the following years.

What was then considered "solid scholarship" regarding the reliability of the liturgical formulas of "The Apostolic Tradition", by the Pseudo-Hippolytus, is very much disputed today (an introduction to contemporary criticism of the Pseudo-Hippolytus is available here).

Such formulas were, nevertheless, the basis for the Consilium's decision on the new rites of ordination in the Latin Church. The validity of such formulas is not in question*. Yet the lack of prudence and foresight of the scholars and prelates who approved, abetted, and promoted this upheaval is not immune to criticism.

This bold destruction of centuries of Catholic liturgy, of the gentle accumulation of layers of contributions added by men of all ages, by a committee of scholarly bureaucrats of the 20th century, who believed they were somehow "outside" History, that they could sit in judgment of their forefathers in the Faith and pick and choose what was "historical" and what was not, what was the "true tradition" and what was a distortion of it - this still strikes any observer as the epitome of arrogance and carelessness, of hatred for the magnificent edifice of Western liturgy.

It is curious to observe that those ecclesiastical bureaucrats, in their respectful meetings and silent work had the same attitude - if not the same mindset - of the barbarous youth protesting throughout Western Europe and North America in that year of 1968: they mistrusted all that was established, they needed to build something new, whatever it might be, to reflect modern thought, to attract "the man of today"... even if, in the case of the liturgists, their brilliant novelties were presented as refurbished antiquities, especially if they had a "trustworthy" Eastern appearance.

The New Roman Rite was born, 40 years ago.

____________________

*cf. "Why the New Rite of Consecration is Valid", by Fr. Pierre-Marie, O.P., first published in Le Sel de la terre; translated and printed by The Angelus; more convincing arguments were penned by Brother Ansgar Santogrossi, O.S.B., and published by this weblog in 2007

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The President in Rome

From the Holy See Press Office:

This morning, Friday 13 June 2008, George W. Bush, President of the United States of America was received in audience by His Holiness Benedict XVI.

In order to respond to the cordiality of the welcome received by the Supreme Pontiff during his recent visit to the United States of America, the audience followed a special protocol. The Holy Father greeted President Bush - who was accompanied by his wife Laura and by Mary Ann Glendon, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See - at the entrance to the Tower of St. John located in the Vatican Gardens. His Holiness and the President of the United States then went to the study on the upper floor of the tower for a private meeting, while Laura Bush and Ambassador Glendon remained with Archbishop James Michael Harvey, prefect of the Pontifical Household. Subsequently they were joined by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

During the cordial talks, the Holy Father firstly reiterated his gratitude for the warm and exceptional welcome he had received in the United States of America and at the White House during his visit there in April, and for the president's commitment in defence of fundamental moral values. The discussions them turned to the main themes of international politics: relations between the United States of America and Europe, the Middle East and efforts for peace in the Holy Land, globalisation, the food crisis and international trade, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

At the end of the meeting, and following the exchange of gifts, Benedict XVI and President Bush took a brief stroll in the Vatican Gardens to the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes where they were joined by Mrs Bush and the entourage. There, the Choir of the Sistine Chapel sang two hymns.

Photo gallery at la Repubblica.it.

Statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way definitively approvedL'Osservatore Romano

As we first reported three weeks ago, the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way ("The Way") have been definitively approved by the Holy See, and they will be officially delivered to the superiors of that organization by the Pontifical Council of the Laity in a ceremony this Friday, June 13.

The official confirmation was published today in the daily of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano (permanent link).

Interview with Bishop Richard Williamson

A RORATE CÆLI correspondent in Scandinavia interviewed Bishop Richard Williamson (one of the four bishops consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X - FSSPX / SSPX), a few days ago in a Scandinavian city. We post this exclusive interview here with no additional commentary - though we call our readers' attention to Williamson's answer to question #16.

[PERSONAL QUESTIONS]

[1.] Your Excellency, starting off - who would be the most important influence in your life apart from the Archbishop and possibly your own mother?

Probably Beethoven. Queen Mary Tudor said, that when she died, they would open up heart and find ‘Callais’ written on it. Callais was the last English possession in France, and it was lost under her reign. So when I die, they will open up my heart, and I think they will find ‘Beethoven’ written on it. He has been a very great influence. The music of Beethoven that is, not his person.

[2.] That pectoral cross, where’s it from? It looks like it could have been fairly newly made.

No, this is an old one. I believe it is from Canada, an American gave it to me. These details are maple leaves, you see.

[ROME]

[3.] How would you define romanitas?

I think it is a knowledge of the ways of Rome and love of the ways of Rome, which makes you instinctively behave in a certain way, which used to be in tune with the interest of the Church. But ever since Vatican II, romanitas is dangerous because it makes you behave in line with the New Church, which is not Catholic – not essentially Catholic.

[4.] Speaking of Rome, how do you personally keep up to date with Rome and things happening in the Church? Just to take a very current example of the fact that things are happening in Rome, today’s nomination was Cardinal Antonelli of Florence, a known supporter of tradition, as President for the Pontifical Council for the Family…

I don’t much follow what goes on in Rome, to tell you the truth, I don’t much follow. I think there is a fight going on, there has been a fight going on for a long time. But I think the freemasons hold the levers of power, and I don’t think they are going to let go. Oh yes, they still do, that is at least my opinion.

[TRADITIONAL COMMUNITIES]

[5.] What kind of contacts do you keep with other traditional communities?

I personally don’t have too many contacts, but the Society is through the headquarters in Menzingen regularly in contact with the various traditional groups, in Europe especially. There aren’t many such groups in South America, where I am stationed, and I don’t run in to them very much, I hardly run in to them at all.

[SEMINARY EDUCATION]

[6.] In your lecture, you mentioned that the level of education in humanities was a problem at seminaries, young men arriving to the seminaries with hardly any relevant human education at all some times. How do you tackle such a situation?

In the United States and in Argentina, I was responsible for introducing what is called a ‘humanities year’, which is a preliminary year of old fashion humanities. The young men study for a year some catechisms, a good deal of Latin, their own grammar, which they no longer know. The grammar of their own language – Spanish in South America and English in the United States - is obviously no longer taught to them. Grammar, didn’t you know, is [considered] fascist, because it’s structured. It structures the mind, so grammar has to be got rid of, which results in that the poor kids don’t know their grammar. Grammar, history, literature and some classical music – they know little of these things. So a year is better than nothing. It’s not much but clearly better than nothing.

[7.] Continuing on seminary education – how is the liturgy taught to the seminarians besides them taking part in it through daily Mass?

There is a course of liturgy - the humanities do not contain any liturgy, but from right through the seminary, one of the smaller courses is liturgy. It is not one of the main subjects, but it is a subject which is taught. So they learn about the theory of it and the practice of it. There is a liturgy course in the beginning of seminary training and at the end.

[THE SSPX AND IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY]

[8.] If someone were to compare the Society and its spirituality with old school Jesuits, would there be something to it?

Yes and no. There is a comparison, but on the other hand, the situation of the Church is very different and the need of the Church is different. Archbishop Lefebvre always used to say that the spirituality of the Society is the Mass. So the spirituality of the Jesuits is the [Ignatian] exercises, that’s where the Excalibur, with which St. Ignatius forged the Society of Jesus.

[9.] Still comparing the two, the Society (of St. Pius X) using the Ignatian exercises is not to be considered a coincidence?

No, we use the Ignatian exercises, we also use Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas Aquinas. So you know, those are two classic instruments of Catholic formation. You can’t get more classic than the Summa for the mind and the exercises for the will. The Society makes use of both those, but nevertheless the Archbishop said that the spirituality [of the Society] should be the spirituality of the Mass. The Mass is the great need of the moment, because Vatican II destroyed the Mass – or tried to destroy the Mass.

[WHAT IS THE SSPX?]

[10.] Would you say the Society is founded as a countermeasure for the Second Vatican Council?

You could say so, yes.

[11.] Wouldn’t that rather limit the Society making it tied down to a moment in time?

Well, the damage of Vatican II is going to last for quite a long time, so the Society has a chance for being needed for quite a long time. But of course, the other side of the chastisement is that the Church is going to get back on her feet. And then, maybe with luck, the Society will no longer be needed, and we could all go into retirement some time in the future.

[12.] In your lecture, it sounded like you were lamenting a difficult laity. Wouldn’t you rather agree that the most serious problems throughout Church history originated from within the clergy?

Again, yes and no. The only solution to the world’s problems is from good clergy, because the only solution is Our Lord Jesus Christ, since without Our Lord sin is insoluble. Only Our Lord can pay for and wash out sin. Now, Jesus Christ chooses to operate through His Church, and the Church is the priests, the priests run the Church. Therefore, all good comes from good priests, but correspondingly, all evil comes from the clergy too. The Latin expression for this is omne malum ab clero. They say that down in Hell, every soul would point to another soul and say: “You were responsible”. And then that soul would point to another and so on, and at the end of every chain is a priest. Terrible thought. I’m afraid a number of the leading heretics were priests: Nestor, Eutyches, Arius was a deacon, Luther… The real evil comes through the priest because the real good comes through the priest. So when the devil gets a priest to work for him, he does terrible damage.

[13.] Moving on, to what extent would you say you adapt your message to different crowds? For example, two days ago you shared in conference your view on the American constitution. That would most likely stir up reactions even in, say, the seminary in Winona.

If you’re speaking of the American constitution, obviously you have to be careful in the United States. When I would speak about that in the US, I would always say, like I think I said this time as well, that all of the essential problems of the United States come from my country, from England. If you lay down that preparation, it’s a little bit easier for the Americans to swallow. You obviously have to adapt partly to each audience, there are things you can say in front of some which you can’t say in front of others, but nevertheless the basic things you say have to be the same.

[ECUMENISM]

[14.] Connecting to your statements about the public practice of other religions, how would banning the same go about today in Catholic societies?

It would go over like a lead balloon. Simply because, people today are soaked in ecumenism, they’re soaked in the idea that truth doesn’t matter. All religions making you feel good are [considered] good, therefore to ban any religion is completely unfair and unjust, it’s “against chocolate”, it’s against being nice, it’s against being human. You can hardly do it today, because it won’t go over. That’s an example of, as you say, adapting to one’s audience. So you couldn’t say it today, the people are too sick. When you’ve got a very sick invalid, there’s a strong medicine you would love to give him, but you can’t give it because he is too sick. Some people are too ill to take an operation that they need, the operation would kill them. You have to do something that they can take, most souls today can only be told truths they swallow.

[15.] So in practical matters today, it is more of a position than a recommendation for immediate implementation?

It is a position of principle. It’s a clear principle which you have to use prudence in applying. The application of the principle requires prudence.

[REGULARIZATION OF THE SOCIETY]

[16.] On the future, how would you envision a regularization of the Society if it were ever to come about?

Well, the Archbishop used to say, and he’s quite right: “Once Rome comes back to its senses, there is no more problem”. Already the Romans are making documents, it’s already lined up how they would do it. It’s paperwork, paperwork.

[THE TRANSALPINE REDEMPTORISTS]

[17.] Lastly, would you care to comment on the latest proceedings with the Redemptorists at Papa Stronsay?

It doesn’t look good, it looks like they are going to make an agreement with modernist Rome. So, in my opinion, that’s not a very good idea, because they will be obliged, more or less, to abandon the defence of the Faith. More or less.

[18.] How would the change you predict manifest itself?

They will no longer be able to freely criticize Vatican II, and they will come under pressure to celebrate the modern Mass, or at least attend the modern Mass with the local Bishop on a Good Thursday. The New Church can hardly insist on less, it has to insist on that.

[19.] Would you even consider the Redemptorists regularizing their situation with Rome treason?

Treason is a very strong word. I distinguish subjectively and objectively: objectively I think it’s more grave than subjectively. Subjectively I dare say they mean well, they have good intentions, and they are sincere. But objectively I think they are abandoning the true cause of the Faith, yes, they are essentially abandoning the true defence of the Faith, I would say.

[20.] Should that be taken as your personal opinion or the position of the Society?

I think a number in the Society would share that opinion, yes, that they are objectively abandoning the true defence of the Faith. A number in the Society would take that position, and I think a number would also say, they nevertheless mean well, they’re sincere, they have good intention, they mean to defend the Faith, not to abandon the defence of the Faith. But the Archbishop was quite severe about those people who abandoned Tradition in those years, years back he was quite severe.

[21.] Saying that the Redemptorists at Papa Stronsay are abandoning Tradition could be perceived a just as strong a statement as calling it treason.

I didn’t say they are abandoning Tradition, I said they are abandoning the true defence of Tradition, which is a slightly different thing. They will still be defending Tradition to some extent, but they are abandoning the complete and true defence of Tradition.

[22.] Have you read anything of the way the Redemptorists are reasoning and considering their situation?

No, I haven’t. I don’t keep up with these things.

[23.] But surely people in central command have in order to properly deal with matters?

Of course. I’m not in central command, I’m not in headquarters. I’m way out in South America so I can enjoy the sunshine and forget about a lot of problems.

A Lutheran Liturgist of Today on the Medieval Mass

Frank Senn is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (that is the mainstream of American Lutheranism) and a well-known liturgist. And yet the cover art of his recent history of the liturgy is an attractive drawing of a traditional Corpus Christi procession in what could be a neighborhood in a modern city. Lutheran theology has traditionally condemned veneration of the Body of Christ outside of the Lord’s Supper as contrary to Christ’s command to take and eat.

In the book itself, after a section detailing the varied ways in which the medieval laity were successfully catechized in the vernacular while the liturgy remained in Latin, Senn writes the following:

Whether worshipers were reading a devotional book, looking at pictures, reciting prayers, whispering to a neighbor, or waiting on the church porch, they were summoned by the ringing of the sacring bell to the moment of the elevation, the exchange of peace or kissing of the pax board, and, at high points of the year such as Christmas and Easter, to the reception of Holy Communion. The Mass was still a work that all the people did together. And whether they got it from the devotional books or the homilies of the priest, the laity still understood at a basic level what was happening: Jesus Christ, true God and true man, had come among them in sacramental bread and wine, bringing the grace of his passion to his sinful and suffering people.

Thus the view that lay people were shut out from the medieval mass rests on a narrow understanding of “participation” that sees the liturgy only as text and limits participation to speaking roles. In any event, the accusation has been greatly exaggerated. The laity have always found ways to participate in the liturgy, whether it was in their language or not, and they have always derived meaning from the liturgy, whether it was the intended meaning or not. Furthermore, the laity in worship were surrounded by other “vernaculars” than language, not least of which were the church buildings themselves and the liturgical art that decorated them.

(Frank C. SENN. The People’s Work: A Social History of the Liturgy. Minneapolis, Augsburg Fortress, 2006. Pp. 144-145.)

Thanks to Reverend Senn for this!

Abbé Laguérie on Concelebration

Abbé Laguérie of the Good Shepherd Institute (IBP) has an interesting piece on his blog. In response to a question concerning concelebration, Fr. Laguérie lays out a convincing seven point argument explaining why priests can never be coerced into concelebrating contrary to what has been said about priests being obliged to concelebrate the Chrism Mass with the bishops of their dioceses. The following is a somewhat condensed version of Fathers seven points.

1) The major contention made by the motu proprio is that there is but one rite subsisting in two forms. To introduce a distinction between the effects of the ordinary and extraordinary forms would directly contradict not only the mind of the Pope on this matter but Catholic theology as well. Since both forms cannot be distinguished in terms of their validity, nor can they be distinguished in terms of the effects of their ecclesiastic communion, attempting to force a priest to show some sort of additional communion would be a gross abuse of authority. Those who contest this point of view should consider the proposition that priests and bishops who normally celebrate the ordinary form of the rite should be forced to occasionally celebrate the extraordinary form. Certainly we would never be foolish enough to require such a thing.

2) Canon 902 “fully entitle(s) (priests) to celebrate the Eucharist individually”. The same canon states that concelebration can only be practiced “(u)nless the benefit of Christ's faithful requires or suggests otherwise”. How would it be possible for the law to dispense priests from doing that which is necessary to their full communion with the Church?

3) Should all the Eastern Rites on the Catholic Church be required to demonstrate their communion by concelebrating the liturgy promulgated by Pope Paul VI? It certainly hasn’t happened up to this point. Greeks, Melkites, Copts, Syriacs, Slavons, Maronites, etc… Will they all be asked to demonstrate their communion in this fashion? One should shudder to even ask. Their answer may be less then courteous.

4) Of course such a proposition flies in the face of the Second Vatican Council which affirms in Sacrosanctum Concilium (I,4) that all lawfully acknowledged rites are accorded equal right and dignity and that this diversity is considered an asset: “Even in the Liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity…” (ibid I, II 37). So to reduce all celebrations to a unique form, far from showing communion, will rather likely make things uncertain and problematic.

5) The idea is also contrary to the will of the reigning Pope as he has often expressed it. One example would be the Holy Father's words as delivered by his Secretary of State on the occasion of the funeral of Dom Gerard wherein he referred to “the beauty of the Latin liturgy, known to be increasingly a source of communion and unity in the Church."

6) As for the IBP, it is protected from any additional requirement by both its statutes and its decree of erection. But the argument can be made by others as well. If Rome grants the use of the extraordinary form as unique in itself it cannot also impose a supplemental theological requirement.

7) [Fr. Laguérie stresses that there are many pastoral arguments that can be developed and he leaves us with this one:]

“I have in mind the many priests of the Fraternity of St. Pius X whom the Holy See, and Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos in particular with his legendary patience and kindness, desire to bring home. Be assured that such a last minute requirement would be entirely out of line and would only serve to reinforce rather than soften them in their positions.”

The Novara Affair - second chapter

We first reported on the situation of three Parish Priests in the Piedmont region of Italy who wished to celebrate only the Traditional Latin Mass last November. The most detailed report on the current status of this situation seems to be the one published today by the official news agency of the Italian Episcopal Conference, SIR:

Tuesday, June 10 - 10:55 - DIOCESE: NOVARA, "IN STEP" WITH THE MOTU PROPRIO - THE BISHOP'S DECISION REGARDING THE THREE PARISH PRIESTS.

The decisions regarding the situation in the parishes of the three priests who celebrated, for about a year, "solely according to the ancient rite" are but "a correct application" of the Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI "Summorum Pontificum". The Bishop of Novara, Renato Corti, signaled it with a letter - made public during the masses of the past Sunday - to the parish communities of Garbaglia and Nibbiola (No [Province of Novara]), Preglia and Crevaldossola (Vb [Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola]), and of Santa Maria Maggiore at Vocogno (Vb).

Don Alberto Secci, parish priest of Santa Maria Maggiore and Vocogno, and don Stefano Coggiola, parish priest of Preglia and Crevaldossola, delivered to the Bishop their resignation from the position of parish priests. Bishop Corti has already named a new parish priest, don Alberto Miazza, for Santa Maria Maggiore and Vocogno. Don Secci, to whom the Bishop - it is written in the letter - has already expressed "concrete proposals for pastoral work", will live in the rectory of Vocogno, where the faithful who so wish will be able to take part in the liturgy according to the ancient rite, setting up the schedule in agreement with the new parish priest. The same will happen for don Coggiola, who will live in the rectory of Bognanco, also available for the liturgy according to the ancient rite.

Don Marco Pizzocchi, on the other hand, has not delivered the resignation to his position as parish priest of Garbagna and Nibbiola, and the Bishop finds himself "forced to replace him".

New President of the Pontifical Council for the Family

Ennio Cardinal Antonelli, Archbishop of Florence, has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to be the new President of the Pontifical Council for the Family.

For the announcement by the Press Office of the Holy See, please click here

The Spanish-language blog La Ciguena de la Torre has an article on the appointment

St. Paul the Confessor, pray for us!

The traditional Roman Martyrology records this day as the heavenly birthday of St. Paul I the Confessor, Bishop of Constantinople, who suffered persecution and, according to tradition, martyrdom at the hands of the Arians. (In the reformed Martyrology, his feast has been reassigned to Nov. 6.) The traditional Breviary has this to say:

Constantinópoli natális sancti Pauli, eiúsdem civitátis Epíscopi, qui sæpe ab Ariánis ob fidem cathólicam pulsus, et a sancto Iúlio Primo, Románo Pontífice, restitútus est; ac demum, ab Ariáno Imperatóre Constántio relegátus ad Cucúsum, Cappadóciæ oppídulum, ibídem, Arianórum insídiis crudéliter strangulátus, ad cæléstia regna migrávit. Ipsíus autem corpus, Theodósio Imperatóre, Constantinópolim summo honóre, translátum fuit.

"At Constantinople, the birthday of St. Paul, bishop of that city. For the Catholic faith, he was often driven out of his see by the Arians, but restored to it by the Roman Pontiff, St. Julius I. Finally the Arian emperor Constantius banished him to Cucusum, a small town of Cappadocia. There, by the intrigue of the Arians, he was barbarously strangled, and thus departed for the heavenly kingdom. His body was taken to Constantinople with the greatest honour during the reign of Emperor Theodosius."

Only the sixth Bishop of Constantinople, St. Paul was elected as the successor of St. Alexander in A.D. 337. However, Emperor Constantius II, an Arian heretic, convened a fraudulent synod of Arian bishops, who drove out St. Paul and brought in Eusebius of Nicomedia. After the death of Eusebius in 341, St. Paul was restored to his see, but the Arian party chose the tyrannical heretic Macedonius (founder of the Macedonian heresy, which denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit) as successor of Eusebius. Violence erupted in Constantinople as the Arians and Macedonians imposed their will and the Christians defended themselves, but the military forces of Constantius intervened and St. Paul again was driven into exile. Accompanied by St. Athanasius the Great, St. Marcellus of Ancyra, and St. Asclepas of Gaza, St. Paul went to Rome and appealed to the Pope for help. At the order of Pope St. Julius, all four bishops were to be restored to their sees, but only St. Paul and St. Athanasius were successfully reinstalled. Before long, however, the Arian tyrant Constantius again interfered in the Church's liberty, ordering the arrest of St. Paul and the return of Macedonius. St. Paul was taken first to his hometown of Thessalonica and forbidden ever to return to Constantinople. Later he was deported to Mesopotamia, finally ending his days about A.D. 350 in Cucusum in Armenia, where it is rumored he was murdered by the Arians.

"Hear our prayers, we beseech You, O Lord, which we offer on the feast of Blessed Paul, Your Confessor and Bishop, and by his interceding merits, who was found worthy to serve You well, absolve us from all our sins." --- From the Common of a Confessor-Bishop

Politics - Papal RemindersThe dangers of political Messiahs and of Socialist promises - I

To suffer and to endure, therefore, is the lot of humanity; let them strive as they may, no strength and no artifice will ever succeed in banishing from human life the ills and troubles which beset it. If any there are who pretend differently - who hold out to a hard-pressed people the boon of freedom from pain and trouble, an undisturbed repose, and constant enjoyment - they delude the people and impose upon them, and their lying promises will only one day bring forth evils worse than the present. Nothing is more useful than to look upon the world as it really is, and at the same time to seek elsewhere, as We have said, for the solace to its troubles.

Leo XIII
Rerum Novarum

...it is frightening to behold new apostles eagerly attempting to do better by a common interchange of vague idealism and civic virtues. What are they going to produce? What is to come of this collaboration? A mere verbal and chimerical construction in which we shall see, glowing in a jumble, and in seductive confusion, the words Liberty, Justice, Fraternity, Love, Equality, and human exultation, all resting upon an ill-understood human dignity. It will be a tumultuous agitation, sterile for the end proposed, but which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people.

Saint Pius X
Notre Charge Apostolique

Since Christ, the Lord's Anointed, finished the task of Redemption, and by breaking up the reign of sin deserved for us the grace of being the children God, since that day no other name under heaven has been given to men, whereby we must be saved (Acts iv. 12). No man, were every science, power and worldly strength incarnated in him, can lay any other foundation but that which is laid: which is Christ Jesus (1 Cor. iii 11). Should any man dare, in sacrilegious disregard of the essential differences between God and His creature, between the God-man and the children of man, to place a mortal, were he the greatest of all times, by the side of, or over, or against, Christ, he would deserve to be called prophet of nothingness, to whom the terrifying words of Scripture would be applicable: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them" (Psalms ii. 3).

Pius XI
Mit brennender Sorge

The Communism of today, more emphatically than similar movements in the past, conceals in itself a false messianic idea. A pseudo-ideal of justice, of equality and fraternity in labor impregnates all its doctrine and activity with a deceptive mysticism, which communicates a zealous and contagious enthusiasm to the multitudes entrapped by delusive promises. This is especially true in an age like ours, when unusual misery has resulted from the unequal distribution of the goods of this world. This pseudo-ideal is even boastfully advanced as if it were responsible for a certain economic progress.

Pius XI
Divini Redemptoris

There is never any need, therefore, to turn to proponents of doctrines condemned by the Church; for they only draw men on with false promises and when they obtain control of the state, try boldly and unscrupulously to deprive men of their supreme spiritual goods—the Christian commandments, Christian hope, and Christian faith. Those who adhere to the doctrines these men propose, minimize or eliminate all that our present age and our modern civilization hold dearest: true liberty and the authentic dignity of the human person. Thus they attempt to destroy the bases of Christianity and civilization.

Blessed John XXIII
Ad Petri Cathedram

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-Recess for a few days; relevant news may be posted at any time

Pope Benedict is a "perfectly liberal Pope"

The Superior-General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), Bishop Bernard Fellay, pronounced some interesting words at his homily at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet (Paris), last Sunday:

And now, we have a perfectly liberal Pope, my very dear brothers. As he goes to this country [the United States] which is founded upon Masonic principles, that is, of a revolution, of a rebellion against God. And, well, he expressed his admiration, his fascination before this country which has decided to grant liberty to all religions. He goes so far as to condemn the confessional State. And he is called traditional! And this is true, this is true: he is perfectly liberal, perfectly contradictory. He has some good sides, the sides which we hail, for which we rejoice, such as what he has done for the Traditional liturgy.

What a mystery, my very dear brothers, what a mystery!

Source: FSSPX - District of France

Announcements

1. Our longtime reader and one of our most creative commentators, Mrs. Hilary McRee Flanery (Long-Skirts), sends us this announcement of the publication of her latest book.

Congratulations to Long-Skirts for her new book! (Requiem Press)

2. Journalists covering the Catholic Church may be interested in the seminar "The Church Up Close: Covering the Church in the Age of Benedict XVI", which will take place in Rome next September 8-14. The seminar is organized by the School of Church Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (affiliated with Opus Dei) and more information is available here.

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Rorate Cæli Disclaimer: "Dear Readers: We are in no way associated with these organizations, and have never received nor will ever accept any kind of gift from them."

To the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Oh, how good and delightful it is to dwell in the Heart of Jesus!

Thy Heart, O good Jesus, is a precious treasure, a precious pearl which we have found by digging the field of Thy Body.

Who will cast aside this pearl? Nay, rather I will give all I have, I will exchange all my thoughts and desires and purchase it.

I will cast all my care on the Heart of the Lord Jesus and He will provide for me without fail. I will adore in this temple, this Holy of Holies, this Ark of the Testament, and I will praise the name of the Lord, saying with David, "I have found my heart that I may pray to my God. And I have found the heart of my King, my Brother, my Friend, the benign Jesus, and why shall I not adore?" Certainly, I shall thus pray.

For His Heart is mine. I will say it boldly, for Christ is my Head: is it not mine what belongs to my Head? Therefore, as the eyes of my corporal head are truly my eyes, so is my spiritual Heart is my heart.

Therefore, it is well within me: truly I have but one Heart with Jesus and no wonder that there should be but one Heart in the multitude of believers.

Saint John Eudes

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-June, month of the Sacred Heart: a vast collection of devotional and catechetical texts on the Sacred Heart of Jesus is available at Catholic Tradition.

COR IESU SACRATISSIMUM,
miserere nobis.

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I invite all to renew, in the month of June, the devotion to the Heart of Christ, making use also of the traditional prayer of daily offering and including the intentions I have proposed for the entire Church.
...
The Heart of Christ expresses in a simple and authentic way the good news of love, summarizing in itself the mystery of the Incarnation and of the Redemption. ... From the infinite horizon of his love, in fact, God wished to enter within the limits of history and of the human condition, he took on a body and a heart, so that we may contemplate and meet the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene

Benedict XVI
Angelus
June 1, 2008

You Report: Corpus Christi in Brazil

Our reader Fabio G. Durante sends us this report from São Paulo, Brazil, on the Traditional Mass and Procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi, which took place on Thursday, May 22, 2008:

Guided by clerics of the the Good Shepherd Institute (Institut du Bon Pasteur - IBP), Father Roch Perrel and Deacon Vincent (ordained in February by Archbishop Luigi de Magistris in Santa Maria Maggiore), with the help of Father Renato and some seminarians of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, the faithful (around 300) walked past one of the most important historical spots in the largest city in South America - the Ipiranga Museum, where the independence of Brazil was proclaimed.

Mr Durante also adds a plea:

From these pictures, one may gather how much the IBP needs a church in São Paulo. Nowadays, masses are celebrated in the garage of their House, where seminarians are selected to be sent to the main seminary, in Courtalain, France.

Congratulations to the clergy and the faithful in this procession - and may a dignified and large Church be soon provided to this community.

Please, keep sending us your reports from around the world.

Juventutem's Sydney launch: Countdown to WYD

Members and friends of Juventutem Australia converged at St Augustine's Church Balmain (Sydney) last Saturday (24th May), to mark the final preparatory phase before World Youth Day. Appropriately, Our Lady Help of Christians (24th May), is the patronal feast of Australia and the 4th anniversary of the founding of the Juventutem movement in 2004.

Solemn Mass was celebrated at St Augustine's Church Balmain by Fr Glen Tattersall (Spiritual Director of Juventutem Australia), assisted by Fr Terence Naughtin OFM Conv, and Fr Michael McCaffrey FSSP.

The beautiful church of Saint Augustine, built in 1907 in the arts and craft style, is conveniently located in an historic inner suburb minutes by bus, car or ferry from Sydney's CBD. St Augustine's will be the official Church of Juventutem during WYD in Sydney. For further photos and a history of the church, please visit the parish website .


A magnificent program, commencing in Melbourne on Thursday 10th July, and continuing in Sydney from Tuesday 15th July, is now in place for Juventutem. Highlights include:

Week 1: Days in the Dioceses in Melbourne
(St. Aloysius' Church, 233 Balaclava Rd, Caulfield North)

Thursday, 10th July
Chant Workshops, 7.30pm Solemn Pontifical Mass (Bishop Basil Meeking), Exposition of Blessed Sacrament overnight until Friday morning.

Friday, 11th July
Low Masses, Chant workshops, Exposition of Blessed Sacrament and Compline.

Saturday, 12th July
11.00am Solemn Pontifical Mass at the Throne (Archbishop Denis Hart).

Sunday, 13th July
11.00am Solemn Mass (Fr Glen Tattersall), 4.00pm Solemn Vespers.

Week 2: World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney
(St. Augustine's Church, 3 Jane St, Balmain)

Tuesday, 15th July
Chant workshops, 7.30pm Solemn Mass (Fr Denis Buchholz ICK).

Wednesday, 16th July
9.00am Catechesis, 11.00am (approx) Solemn Pontifical Mass (Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett), 2.00pm Chant Workshop, 4.00pm Solemn Pontifical Vespers at the Throne (Cardinal Pell).
Thursday, 17th July
9.00am Catechesis, 11.00am (approx) Solemn Pontifical Mass (Bishop Peter Elliott), Compline.

Friday, 18th July
9.00am Catechesis, 11.00am (approx) Solemn Pontifical Mass (Bishop Basil Meeking), 8.00pm Solemn Mass (Maternal Heart Chapel, Lewisham), Compline

Juventutem is not only for those already committed to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, but also seeks to introduce young Catholics who have not yet experienced this liturgy to their own heritage of worship, and the spirituality and culture that are part of this. This will be done in a way that is “user friendly”, with talks and literature aimed at educating and assisting those who are experiencing this liturgy for the first time. Everyone is welcome!

A special feature of Juventutem at this WYD will be chant workshops led by Scott Turkington. In particular, on Wed 16th July at 2.00pm, Mr Turkington will be conducting a special chant workshop for all pilgrims at St. Augustine's, an official WYD Youth Festival Activity. In preparation for this, Juventutem Australia will be holding a series of introductory chant workshops in Sydney during June titled “The EnCHANTment Project” which all are invited to attend – please visit www.juventutem-australia.com for further details.


In addition to pilgrims from around Australia, Juventutem now has participants registered for its WYD chapter from New Zealand, France, the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. We are still waiting to hear from our friends in the UK and Ireland, and a few other countries! It is still - barely! - not too late to register, but we need you to act now!

To register with Juventutem, go here.

Venite, fratres et sorores in Christo! Let us rendezvous in Melbourne, and then gather around our beloved Pope Benedict in Sydney. Godspeed!

GENERAL DECREE OF THECONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH:Automatic excommunication for "ordination" of women

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

General Decree

On the delict of attempted sacred ordination of a woman

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in virtue of the special faculty granted to it by the Supreme Authority of the Church (cf. Can. 30, Code of Canon Law), in order to safeguard the nature and validity of the sacrament of Holy Orders, decreed, in the Ordinary Session of December 19, 2007:

In accordance with what is disposed by Can. 1378 of the Code of Canon Law, he who shall have attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive Holy Orders, incurs in a latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.

If he who shall have attempted to confer Holy Orders on a woman or if the woman who shall have attempted to received Holy Orders is a faithful bound to the Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches, he is to be punished with the major excommunication, whose remission remains reserved to the Apostolic See, in accordance with can. 1443 of the same Code (cf. can. 1423, Code of Canons of the Oriental Churches).

The present decree enters in force immediately after its publication in L'Osservatore Romano.

William Cardinal Levada
Prefect
Angelo Amato, s.d.b.
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary

(Published in L'Osservatore Romano of May 29, 2008 - permanent link)

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Congregatio Pro Doctrina Fidei

Decretum generale

de delicto attentatae sacrae ordinationis mulieris

Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei, ad naturam et validitatem sacramenti sacri ordinis tuendam, vigore specialis facultatis sibi a suprema Ecclesiae auctoritate in casu tributae (cfr can. 30 Codicis Iuris Canonici), in Congregatione Ordinaria diei 19 Decembris 2007, decrevit:

Firmo praescripto can. 1378 Codicis Iuris Canonici, tum quicumque sacrum ordinem mulieri conferre, tum mulier quae sacrum ordinem recipere attentaverit, in excommunicationem latae sententiae Sedi Apostolicae reservatam incurrit.

Si vero qui mulieri sacrum ordinem conferre vel mulier quae sacrum ordinem recipere attentaverit, christifidelis fuerit Codici Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium subiectus, firmo praescripto can. 1443 eiusdem Codicis, excommunicatione maiore puniatur, cuius remissio etiam reservatur Sedi Apostolicae (cfr can. 1423 Codicis Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium).

Hoc decretum cum in L'Osservatore Romano evulgabitur, statim vigere incipiet.

Gulielmus Cardinalis Levada
Praefectus
Angelus Amato, s.d.b.
Archiep. titularis Silensis
a Secretis

You Report: Corpus Christi in Front Royal, Virginia

Our reader Paul Davidson sends us this report of the Corpus Christi Mass and Procession in Front Royal, Virginia (pictures taken by Mr. Tom McFadden):

Immediately following the weekly Sunday 12:30 P.M. Traditional Latin Mass in the main church, attended by two to three hundred faithful, the Pastor mounted the Most Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance upon the main altar, all knelt and sang "O Salutaris Hostia", then from in front of the altar the Procession began.

Continuing out the main front doors of the church, behind the Blessed Sacrament the Procession went down the steps and into the street. Many altar servers (all boys - we have no altar girls in our parish), including candle-bearers and two swinging thuribles (with plenty of "holy smoke"!), a Knights of Columbus Honor Guard, and the four men holding up the canopy on poles over the Pastor bearing the Holy Sacrament in the monstrance, led the Procession, followed by the parish choir, the First Communion Class in their beautiful white dresses and veils, and the Legion of Mary, and then the congregation from the Mass.

As the town police stopped traffic for the Procession, we proceeded down Main Street to the Town Gazebo where an altar had been set up. Along the way townspeople and tourists watched from the sidewalks. We sang Eucharistic hymns as we processed.

At the town gazebo, everyone knelt - on cement, on brick surface, on grass - as the Pastor celebrated Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament in Latin. All sang the traditional Latin hymns. We then prayed the Fatima Prayers. When all this was done, the Procession lined up as described above and we all processed back to the church, singing Eucharistic hymns once again. Inside the church, the Parochial Vicar celebrated Benediction at the main altar. At the close, everyone loudly and thankfully sang the hymn "Holy God, we Praise Thy Name." For those who wished to remain, an ice cream social was then enjoyed in the parish hall.

Corpus Christi in the Philippines

Last Sunday, May 25, the Traditional Latin Mass community at the Parish of the Lord of Divine Mercy marked Corpus Christi with a Missa Cantata followed by a Procession with the Blessed Sacrament. The procession started around four in the afternoon and went through mostly empty streets as the little crowd of some 80 people sang hymns to the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart. The procession ended in one of the rooms of the parish hall (see the last picture), where Benediction was held.

Even as the Traditional Latin Mass community had its Eucharistic Procession, my own home parish cancelled its Corpus Christi procession for the first time that I can remember. Pray for the Church in the Philippines, which is increasingly becoming a battleground between traditional piety and liberal theology.

A Fantastic Eucharistic MiracleFaverney, France, 1608

Exactly 400 years ago, between May 23 and May 25, 1608, an extraordinary Eucharistic miracle took place in the town of Faverney, in the Franche-Comté, France. The old Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes the events of those days:

In olden times many cities possessed a miraculous Host, but the French Revolution destroyed a certain number of them, especially the one at Dijon where each year a Mass of expiation is yet celebrated in the church of St. Michael. In other places the miraculous Hosts have disappeared, but their ancient feast is still commemorated.

In the seventeenth century the Benedictine abbey at Faverney (Haute-Saône) was the scene of a noted miracle. On the night of 23 May, 1608, while the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was in progress, a fire consumed the tabernacle, the linens, and the entire altar; but the ostensorium remained stationary, being suspended in the air without any support. This prodigy lasted for thirty-three hours, was well authenticated by thousands of persons, and was made the object of an investigation, the documents of which have been preserved. The ostensorium contained two Hosts, so that the crucifix could be seen from both sides.

One of the Hosts was given to the city of Dole, where it was destroyed in 1794, and the other is preserved in the parish church of Faverney, where the anniversary is celebrated annually on the Monday after Pentecost.

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Tip: Le Forum Catholique/Histoire et Patrimoine Bleurvillois/Prieuré Notre-Dame de Bethléem

Neocatechumenal Way statutesdefinitively approved by the Pope?

ACI Prensa, the Spanish version of the Catholic News Agency, reports that Pope Benedict definitively approved the Statutes of the Neocatechumental Way, placing his signature on the final text yesterday.

[Update - May 25, 2008: Gianluca Barilla informs today in his papal news website Petrus that "The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has in fact decided to approve the Statutes of the Way only 'ad experimentum', that is, temporarily and not in a definitive way, until 2015: it will be then that it will be decided if one of the most controversial and studied movements in the history of the Catholic laity will be officially recognized." Barilla adds that the Pope made his decision "after having read with attention a dossier of 80 pages and listened carefully to the opinions of the Congregations for the Laity and for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments ... , since the Liturgy has not yet been adapted to the official one and the catecheses are in need of ulterior corrections, not being in full conformity with the Magisterium of the Church."]

The statutes had been approved "ad experimentum", for a period of five years, on June 29, 2002.

The changes which may have been introduced in the statutes regarding the uncommon liturgical practices of "The way", following the recommendations of the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (December 1, 2005), are still unclear.

For instance, has the custom of "los kikos" (as they often called in Spanish in a reference to their founder, Kiko Argüello) of receiving Communion while remaining seated been phased out after two years, as the Congregation determined in 2005?

5. On the manner of receiving Holy Communion, a period of transition (not exceeding two years) is granted to the Neocatechumenal Way to pass from the widespread manner of receiving Holy Communion in its communities (seated, with a cloth-covered table placed at the center of the church instead of the dedicated altar in the sanctuary) to the normal way in which the entire Church receives Holy Communion. This means that the Neocatechumenal Way must begin to adopt the manner of distributing the Body and Blood of Christ that is provided in the liturgical books.

Of course not: who cares about obeying Rome in "The way", anyway? On April 24, less than a month ago, in the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Namur, Belgium (one of a large number of seminaries of the same name run by the Neocatechumenal Way around the world), this is how Communion was distributed: as always, a single pancake-sized host is consecrated and then broken into many pieces, and distributed to the sitting congregation - 2 years, 4 months, and 23 days after the two-year phase-out deadline given by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Adoring the God of Jesus Christ, made bread, broken for love, is the most valid and radical remedy against the idolatries of yesterday and of today. Kneeling in front of the Eucharist is a profession of freedom: who bends to Jesus cannot and must not prostrate before any earthly power, as strong as it may be. We, Christians, kneel only before God, before the Most Holy Sacrament, because we know and believe that in it is present the one true God, who has created the world and has so loved the world to give his only begotten Son.

We prostrate before a God who first inclined himself toward man, as Good Samaritan, to rescue him and give him life, and who knelt before us to cleanse our filthy feet. Adoring the Body of Christ means believing that there, in that piece of Bread, there is truly Christ, who gives true meaning to life, to the immense universe as well as to the smallest creature, to the entire human history as well as to the briefest existence. The adoration is a prayer which prolongs Eucharistic celebration and communion, and in which the soul continues to nourish itself: it is nourished with love, with truth, with peace; it nourished itself with hope, because the One before whom we prostrate does neither judge us, nor humiliates us, but transforms us and makes us free.

Benedict XVI
Homily (Most Holy Body of Christ)
May 22, 2008

Fr. Cantalamessa and Communion Under Both Species

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, still preacher to the pontifical household, is a prolific author who has written many good pages inspired by patristic and other traditional sources. However, he easily goes off the rails from time to time, as in a Holy Week sermon in St. Peter’s Basilica several years ago when he denounced the Fathers of the Church en masse for their lack of charity to the Jewish people. Another instance is his treatment of communion under both species in The Eucharist: Our Sanctification (Rev. ed., Liturgical Press: Collegeville, 1996).

There are two main scholarly faults he commits regarding this topic on which his enthusiasm for the laity’s communion under the species of wine seems to bias and limit his use of sources. First, and surprisingly for a university professor of early Christianity, he misleads his readers with a truncated version of the famous decree attributed to the late fifth century Pope Gelasius: “They should receive the whole sacrament or be deprived of it altogether. It is, in fact, sacrilegious to divide this mystery which is one and identical”. This is a key point in Cantalamessa’s grand narrative of how all the faithful used to fulfill the command of Jesus to drink his Blood, until the Middle Ages and especially Trent when a number of factors took the cup away from the laity until Vatican II and present legislation most happily restored it. But it turns out that the celebrated quote, known since the 12th century from its appearance in an anonymous addition to the Decretum of Gratian, is not to be found in the place Cantalamessa cites: volume 59, page 14 of the Latin Fathers in the still widely used Migne edition. This is nothing more than the first page of the letters of Pope Gelasius, and there is no reference to reception from the cup. One wonders whether Cantalamessa simply copied a reference from another writer without ever reading the quote himself in context. If he had consulted the article on Eucharistic communion in the Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique, for example, he would have found that just a few decades before Pope Gelasius, Pope Leo the Great had to denounce Manichean type heretics in the liturgical assembly who declined to receive the Blood of Christ, while receiving under the form of bread, as a way of avoiding contamination, in accord with their heresy which found some or all material things to be impure. Biographical sources on Gelasius say that as Pope he was himself still contending with Manicheans in the 490s, and here is where the part of the quote omitted by Cantalamessa is crucial for understanding: “by I know not what superstition”. Thus it is that Catholic writers have explained that Gelasius was only condemning abstention from the cup when the abstainer superstitiously considers its consecrated contents impure and illegitimate. It is such superstition which “divides the sacrament”; the sacrament is not divided as long as at least the priest drinks from the chalice. Furthermore the Decretum Gratiani itself referred the quote to the priest’s obligation to receive from the chalice, not the laity. Since the quote is only a fragment, we can speculate at this point that perhaps the context known to the interpolator (presuming the quote is authentic) was indeed capable of interpretation in this restricted sense: the Pope was condemning heretical priests who abstained from the cup. At any rate, the quote was a weapon in the arsenal of Protestants who maintained that Christ in the sixth chapter of John had commanded everyone indiscriminately to drink from the chalice; they used the Gelasian fragment from the early Church to back up their claim that the medieval Church was disobeying Christ. St. Robert Bellarmine provided a detailed response, and the great Bossuet used the Manichean connection to explain the quote in his masterful apologetic Treatise on communion under both species. The upshot is that the quote from Pope Gelasius has been explained by St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Robert Bellarmine, le grand Bossuet and countless other Catholic writers who have defended the legitimacy of not distributing the species of wine to all when there are good reasons for not doing so, but Fr. Cantalamessa only provides a truncated version of the quote which in reality provides no support for people like him who exaggerate the significance of communion under both species if they do not heretically imply that the laity are obligated to receive from the chalice.

Which brings us to the second of Fr. Cantalamessa’s scholarly errors, which is one of omission: saying that the theological reason for not giving the chalice to the laity was in order to emphasize Christ’s full presence under both species, over against the Reformers, Cantalamessa fails to consider a different decree of the Council of Trent where it is solemnly taught that Christ’s command was never meant to obligate all of the faithful to receive the cup. In other words, the full presence of Christ under both species is not the only matter of belief which is involved with the question of the chalice: it also has to do with the true interpretation of several words of Christ himself about eating his body and drinking his blood. The Reformers claimed the plain sense of these words was the obligation of all to drink from the chalice, with the consequence that the Church was in error by reserving it to the priest. So there is a fundamental issue of faith and the Bible here: the Church’s authoritative discipline and teaching is the true interpretation of the Scriptures, and she has never understood Christ to have given a strict and universal command that everyone must drink from the chalice: it is sufficient as a minimum for the priest to do so, in the person of the apostles, as it were, and in the person of the whole Church whom he represents at the altar, as St. Thomas says.

Despite the greater sign-value of reception under both species from the standpoint of the symbolism of the chalice itself, there is therefore a value present in the Tridentine Mass where the priest alone receives from the chalice: in addition to considerations of hygiene, orderliness and ease of reverent distribution and reception, the Church perpetually implies that she, not the heretics of the sixteenth century, truly understands Christ’s words, even to the extent of knowing that he did not intend to bind everyone to receive from the chalice. And when today we hear or sense that many Catholics labor under the delusion that they do not receive the blood of Christ if they do not drink from a cup, then we have all the more reason to be grateful for the form of the Roman rite codified by St. Pius V.

Manila Archbishop: It's "not too bad" to have priests with homosexual inclinations

(Picture taken from the website of the Archdiocese of Manila)

Cardinal Rosales says gay priests OK but...

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 05:57:00 05/20/2008

MANILA, Philippines—The Manila Archbishop Monday said that having homosexual Catholic priests wouldn’t be “too bad” as long as they didn’t “act out” their “tendencies.”

In an interview on Church-run Radio Veritas, Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales acknowledged that gay men had been accepted into the priesthood because “even if [the priest] has [homosexual] inclinations, it does not immediately mean that he is evil.”

Distinction

The cardinal noted that such priests had chosen “to make a distinction between inclination and acting out.”

“A homosexual inclination is not bad but acting it out is an entirely different matter, and that is what is written in the sacred scriptures,” he added.

Rosales explained that this had been the stand of Pope Benedict XVI who, he said, was “not condemning homosexuals” per se when he confronted the issue of pedophile priests during his recent visit to the United States.

He noted that when Benedict declared in New York that “the Church needs holy priests, not many priests,” the latter was speaking out particularly against men of the cloth who had sexually abused children and brought shame to the Church.

Fact-finding body

In this country, Rosales said, complaints against priests who commit sexual abuse may be raised before bishops. The subject priest would be made to answer the allegations before a fact-finding body.

If found meritorious, the case would be elevated to the Vatican, where it would be decided whether the priest should be defrocked, Rosales said. Jeanette I. Andrade

Given that Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales is the acknowledged spiritual leader of the third largest Catholic country in the world (with some 6,000+ seminarians), head of one of the world's largest cardinalatial sees (Manila, which is also a hub for seminarians from all over Asia and Africa) and one of the most eminent prelates of Asia, his interpretation of the recent Vatican instructions regarding homosexual seminarians and priests is bound to have massive influence.

While the Cardinal's stance against priests who commit sexual abuse is laudable, his interpretation of the Holy See's directives against homosexuals in the priesthood is gravely mistaken, to say the least.

The Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders clearly states that:

"In the light of such teaching, this dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called "gay culture."

Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."

Incidentally, the Philippine Daily Inquirer is by no means an "anticlerical" paper, and has a history of strongly supporting the more "socially-oriented" sectors of the Catholic Church as well as Cardinal Rosales.