De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Watch our interview with Charlotte's Brian Williams where we find out what has been happening on the ground in this complex situation which looks like becoming THE test case for Traditiones Custodes:

Something deeply troubling is unfolding in the Diocese of Charlotte, and it is not just a local dispute about liturgical taste. It is a test of authority, continuity and justice in the Catholic Church itself. Charlotte was widely recognised as a thriving diocese. Vocations were healthy. Parishes were full. Families were moving there because the Church was confident, reverent and clearly Catholic. That did not happen by accident. It was the fruit of years of patient pastoral leadership and a conscious fidelity to the direction set by Pope Benedict XVI in Summorum Pontificum . Tradition was not treated as a problem to be managed but as a source of life. That is why the sudden reversal now taking place has been so devastating. Within a short period of his arrival, the new bishop has imposed sweeping liturgical restrictions: the removal of altar rails and kneelers, the discouragement of ad orientem worship, and further pressure on communities attached to the Traditional Latin Mass. These...

There's no doubt that Pope Francis has caused massive damage throughout the Catholic Church by spreading confusion, lies and misinformation, not to mention promoting seriously compromised and dangerous and abusive men to high office and facilitating liturgical travesties like the Pachamamma worship in the Vatican gardens. But by far the most unjust thing he has enacted is Traditiones custodes . Why? Well, because it singles out those who most want to love Christ, those most loyal to the papacy, and penalises them for their fidelity and faithfulness. Pope Francis has enacted a Trad exclusion programme. It seems now, for the first time, even lay people have started to make public their disquiet at the injustice of the situation. And what better place than Chicago, where Bergoglio's (once) favourite (the signs are that this is no longer the case...Which is why he is not in Rome) and McCarrick protégé Blaise Cupich has been swift and draconian in forcing restrictions on any parish ...

“𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘩𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴; 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴; 𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘱, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵'𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘮 𝘗𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭. 𝘗𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 “𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸” 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴,” 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵...

The Pope is a gift to the Church and, indeed, to all Christians. This is because the Pope is the representative of Christ on earth, Christ, from whom his authority comes, gave the power to loose and to bind to all the Apostles, but to Simon Peter in a special way (CCC 881). But the only authority the Pope has finds its source in Jesus Christ: "The holders of office, who are invested with a sacred power, are, in fact, dedicated to promoting the interests of their brethren, so that all who belong to the People of God . . . may attain to salvation." ( Lumen Gentium n.18)...In other words, the servant of the servants of God . So what are we to make of a Pope who uses his authority to directly subvert the purpose for which it exists? Every single Catholic I have ever known who had an interest in or attended the Traditional Latin Mass did so out of a desire to grow closer to Christ. It may not be palatable for Catholics attached to the new Mass to hear, but they do it because it i...

Hat tip to Matthew Hazell for the image  @M_P_Hazell on Twitter Phil Lawler sums up the utter mess of the current Pontificate succinctly in this post . He says: OK, I think I understand now. The Vatican “carried out a detailed consultation of the bishops in 2020” regarding the use of the traditional Latin Mass. Although we’ve never seen the results of that consultation, Pope Francis determined that “the wishes expressed by the episcopate” called for a crackdown on traditionalism. But the bishops who wanted that crackdown can’t be trusted to do it themselves. In a “synodal” Church, the Vatican listens carefully to all the faithful, and serves the needs of the diocesan bishops—in this case, by telling them what to do. In  Traditionis Custodes  (#4), when the Pope wrote that the diocesan bishop has “exclusive competence to authorize the use of the 1962 Roman Missal in his diocese, according to the guidelines of the Apostolic See,” what he meant was that a diocesan bishop...

  Arthur Cardinal Roche, the failed former bishop of Leeds  who was booted upstairs to Rome to get him out of the way (look how well that strategy has worked!), has made it absolutely clear what the priorities of this papacy are. Hammering tradition. Roche has published a rescript which reserves permission for the use of a parish church for celebrations of the 1962 Missal to the Dicastery he heads. The Rescript makes reference to Canon 87.1 which states that bishops may lift the obligations of universal law for the good of souls in their diocese: this no longer applies, as the matter is ‘reserved to the Holy See’. This does seem to somewhat contradict Traditiones custodes art #2 which states:  "It belongs to the diocesan bishop, as moderator, promoter, and guardian of the whole liturgical life of the particular Church entrusted to him, to regulate the liturgical celebrations of his diocese." Vatican watchers knew this was coming, because we had seen the r...

 From Rorate Caeli : The following article by Domenico Agasso appeared in La Stampa on January 7, 2023. ( link ) VATICAN CITY. "Pope Francis' clampdown on the Latin Mass was an imprudence. I suggest to the Pontiff that he be more attentive to all sensibilities within the Church, even those furthest from his own." And he warns of a possible schism on the left in Germany, sounding a sharp "no" to the blessing of gay couples: "It is against the word of God." German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, 75, was a student of Benedict XVI and his successor at the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Bergoglio created him a cardinal in 2014, but then in 2017 did not renew his mandate as prefect. The cardinal reflects on the future of the Church after celebrating Mass for the Epiphany. He argues that "we are not a political or merely human organization, but a creation of Jesus Christ" with the task of "working for the eternal salvat...

Dr. Joseph Shaw, the LMS Chairman, has  been given sight of a letter of refusal from  the Dicastery of Divine Worship, which alone has the authority to permit priests ordained after  Traditionis custodes  to celebrate the Traditional Mass. It has become clear that the Dicastery is systematically refusing to do so, even though requests are coming not from individual priests, but their bishops.  Dr. Shaw posted a portion of the letter on his blog and at Rorate Caeli . He suspects any others would be substantially identical: …this Dicastery is of the opinion that this [permission] would not be an opportune decision. Therefore, we deny the request. The path established by the Holy Father in  Traditionis custodes  is quite clear and this has been underscored both in the “Letter to Bishops of the Whole World” which accompanied the Motu proprio and in the  Responsa ad dubia  of this Dicastery, which were personally approved by the Holy Father. In t...

 This post follows on from the last one really, prompted by this: “Pope Francis on Saturday blasted Catholics who, hewing to old-school versions of liturgy like the Latin Mass, have made an ideological battleground of the issue, decrying what he described as devil-inspired divisiveness in the church,” reports @AP https://t.co/fLWNqIJ34L — Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) May 9, 2022 When you have a Pope who ignores problems, promotes abusers, pushes problematic ideas which are at odds with the faith, AND THEN BLAMES TRADS FOR CAUSING DIVISION, you know you have serious, serious problems.  These comments are utterly indefensible, especially in the context of a huge push from progressive commentators and outlets to say the pope promotes homosexuality: Pope Francis to LGBT Catholics on feeling rejected: “I would have them recognize it not as ‘the rejection of the church,’ but instead of ‘people in the church’. “A ‘selective’ church, one of ‘pure blood’, is not Holy Mother Church, ...

In a week dominated by the Roe vs Wade debate in the US , which has placed Eucharistic coherence bishops firmly in the spotlight once again, did Pope Francis take the opportunity to re-emphasize the Church's strict prohibition on abortion? Of course not! Instead he decided to start attacking Traditionalist Catholics AGAIN . CNA reports [my own comments in square brackets here]: Pope Francis said Saturday that the liturgy should not be “a battleground” for “outdated issues.” [I mean - seriously? Who made it a battleground  by overturning a provision made by his (still living) predecessor? Who has constantly attacked "rigid" Catholics ?] “I emphasize again that the liturgical life, and the study of it, should lead to greater Church unity, not division. When the liturgical life is a bit like a banner of division, there is the stench of the devil in there, the deceiver,” Pope Francis [said] [I agree, but the division and the deceit comes from those who fail to recognise the...

 Some great news from the FSSP: Fribourg, February 21, 2022 On Friday, February 4, 2022, two members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, Fr. Benoît Paul-Joseph, Superior of the District of France, and Fr. Vincent Ribeton, Rector of St. Peter’s Seminary in Wigratzbad, were received in private audience by the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for nearly an hour. During the very cordial meeting, they recalled the origins of the Fraternity in 1988, the Pope expressed that he was very impressed by the approach taken by its founders, their desire to remain faithful to the Roman Pontiff and their trust in the Church. He said that this gesture should be “preserved, protected and encouraged”. In the course of the audience, the Pope made it clear that institutes such as the Fraternity of St. Peter are not affected by the general provisions of the Motu Proprio  Traditionis Custodes , since the use of the ancient liturgical books was at the origin of their existence and is provided for in t...

From Diane Montagna at The Remnant : BOMBSHELL NEW VIDEO — Priest Once Imprisoned in Burma Decries Francis’ Suppression of the Old Mass (scroll to the bottom of this post to watch the video from Fr Mawdsley). “Sit back and consider it: the highest power on earth is attacking the greatest good on earth, precisely when it’s his job to defend and preserve tradition and to pass it on to the next generation.” - Fr. James Mawdsley A British traditional Catholic priest who was once imprisoned and tortured in a Burmese jail is openly challenging Pope Francis’ efforts to suppress the Church’s ancient Roman liturgy. In a 9-minute video titled “Why withstand Pope Francis publicly?” [watch it below] Father James Mawdsley, formerly a priest of the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), asserts that in his  letter  accompanying  Traditionis Custodes , Francis “declared his intention to eradicate the traditional liturgy” and “impossibly claimed that the  Novus Ordo  constitutes the u...