At this point, it seems more than likely that as early as April 3, Pope Francis will be laying the hammer down on the Traditional Mass in a way that will restrict the liturgy of all our Latin-Rite ancestors that is almost as severe as what happened under Paul VI.
In addition, it looks like traditional ordinations and other sacraments will be outlawed as well. This means that not even the traditional communities are safe.
If I was a betting man, I wouldn’t be surprised if this causes great strife in some of the Ecclesia Dei communities (those communities like the Fraternity of St. Peter set up to exclusively celebrate the traditional rites). Does this mean priests in those orders will leave, go independent, or seek to be admitted to the SSPX? Who knows.
Assuming this all materializes, it will harm Catholics greatly, causing division in families, educational institutions, and more. In essence, it will create a deep rift between many Catholics, which will be very sad.
Of course, nothing is confirmed, but with a recent rescript from the Holy See affirming a draconian interpretation of Traditionis Custodes, and the who’s who of Vaticanistas affirming that Francis’ Vatican is about to release the sword of Damocles on the Old Mass, we should be prepared for the worst.
Now, before I continue, the liberal crowd will be up in arms at the suggestion that it would be wrong for a pope to cancel a liturgy. You see, the liberals embraced cancel culture before it was cool.
While I grant that the pope has authority over the liturgy, and of course, liturgical reform is under his umbrella, we must rid ourselves of the legal positivism and papolatry that has enwrapped the minds of so many Catholics for so long.
Fr. Henri Le Floch, who was the rector of the French Seminary in Rome under Pope Pius X, Benedict XV, and Pius XI, said the following in the 1920’s: “The heresy which is now being born will become the most dangerous of all; the exaggeration of the respect due to the pope and the illegitimate extension of his infallibility.”
We are there, my friends, and we have been for a long time.
Reforming liturgy does not mean destroying liturgy, and you don’t need a Ph.D. to understand that. As Pope Benedict XVI beautifully put it, “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.”
St. Robert Bellarmine stated: “Just as it is licit to resist a Pontiff who attacks the body, so also is it licit to resist him who attacks souls or destroys the civil order or above all, tries to destroy the Church. I say that it is licit to resist him by not doing what he orders and by impeding the execution of his will.”
Critics will say I am using this quote out of context; because, of course, the critics are the guardians of what constitutes context and what doesn’t, just ask them.
If you would like to continue living in a world where the Novus Ordo is not at the heart of one of the worst eras ever to befall the Church, then go ahead. But the fact remains that the Novus Ordo is dying and the Traditional Mass is rising. Just look at the zillions of Catholics who left the Church when the New Mass was promulgated, and look at how many young families are stuffing narthexes full of wailing babies at your local TLM as the Old Mass continues to grow.
Now, if Pope Francis drops his nuclear bomb on Tradition, this will create a schism in the Church.
I should qualify what I mean by schism.
