Traditionis Custodes, the text nobody wants

After the chronicle of the failure of Traditionis Custodes, two years after the motu proprio adopted in July 2021 resulting from the desire of a certain number of those close to Pope Francis to use it to wipe the traditional Mass and its faithful off the map, the Parisian faithful whose traditional Masses - at Notre-Dame du Travail and Saint-Georges de la Villette in particular - were abolished by Archbishop Aupetit, drive the point home with a few concrete remarks:

"For example, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, archbishop of Marseille, who was created a cardinal last year, is reputed to be a great friend of the Pope and was offered the see of Paris, which he turned down in order to remain in Marseille, where his elderly parents live, has twice celebrated a pontifical mass in the Tridentine rite in the church of Saint Charles, served by the Missionaries of Divine Mercy, on 9 January 2022 and 2 July 2023 , three weeks ago.

As for Bishop François-Xavier Bustillo of Ajaccio, who will be Cardinal on 30 September, he has the best relations with Abbé Hervé Mercury, formerly a member of the SSPX, whom he lets serve without any problem, as before the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, in the chapel of Notre-Dame de Lorette in Ajaccio, which has all the aspects of an informal personal parish. Opinions are divided on this new cardinal, who was a conventual Franciscan in Italy and exercised his priesthood in the French diocese of Tarbes and Lourdes before being appointed to Ajaccio, but who is said to be relatively classic. Just before his elevation to the episcopate, he made a name for himself with a book that decided his future: La vocation du prêtre face aux crises (Nouvelle Cité, 2021). It is the publication of the lectures from a retreat he preached before his ordination to the priesthood. In it, he explains that the mission of the priest is not to succeed in saving the world through missionary tactics and strategies, but to live his vocation "with passion", this "formidable vocation" being a sign in a world in search of landmarks. He had offered his book to the Pope (of Spanish origin, he spoke to him in that language), and the Pope liked it so much that he had it translated and distributed to all the priests in Rome. And not only did the Pope like it, but we also gave it a glowing review!

I would add that, among those close to the Pope, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, does not appear to be a staunch follower of Traditionis custodes. In October 2022, he willingly agreed to open the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage by presiding over pontifical vespers at the Pantheon. The same cardinal is reputed to have set an example for the bishops of Italy by saying that in Bologna there was no problem with the traditional Mass, which he had allowed to be celebrated as before.

Things are not as easy in many French dioceses, particularly Paris, even if Bishop Ulrich is showing discreet signs of accommodation, including the mission entrusted to an FSSP priest at Notre-Dame du Lys. Nevertheless, Bishop Aupetit's decision to cancel two Sunday Masses at Notre-Dame du Travail and Saint-Georges de La Vilette, and a series of weekday Masses, including the Mass for young people at Saint-François-Xavier, has been maintained by his successor.

The latest Lettre de Paix liturgique makes this very important point about the role that the laity are playing and will play in this matter, as they have been doing since the promulgation of the new Mass: "The paradox is that it was Vatican II that declared that the laity were the driving force of the Church. Well, yes, they are, but not in the way that the most progressive Fathers of Vatican II would have wanted, who were thinking of committed, clericalised Catholic Action laypeople. They were convinced that these lay people would become the spearhead of the wildest innovations, while they feared that a large proportion of the clergy would be more difficult to manipulate. What happened, however, was quite the opposite: the clerics, very much marked by a corporal conformism, detached from reality, for the most part sank into the fog of novelties; as for the 'committed' laity, they gradually disappeared into thin air; what remained were those who continued to go to Mass on Sundays and who showed themselves to be prudent fathers and mothers [those laypeople who fought to pass on the faith to their children through the catechism and Mass]".

We are one of these lay people, we who recite the Parisian rosaries for the freedom of the traditional Mass, the Wednesday rosaries, at 5pm at Saint-Georges de La Villette and every working day, from Monday to Friday, in front of the offices of the diocesan administration, 10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, from 1pm to 1.30pm, where all the members of the diocesan administration are starting to know us well.

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