Furious attack on Papal teaching by architect of Traditionis Custodes.

First the Papal letter and then the furious response from the architect of Traditionis Custodes, Andrea Grillo

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV TO THE PRESBYTERY OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF MADRID ON THE OCCASION OF THE "CONVIVIUM" PRIESTLY ASSEMBLY

[Auditorium Pablo VI, Madrid - February 9-10, 2026]

Dear Children,

I am happy to be able to address this letter to you on the occasion of your presbyteral assembly and to do so with a sincere desire for fraternity and unity. I thank your Archbishop and, from my heart, each of you for your willingness to gather as a presbytery, not only to discuss common issues, but also to support one another in the mission you share.

I appreciate the commitment with which you live and exercise your priesthood in very diverse parishes, services, and realities; I know that this ministry often takes place amid weariness, complex situations, and a silent dedication to which only God is witness. Precisely for this reason, I hope that my words will reach you as a gesture of closeness and encouragement, and that this meeting will foster a climate of sincere listening, true communion, and trusting openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who never ceases to work in your lives and your mission.

The times the Church is experiencing invite us to pause together for serene and honest reflection. Not so much to limit ourselves to immediate diagnoses or the management of emergencies, but to learn to deeply interpret the moment we are living, recognizing, in the light of faith, the challenges and also the possibilities that the Lord opens before us. On this journey, it becomes increasingly necessary to educate our gaze and practice discernment, so that we can perceive more clearly what God is already working, often silently and discreetly, among us and in our communities.

This reading of the present cannot ignore the cultural and social context in which faith is lived and expressed today. In many environments, we observe advanced processes of secularization, a growing polarization in public discourse, and a tendency to reduce the complexity of the human person, interpreting it based on partial and insufficient ideologies or categories. In this context, faith runs the risk of being exploited, trivialized, or relegated to the realm of irrelevance, while forms of coexistence that ignore any transcendent reference are gaining strength.

Added to this is a profound cultural shift that cannot be ignored: the progressive disappearance of common references. For a long time, the Christian seed found largely prepared soil, because moral language, the great questions about the meaning of life, and certain fundamental notions were, at least in part, shared. Today, this common foundation has weakened significantly. Many of the conceptual presuppositions that for centuries favored the transmission of the Christian message have ceased to be evident and, in many cases, even comprehensible. The Gospel confronts not only indifference, but also a different cultural horizon, where words no longer mean the same and where the initial proclamation cannot be taken for granted.

However, this description does not fully capture what is really happening. I am convinced—and I know that many of you sense this in the daily exercise of your ministry—that a new restlessness is arising in the hearts of many people, especially young people, today. The absolutization of well-being has not brought the hoped-for happiness; a freedom divorced from truth has not generated the promised fullness; and material progress alone has failed to satisfy the profound desire of the human heart.

Indeed, the dominant approaches, along with certain hermeneutic and philosophical interpretations aimed at interpreting human destiny, far from offering a sufficient answer, have often left a greater sense of satiety and emptiness. Precisely for this reason, we note that many people are beginning to open themselves to a more honest and authentic search, a search that, accompanied with patience and respect, is leading them back to an encounter with Christ. This reminds us that for the priest, this is not a time for withdrawal or resignation, but for faithful presence and generous availability. All this arises from the recognition that the initiative always belongs to the Lord, who is already at work and precedes us with his grace.

Thus, the kind of priests Madrid—and the entire Church—needs in this time are emerging. Certainly not men defined by a multiplication of tasks or the pressure of results, but men configured to Christ, capable of sustaining their ministry from a living relationship with Him, nourished by the Eucharist and expressed in a pastoral charity marked by sincere self-giving. It is not a matter of inventing new models or redefining the identity we have received, but of re-proposing, with renewed intensity, the priesthood in its most authentic core—being an alter Christus—allowing Him to shape our lives, unify our hearts, and shape a ministry lived from intimacy with God, faithful dedication to the Church, and concrete service to the people entrusted to us.

Dear children, allow me to speak to you today about the priesthood using an image you know well: your cathedral. Not to describe a building, but to learn from it. Because cathedrals—like any sacred place—exist, like the priesthood, to lead to an encounter with God and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters, and their elements hold a lesson for our life and ministry.

Contemplating their façade, we already learn something essential. It is the first thing we see, yet it doesn't say everything: it points, suggests, invites. Likewise, the priest doesn't live to show off, but neither does he live to hide. His life is called to be visible, coherent, and recognizable, even when it isn't always understood. The façade doesn't exist for its own sake: it leads inside. Likewise, the priest is never an end in itself. His entire life is called to point to God and accompany the passage toward the Mystery, without usurping His place.

Once we reach the threshold, we understand that it's not appropriate for everything to enter inside, because it is a sacred space. The threshold marks a passage, a necessary separation. Before entering, something remains outside. The priesthood is also lived in this way: being in the world, but not of the world (cf. Jn 17:14). At this crossroads are celibacy, poverty, and obedience; not as a denial of life, but as the concrete form that allows the priest to belong entirely to God without ceasing to walk among men.

The cathedral is also a common home, where there is room for everyone. This is how the Church is called to be, especially towards her priests: a home that welcomes, protects, and does not abandon. And this is how priestly fraternity must be lived; as the concrete experience of knowing ourselves to be at home, responsible for one another, attentive to the lives of our brothers and sisters, and willing to support one another. My children, no one should feel exposed or alone in the exercise of ministry: together, resist the individualism that impoverishes the heart and weakens the mission!

Walking through the church, we notice that everything rests on the columns that support the whole. The Church has seen in them the image of the Apostles (see Eph 2:20). Priestly life, too, does not rest on itself, but on the apostolic witness received and transmitted in the living Tradition of the Church, and safeguarded by the Magisterium (see 1 Cor 11:2; 2 Tim 1:13-14). When the priest remains anchored to this foundation, he avoids building on the sands of partial interpretations or circumstantial emphases, and instead builds on the solid rock that precedes and surpasses him (see Mt 7:24-27).

Before reaching the sanctuary, the cathedral presents us with discreet yet fundamental places: in the baptismal font, the People of God are born; in the confessional, they are continually regenerated. In the sacraments, grace is revealed as the most real and effective force of the priestly ministry. Therefore, dear children, celebrate the sacraments with dignity and faith, aware that what happens in them is the true strength that builds the Church and that they are the ultimate goal to which all our ministry is directed. But do not forget that you are not the source, but the channel, and that you too need to drink of that water. Therefore, do not stop going to confession, always returning to the mercy you proclaim.

Alongside the central space are various chapels. Each has its own history, its own dedication. Although diverse in art and composition, they all share the same orientation; none is inward-looking, none disrupts the harmony of the whole. This also happens in the Church, with the different charisms and spiritualities through which the Lord enriches and sustains your vocation. Each receives a particular way of expressing faith and nourishing interiority, but all remain oriented toward the same center.

Let us look to the centre of everything, my children: here is revealed what gives meaning to what you do every day and where your ministry springs from. On the altar, through your hands, Christ's sacrifice is made present in the highest action entrusted to human hands; in the tabernacle, He whom you have offered remains, entrusted once again to your care. Be adorers, men of profound prayer, and teach your people to do the same.

At the end of this journey, to be the priests the Church needs today, I leave you the same advice as your holy fellow citizen, Saint John of Ávila: "Be all his" (Sermon 57). Be saints! I entrust you to Our Lady of Almudena and, with a heart full of gratitude, I impart to you the Apostolic Blessing, which I extend to all entrusted to your pastoral care.

Vatican, January 28, 2026.

Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church.

(Feast of the Translation of the Relics, the Feast of St Thomas falls on March 7th)

Source

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Pope Leo and Bishop Augustine: One "Alter Christus" Too Many? by Andrea Grillo

There is no doubt that many of Pope Leo's speeches are frequently inspired by Augustine's thought. From the very beginning, that motto so typical of Augustine's understanding of the ministry appeared in all its authority: "With you a Christian, through you a bishop."

It is no coincidence that Augustine comes from that African Church in which Tertullian and Cyprian largely identified the Christian as an "alter Christus," even if the expression does not appear to be used literally in their works. However, the "title of salvation" is not ordination, but baptism. Baptism is the place where every man (and every woman) becomes an "alter Christus."

Only much later, in modern, or even contemporary, times did we see the emergence of a limited and partial use of the expression "alter Christus," whose oldest source appears to be a definition referring to St. Francis of Assisi. The association not with a friar, but with a priest, became widespread in the 19th century, became a "commonplace" in the 20th century (with Pius X, Pius XI, Benedict XV, and Pius XII), and then reappeared at the end of the 20th century, with John Paul II and Benedict XVI, in the Year of the Priest 2009-2010. But the expression has no ancient tradition; it appears to be a late-modern invention, in which a terminology for Christians and saints is applied exclusively to "priests."

This is the context of the Letter that Pope Leo sent to the priests of Madrid. It's surprising that the content is split in half, and that reasonable premises lead to consequences that have no bearing on the premises. I'd like to show the tension that runs through the text. Here is the first part, according to which discernment of today's world is necessary:

"This reading of the present cannot ignore the cultural and social framework in which faith is lived and expressed today. In many environments we observe advanced processes of secularization, a growing polarization in public discourse, and the tendency to reduce the complexity of the human person, interpreting it on the basis of partial and insufficient ideologies or categories. In this context, faith runs the risk of being exploited, trivialized, or relegated to the realm of the irrelevant, while forms of coexistence that ignore any transcendent reference are gaining ground.

Added to this is a profound cultural shift that cannot be ignored: the progressive disappearance of common references. For a long time, the Christian seed found largely prepared ground, because moral language, the great questions about the meaning of life, and certain fundamental notions were, at least in part, shared. Today, this common substratum has been significantly weakened. Many of the conceptual presuppositions that for centuries favored the transmission of the Christian message have ceased to be be evident and, in many cases, even understandable. The Gospel confronts not only indifference, but also a different cultural horizon, in which words no longer mean the same and where the first proclamation cannot be taken for granted.

This reminds us that for the priest, this is not a time for withdrawal or resignation, but for faithful presence and generous availability. All this arises from the recognition that the initiative always belongs to the Lord, who is already at work and precedes us with his grace.

With a rather abrupt leap of logic, which a careful reader cannot fail to notice, the letter continues along a completely different path, one in which there is nothing to learn or revise, but everything can proceed peacefully in nineteenth-century style:

"Thus, the kind of priests Madrid—and the entire Church—need in this time are emerging. Certainly not men defined by a multiplication of tasks or the pressure of results, but men configured to Christ, capable of sustaining their ministry from a living relationship with Him, nourished by the Eucharist and expressed in a pastoral charity marked by sincere self-giving. It is not a matter of inventing new models or redefining the identity we have received, but of re-proposing, with renewed intensity, the priesthood in its most authentic core—being an alter Christus—allowing Him to shape our lives, unify our hearts, and shape a ministry lived from intimacy with God, faithful dedication to the Church, and concrete service to the people entrusted to us."

That the core of the priesthood is "to be an alter Christus" is a rather bold hypothesis, without a long tradition, with a strong apologetic component, typical of a theological style of the early 20th century, surpassed by the Second Vatican Council and the new vision of the ministry, which finds its foundations in ancient theology.

That the core of the priesthood is "being an alter Christus" is a rather bold hypothesis, lacking a long tradition, with a strong apologetic component, typical of a theological style of the early 20th century, superseded by the Second Vatican Council and the new vision of ministry, which finds its foundation in ancient theology. When Augustine heard the bishop being called a "bridegroom," he was opposed. If anything, he said, he is the friend of the Bridegroom. That the "priest" is an "alter Christus" is the fruit of a sacred theory of ministry, which Augustine would have rejected. The pastor is not primarily sacralized in a difference from the Christian, but is unified in His Body.

This unilateral discourse is followed in the Letter by a description of the "priest" along the lines of the "cathedral": this is a strange text, which seems forced and reductive both for the figure of the priest and for the function of the cathedral. A "self-referential" interpretation of the cathedral fails to account for both the cathedral and the ordained minister (who is ordained not to himself, but to the people of God). The notion that the cathedral is a place "open to all" is interpreted only as addressed to "priests": here too, the meaning of the cathedral church is seriously misunderstood, which is not "for priests," or for the bishop, but for Christians.

How can we interpret this gap between the first part of the text and this second part, so profoundly marked by another hand and another perspective? Perhaps some "anti-Augustinian" wrote the second part of the letter, which does not seem to be in the typical style and form of an Augustinian like Pope Leo? For this reason, it is contradictory and inconsistent with what Pope Leo has expressed thus far, nor similar to what inspires him so profoundly in his living relationship with Augustine's thought. Who never spoke of an "alter Christus" and only wrote these clear words in De civitate Dei (XX,10):

The passage from the Apocalypse: "In them the second death has no power"; and the following sentence: "But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (99) do not concern only bishops and priests, although in the Church they are now properly considered priests. However, just as, because of the sacramental anointing, we consider all the faithful anointed by the Lord, so we consider all the faithful priests because they are members of the one Priest. Of them the Apostle Peter says: "A holy race, a royal priesthood" (100). Judiciously, though briefly and in passing, the Apocalypse proposes that Christ is God with the words: "Priests of God and of Christ," that is, of the Father and the Son. However, in the condition of a servant,[101] as the Son of Man, Christ also became a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.[102] I have discussed this topic several times in this work.[103]

A Church in which "alter Christus" refers not to the baptized or the saints, but to ordained ministers, is a Church conceived as a "societas inaequalis" and a "societas perfecta," according to the temptation of Catholicism between 1870 and 1950. It would not be a great achievement, not even for the priests of Madrid, to return to the tone and style of those times.