Pope Francis turns the screw on traditionalists, disturbing even moderate Bishops

Pope Francis gives a new turn of screw to contain traditionalist communities

Faced with appeals from dioceses to defend the access of the faithful to the Mass according to the old rite, the Pope has published a rescript withdrawing all power from local bishops on this issue. Rome alone will decide from now on.

Pope Francis is tightening the noose around traditionalists. 

(Cathcon:  Turn screw.  Tighten noose. Amazingly strong language condemning the Pope from Le Figaro which is one of three French newspapers of record, along with Le Monde and Libération.  As they say in Yorkshire, it is what it is....torture of Catholics and judicial murder of the Latin Mass)

During an audience granted on Monday to the English cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the dicastery for divine worship and the discipline of the sacraments, the pope formally validated a rescript, a sort of legal decree, withdrawing almost all power of management of the traditionalist file from local bishops, to the benefit of the Vatican alone. The text was published on Tuesday.

Rome thus becomes the ultimate decision-maker on two specific points. The first is whether young priests ordained after 16 July 2021 will be allowed to celebrate Mass according to the old 1962 missal, in force before the Second Vatican Council, known as the "Latin Mass". The second is the possibility of using a parish church or erecting a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist according to the old ritual. On these two points, the local bishop will no longer be able to decide anything without the green light from Rome.

It was Benedict XVI who in 2007 allowed the celebration of Mass according to the old Catholic ritual to be possible as an "extraordinary" rite and for the sake of "reconciliation". However, this was subject to certain conditions, including the existence of a "stable" community of faithful who had to wait for authorisation from the local bishop, who was then responsible for this discernment.

But the pastoral success obtained since then by these traditionalist communities, in the United States and in France in particular (affluence, strong presence of young people and families, numerous priestly and religious vocations), led Francis to legally abrogate this liberality on 16 July 2021 to avoid, it was said in Rome, the constitution of a "parallel" Catholic Church considered very critical of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council.

"Authoritarianism"

One of the keys to this takeover to re-establish the "one and only" way of celebrating Mass, the "ordinary" rite resulting from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), in front of the people and in the language spoken by the faithful, was the suppression of the legal existence of this "extraordinary" rite and to remove all power in this matter from the local bishop.

In the United States, a number of bishops in favour of the traditionalists, in the Dioceses of Knoxville (Tennessee), Lake Charles (Louisiana), Portland (Oregon), Springfield, (Illinois) and Denver (Colorado) in particular, have used canon law - the law of the Church and its Article 87 - to challenge Pope Francis' decision.

This article states, "Whenever he deems it profitable for their spiritual good, the diocesan bishop has the power to dispense the faithful from both universal and particular disciplinary laws brought by the supreme authority of the Church for his territory or subjects." Except, however, for those laws whose "dispensation is specially reserved to the Apostolic See or to another authority".

This is the point targeted by the publication of the rescript of 20 February. Signed by Cardinal Roche and authorised by Francis, it prevents recourse to this Article 87 because it reserves any "dispensation" in liturgical matters to the Apostolic See alone.

Second magisterial intervention

Another consolidation: the juridical form of the rescript, signed by a cardinal under the authority of the Pope, means that it now enters the domain of the "pontifical magisterium". It can no longer be opposed to the possible whim of the signing cardinal. It has acquired maximum authority.

This rescript was the second magisterial intervention to impose the Motu Proprio of 16 July 2021, which did not pass muster in traditionalist circles. On 18 November 2021, a technical document, "Responsa ad dubia", had already dotted  the i's in the same sense, but without managing to extinguish the rebellion. Hence the use of this legal form. He could also announce an even more binding document against traditionalist communities next spring.

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This is a development that worries several French bishops, even though they are moderate, who see their responsibility reduced by a Pontifical "authoritarianism" that displays a "synodal" ambition of shared government and not imposed "from above".

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