Posters go up all over Rome in defence of Latin Mass
Posters in the Vatican area: "Freedom for the Latin Mass" by Stefano Chiappalone
Starting this morning in Rome, a series of billboards in defense of the traditional liturgy will attract the attention of passers-by and above all of prelates and monsignors who enter and leave the sacred walls. The organizing committee asks the Holy Father to also look at those "liturgical peripheries" which for some time "no longer feel welcome in the Church".
Starting this morning, the gaze of passers-by near the Vatican will be attracted by a series of posters that do not advertise products or candidates, but instead want to raise their voice in defense of something that appears to be threatened precisely in those parts: the traditional liturgy, the Mass so-called "in Latin".
The posters, which began today, will last for the next two weeks. With the hope that prelates and monsignors who enter and leave the sacred walls every day will pay attention to the phrase that stands out on all the posters: «For the love of the Pope. For the peace and unity of the Church. For the freedom of the traditional Latin Mass". Each of the four versions then carries a quote and the image of one of the popes who have had more direct dealings with the traditional liturgy, such as St. Pius V, St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI - starting with the "symbolic phrase" with which the latter restored full citizenship to that liturgical form: «What was sacred for previous generations, remains sacred and great for us too, and cannot suddenly be completely forbidden or, even, judged harmful». Precisely what, inexplicably, is happening with the recent Vatican measures which aim to suffocate and put an end to that rite as if it were no longer "sacred and great" and even to be considered, in fact, "harmful".
There are no acronyms since all the promoters "participate in a personal capacity even though they come from different Catholic realities (such as the blogs Messainlatino and Campari & de Maistre, and the associations National Coordination of Summorum Pontificum and Ass. San Michele Arcangelo)", informs the press release press, in Italian and English, distributed in conjunction with the posting. In addition to explaining the reasons for the initiative, the text (as well as the slogan) offers a further contribution to debunking that widespread narrative, perhaps even in the sacred rooms, which tends to portray the faithful traditionalists as a bunch of rebels, retrogrades and - needless to say it – enemies of the Pope. The promoters instead act "out of love for the Pope, so that he is paternally open to understanding those liturgical peripheries that for some months have no longer felt welcome in the Church". In short, a filial request, by "children" of the Church who are ultimately treated as "stepchildren", starting with the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes of 2021, but with a particular upsurge after Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of Divine Worship, has issued even more restrictive measures to tie the hands of those bishops who still showed too benevolent towards this ill-treated part of their flock.
Not against but pro, therefore – and on the other hand it was certainly not the faithful traditionalists who declared war. The stubbornness of the hierarchy that rings the death knell for an ancient and venerable rite in the name of the (alleged) unity of the lex orandi is even curious, and at the same time seems to give way to quite other liturgical experiments. For example, the Mexican diocese of San Cristobal promotes the inclusion of Mayan rites in the celebration of Mass and is confident of receiving Roman approval. Adaptations already made official for the Congolese rite, which Pope Francis has publicly and repeatedly praised, considering it a pacesetter for the Amazonian rite. And on the other hand in Belgium it is experimented at a further level, promoting special liturgies for the blessing of homosexual couples and other irregular couples. The Holy Father, according to recent public statements by Msgr. Johan Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp, would not have raised any objections: "The Pope said neither yes nor no. “It is your competence”". In short: everything appears lawful except what the Church proclaimed and celebrated until the day before yesterday.
All the more reason it sounds at least bizarre to consider an "expired" rite at the stroke of the Second Vatican Council. But this is precisely what Cardinal Roche thinks, stating to the BBC that the traditional liturgy is no longer good because "the theology of the Church has changed". Oh yes: the theology of yesterday, today and tomorrow (which will be surpassed the day after tomorrow), the average faithful of the "Tridentine suburbs" would respond by identifying with the cinematic outburst (full of free-range ideas but undeniable containing the sensus fidei) by Mario Brega in front of the priest windbag who pontificated on the "Church of yesterday, today, tomorrow...". On the contrary, precisely referring to the phrase of Benedict XVI quoted above, the press release states that "the growing hostility towards the traditional liturgy finds no justification either on the theological or on the pastoral level". Organic development is one thing, it is quite another to mark a caesura between a pre-Church and a post-Church. Unless you want to re-found the Church from scratch, thus assuming prerogatives that in theory would belong to Our Lord.
A further push against the ecclesially correct "narrative" comes from the fruits, summarized as follows: «The communities that celebrate according to the 1962 Missal are not rebels against the Church; on the contrary, blessed by a constant growth of faithful and priestly vocations, they constitute an example of steadfast perseverance in Catholic faith and unity, in a world ever more insensitive to the Gospel, and in an ecclesial fabric ever more yielding to disruptive impulses". . For example, beyond the Alps (and not only) the traditional seminaries fill up where the diocesan ones empty. Or let's look at the young and very young who flock to the Paris-Chartres pilgrimage every year, punctuated precisely by functions in the ancient rite. It is to these fruits that the bishops must have looked, responding about two-thirds favourably, or at most asking for some adjustments, regarding the application of Benedict XVI's motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, as reconstructed by the journalist Diane Montagna. But that survey was "cleverly" synthesized, to say the least, according to the Traditionis Custodes (that is, the anti-Summorum Pontificum), which swept everything away.
But despite the "bitter pain" and the "grave injustice", the statement expresses hope, especially since "in the Church of our day, where listening, acceptance and inclusion inspire every pastoral action", even the faithful and priests who love the traditional liturgy trust that they will be heard, welcomed and included. "Whoever goes to the “Mass in Latin” is not a second-class believer, nor a deviant to be re-educated or a ballast to get rid of". Will he advance a few ounces of Synodality for them too?
PRESS RELEASE
From this morning, for 15 days, a few dozen posters dedicated to the traditional liturgy will remain posted near the Vatican.
A committee of promoters, who participate in a personal capacity even though they come from different Catholic realities (such as the blogs Messainlatino and Campari & de Maistre, and the associations National Coordination of Summorum Pontificum and Ass. San Michele Arcangelo), wanted to make their deep attachment public to the traditional Mass precisely when its extinction seems planned: out of love for the Pope, so that he is paternally open to understanding those liturgical peripheries which for some months have no longer felt welcome in the Church, because they find full and complete expression in the traditional liturgy of the entire Catholic faith.
"What was sacred for previous generations remains sacred and great for us too, and cannot suddenly be completely forbidden or even judged harmful" (Benedict XVI). The growing hostility towards the traditional liturgy finds no justification either on the theological or on the pastoral level. The communities that celebrate according to the 1962 Missal are not rebels against the Church; on the contrary, blessed by a constant growth of faithful and priestly vocations, they constitute an example of steadfast perseverance in Catholic faith and unity, in a world ever more insensitive to the Gospel, and in an ecclesial fabric ever more yielding to disruptive impulses.
For this reason, the attitude of refusal with which their own pastors are forced to treat the today is not only a cause of bitter pain, which these faithful strive to offer for the purification of the Church, but also constitutes a grave injustice before the which charity itself imposes not to be silent: "an inopportune silence leaves those who could have avoided it in a false condition" (St. Gregory the Great).
Anyone who goes to the "Mass in Latin" is not a second-class believer, nor a deviant to be re-educated or a ballast to get rid of.
In the Church of our day, where listening, acceptance and inclusion inspire every pastoral action, and where ecclesial communion is to be built "with the synodal method", this people of ordinary faithful, young families, fervent priests , has the confident hope that his voice will not be stifled, but welcomed, listened to and held in due consideration.
The promoting committee
(Toni Brandi, Luigi Casalini, Federico Catani, Guillaume Luyt, Simone Ortolani, Marco Sgroi) prolibertatemissalis@gmail.com
A reminder of 2017
More than 200 posters posted on walls throughout Rome have been removed that challenge the Pope and his work.
The photo portrayed Bergoglio in full view and below the inscription: 'To Francis', you have attacked Congregations, removed priests, beheaded the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate, ignored Cardinals...
but where is your mercy?'. The anonymous poster appears to be attributable to conservative circles opposed to the Pope's choices. Francis, informed by his collaborators of the appearance of the abusive posters attacking him, reacted, according to ANSA, with "serenity and detachment".
The dozens of anonymous posters had also been covered by the words "unlawful posting". Anti-Bergoglio posters were posted in various districts of the capital, especially in the central areas.
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