Earlier today, the once-rumored motu proprio suppressing the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was finally published.
Needless to say, given that we are dealing with a most cunning enemy, it will necessarily take time before we will see exactly how this “Apostolic Letter” will be leveraged by the Bergoglians as a weapon against tradition.
Please allow me to underscore this point:
Like all things Bergoglian, the move to suppress Ecclesia Dei will almost certainly result in tradition being attacked, marginalized, and vilified. At best (and highly unlikely at that), it may prove to be neutral in that regard. Anyone who imagines otherwise is clearly delusional as Jorge Bergoglio has long since made his hatred for tradition and all things truly Catholic exceedingly well-known.
Below is the full text of the Apostolic Letter, with certain portions emphasized in italics, with my own commentary periodically inserted. [Note: The unofficial English translation has been provided by the Catholic Herald.]
For over thirty years, the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established by the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta, of July 2, 1988, has acquitted with sincere and praiseworthy solicitude the task of collaborating with the Bishops and the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, in facilitating the full ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, communities or individual religious men and women once attached to the Fraternity founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who wished to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church, while preserving their spiritual and liturgical traditions.
Right out of the gate, the text begins by perpetrating, albeit in the backhanded manner one might expect, a worn-out, tired old lie; namely, that the SSPX was at one time, and is presently, not united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church – a claim the Society has vehemently and repeatedly rejected. So much for this Letter being an example of Jorge playing nice with tradition. More on that in a moment.
In this way, the Commission was able to exercise its authority and competence over said Societies and Associations in the name of the Holy See, until otherwise provided.
Subsequently, under the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of 7 July 2007, the Pontifical Commission extended the authority of the Holy See over those Institutes and religious communities, which adhere to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and earlier traditions of religious life, maintaining vigilance over the observance and application of established dispositions.
Here, the text refers to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), the Institute of Christ the King (ICK) and other such institutes.
Two years later, my Venerable Predecessor Benedict XVI, with the motu proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem, of 2 July 2009, reorganized the structure of the Pontifical Commission, in order to make it more suitable for the new situation created with the remission of the excommunication of the four Bishops consecrated without pontifical mandate. Moreover, considering that, after such an act of grace, the matters handled by the same Pontifical Commission were primarily doctrinal, my predecessor linked the Commission to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith more organically, conserving its initial ends, but modifying its structure.
A true statement; doctrine is where the rubber hits the road in this matter.
Now, since the Feria IV [the regular Wednesday meeting] of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of November 15, 2017 had formulated the request that the dialogue between the Holy See and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X [SSPX] be conducted directly by the aforementioned Congregation, and since the issues treated are of a doctrinal nature, to which request I gave my approval in Audientia to the Cardinal Prefect [Cardinal Luis Ladaria,SJ] the following 24 November, and [since] this proposal was welcomed by the Plenary Session of the same Congregation celebrated from 23 to 26 January 2018, I have come, after ample reflection, to the following Decision.
Considering today the conditions that had led the holy Pontiff, John Paul II, to the establishment of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei; noting that the Institutes and religious communities that usually celebrate in extraordinary form have today found their own stability of number and life; …
We must stop here, mid-sentence, to make a very important point that many are apparently missing.
Bergoglio is not conceding that the celebration of the Latin Mass is here to stay; as if he is somehow throwing in the towel in his battle against tradition and the ancient Roman Rite. He is simply making an accurate observation; referring to the likes of the FSSP and ICK, acknowledging that they have reached a certain stability in number and life.
One must ask, however, in what does this “stability” consist according to the modernist mind of Jorge Bergoglio?
It consists in not rocking the boat with respect to such things as the spate of fake canonizations, the abominable Mass of Paul the Pathetic, and the error-riddled decrees of Vatican Council II, etc.
It also consists in behaving as if that “certain fashion” that people like us call the Mass of Ages is compatible with such egregious offenses against the Faith as religious liberty, ecumenism, and the wholesale dethronement of Christ the King – the stock and trade of modernist Rome; the official structures of which are the happy home of these Institutes.
In other words, Francis does not consider these groups “stable” because they are attached to Eternal Rome and to tradition; on the contrary, he views them as such because they peacefully co-exist within that conciliar house of horrors known as modernist Rome; with its all too “Ordinary” Novus Ordo and a catalogue of doctrinal and moral errors that they dare not publicly condemn for fear of expulsion.
Friends, that’s the antithesis of stability, in spite of whatever outward appearances might suggest. As such, is the statement under review a reason for so-called traditionalists to applaud? (Yes, some actually are.) Hell no!
Let us continue:
… noting that the aims and issues dealt with by the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei are of a predominantly doctrinal nature; wishing that these aims be ever more visible to the conscience of the ecclesial communities, with the present Apostolic Letter motu proprio data;
Here, Bergoglio makes it known that he intends to take the tug-of-war between modernist Rome and the SSPX to the streets; i.e., “ever more visible to the conscience of the ecclesial communities.”
Who are the “ecclesial communities”? One may reasonably understand this to refer to Catholic parishes, dioceses both local and national, religious orders, etc.
Note, however, that “ecclesial communities” is Council-speak for the heretics and their denominations too numerous to number. This suggests that he considers the matter of tradition and its standing to be the business even of those outside the Church; perhaps even especially so. After all, Francis is not just an ecumenist, he is a globalist.
So, what does this portend? Again, we will have to wait and see, but it very well may mean that the days of behind-the-scenes negotiating sessions between the Roman modernists and the SSPX are over. It could be that Bergoglio wants all to see just how unreasonable, intolerant, rigid, triumphalistic, behind the times, and let us not forget, anti-Semitic, the Society and others who think like them truly are.
To what purpose? To discredit, not just the Society, but tradition itself in the eyes of the world; setting it up for persecution by the leaders of the one-world government that he is so pleased to serve.
Remember, the so-called pontificate of Francis (to quote Fr. Nicholas Gruner once more) is nothing if not a massive, well-oiled, PR machine. So, one has good reason to believe that he is posturing to send some kind of message to the masses.
Moving on to the meat of the Letter:
I establish (Delibero):
1. The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established on 2 July 1988 with the motu proprio, Ecclesia Dei adflicta, is suppressed.
2. The tasks of the Commission in question are assigned in full to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, within which a special Section will be set up to continue the work of supervision, promotion and protection so far conducted by the suppressed Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.
The CDF will now keep an eye on the FSSP and ICK to make sure they don’t rock the boat.
The budget of the Pontifical Commission is part of the ordinary accounting of the aforementioned Congregation.. E’soppressa la Pontificia Commissione Ecclesia Dei, istituita il 2 luglio 1988 col Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta.
Moreover, I establish that the present motu proprio, to be observed in spite of anything contrary, even if worthy of particular mention, is promulgated by publication in the 19 January 2019 edition of the L’Osservatore Romano newspaper, entering into immediate force, and subsequently inserted in the official gazzette of the Holy See, Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
Given at Rome, in St. Peter’s, January 17, 2019, VI of Our [so-called] Pontificate.
Francesco
One final comment: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has three offices; Doctrinal, Discipline, and Marriage. The first two are of concern in this discussion.
According to the CDF’s official profile:
The Doctrinal Office takes care of the matters that relate to the promotion of the doctrine of the faith and morals.
The Discipline Office handles the offenses against the faith as well as the grave offenses committed against morals and in the celebration of the sacraments. It attends also to the examination of other problems connected with the discipline of the faith.
Bear well in mind that the “faith” referred to here is not the Catholic faith, but rather the conciliar faith. Likewise, the “morals” it intends to promote are not the immutable dictates of the Divine Law, but rather the likes of that which is enshrined in Amoris Laetitia.
The CDF, as opposed to the former Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, has the authority to issue censures and otherwise punish those who do not toe the modernist line.
With this in mind, Francis may have just signaled that he is preparing to put the squeeze on the SSPX and other traditional recalcitrants who are considered to have so-called “partial communion.” Should they fail to fold their cards, this may perhaps result in a CDF decree declaring them schismatic, or maybe even more bogus excommunications.
If this is so, I say bring it on. Tradition wins.
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