Why Traditionis Custodes? According to Francis, the initially unforeseen problem that led to the Motu Proprio began to emerge sometime after John Paul II approved the 1984 indult allowing bishops to permit the Traditional Latin Mass under certain conditions.
He said that the indult was intended “to foster the healing of the schism with the movement of Mons. Lefebvre.” Bergoglio writes:
Many in the Church came to regard this faculty as an opportunity to adopt freely the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Pius V and use it in a manner parallel to the Roman Missal promulgated by St. Paul VI.
In reality, the 1984 indult doesn’t mention the SSPX situation at all. Sure, that led to its creation, but the scope of the indult was in no way limited to the Society alone. Benedict XVI, who was head of the CDF at the time, stated that it was issued out of “a concern for the pastoral care of … no small numbers of faithful [who] adhered and continue to adhere with great love and affection to the earlier liturgical forms.” (See Summorum Pontificum)
The Holy Fibber, Francis, however, went on to spin the motives behind Summorum Pontificum as well saying that it was issued “in order to regulate this situation” of the 1984 indult’s alleged misuse.
Nonsense, Summorum Pontificum (SP) was not about regulation but rather deregulation.
In any case, like a broken clock, Bergoglio does manage to get some things right. For one:
In making their decision [JPII, BXVI] they were confident that such a provision would not place in doubt one of the key measures of Vatican Council II [the so-called liturgical reform] or minimize in this way its authority: the Motu Proprio [SP] recognized that, in its own right, “the Missal promulgated by Paul VI is the ordinary expression of the lex orandi of the Catholic Church of the Latin rite”.
I believe that this is true. It seems that both JPII and BXVI underestimated the degree to which opening avenues of access to the Traditional Roman Rite would undermine the conciliar revolution to which both men were wholeheartedly committed. They appear to have imagined that, if only they could corral the “traditional” faithful under the conciliar tent, the New Springtime air, like ether, would eventually tranquilize them into peacefully accepting the Council’s novelties.
Quoting from BXVI’s letter to bishops accompanying SP, Bergoglio reminds us:
It comforted Benedict XVI in his discernment that many desired “to find the form of the sacred Liturgy dear to them,” “clearly accepted the binding character of Vatican Council II and were faithful to the Pope and to the Bishops”.
This is where the rubber meets the road, folks, the road to Hell, that is.
Make no mistake, like Bergoglio, Ratzinger also has a tenuous relationship with the truth. (Does the Third Secret of Fatima come to mind?)
BXVI most certainly knew as he wrote in 2007 that Vatican Council II, according to its own claims, has no “binding character.” Zero. Zilch. None. A statement found in the Appendix of Lumen Gentium, signed by the “Secretary General of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council,” makes this crystal clear:
Taking conciliar custom into consideration and also the pastoral purpose of the present Council, the sacred Council defines as binding on the Church only those things in matters of faith and morals which it shall openly declare to be binding.
NB: There are precisely zero conciliar propositions openly declared by the Council as binding.
This inconvenient truth leaves the Captains of Newchurch with a serious problem; those who truly know their faith and are determined to remain Catholic will not, indeed cannot, accept the Council and its assorted errors, nor can they accept its protestantized rite, the Novus Ordo Missae.
So, what’s a conciliar revolutionary to do?
Given that the gentle Ratzingerian approach didn’t hasten the longed for day when all who call themselves Catholic bask in the glow of the New Pentecost, Francis the Frustrated now feels compelled to resort to tyranny, demanding of so-called “traditionalists” (aka Catholics), You will obey!
For the disinterested outside observer, all of this must seem terribly odd. Think about it, traditionalists remain but a relatively tiny minority among self-identified Catholics. Sure, the Novus Ordo parishes are withering on the vine, but their membership – lay, clerical and religious alike – far outnumbers those who cling to tradition.
So why all the fuss? Why do the leading men of the conciliar revolution feel compelled to pay so much attention to the traditionalist problem? Why is it a problem at all?
DO NOT BE CONFUSED: It has nothing to do with the much ballyhooed fact that the TLM ranks have been steadily swelling since 2007. The present assault on the true Mass isn’t about numbers, not really, it’s about the Church’s indefectibility.
Yes, it’s about the Church’s indefectibility. Please allow me to explain:
Clearly, the Modernists in Rome have never had any difficulty playing nice with the heretics, and for that matter, the Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc., warmly communing without reservation with each and every false religion that comes along. Bergoglio even made room in the Vatican for pagan Pachamama worshipers for crying out loud! One may, therefore, be moved to ask on behalf of traditionalists, Can’t we all just get along?
The answer is no, absolutely not! And the reason is plain:
There is enmity between the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the conciliar church-of-man. The former is the Mystical Body of Christ, the latter, a construct of the Infernal Enemy, even if its proponents are serving the Devil unawares.
[NOTE: For the record, when Karl Keating recently slandered me in the pages of the Catholic Herald, alleging that I accused Bergoglio of “knowingly” serving the Devil, he was… let’s just say… mistaken. I’ve said it many times over, repeating after Pope St. Pius X, I am pleased to leave out of consideration the internal disposition of soul, of which God alone is the judge.]
The real problem for the Commandants of the Conciliar Revolution – and more to the point, its architect, the Evil One – is that the Catholic Church still exists at all.
Recall the mystical experience of Pope Leo XIII, who in 1884 overheard a conversation between Satan and Our Lord.
Satan: “I can destroy your Church.”
Jesus: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan: “I need more time and more power.”
Jesus: “How much time? How much power?”
Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Jesus: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Sure, the foolhardy will dismiss this as “pious legend,” even so, this dialogue between the Evil One and Our Lord elucidates precisely the events that are presently unfolding.
Francis went on to write in his letter:
But I am nonetheless saddened that the instrumental use of Missale Romanum of 1962 is often characterized by a rejection not only of the liturgical reform, but of the Vatican Council II itself, claiming, with unfounded and unsustainable assertions, that it betrayed the Tradition and the “true Church”.
Several paragraphs later, he offers a similar lament:
Ever more plain in the words and attitudes of many is the close connection between the choice of celebrations according to the liturgical books prior to Vatican Council II and the rejection of the Church and her institutions in the name of what is called the “true Church.”
He’s very nearly correct, but not entirely.
You see, it’s not so much the “attitudes of many” that are gumming up the conciliar works, it is the Traditional Latin Mass itself that stands opposed to, and demands a rejection of, Vatican Council II and its insipid Novus Ordo. Whether or not Bergoglio & Co. have thought this through or not is immaterial, you can be certain that Satan certainly has:
The ancient rite is indeed the lex orandi of the true Church! As such, regardless of how many or how few embrace it at any given time, for as long as the Traditional Latin Mass is allowed to exist, it will be as kryptonite to the conciliar counterfeit church, ever raising up new generations of Catholics, members of the one true Church of Christ that Satan so arrogantly imagines he can destroy.
This is why those who have given themselves over to Satan’s service despise the Traditional Roman Rite and are so Hell bent and determined to see to it that is extinguished once and for all. They have finally come to the conclusion, and for very good reason, If we’re to succeed, it must be abrogated!
Enter Traditionis Custodes and its author, who made his intentions perfectly plain, for one, by decreeing that the Novus Ordo is henceforth to be considered “the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.”
It is necessary in the eyes of Satan – as demonstrated by the behavior of his servant, Francis – to set the Novus Ordo up as the solitary law of prayer simply because he knows damned well that the lex orandi of the Traditional (and one true) Roman Rite is not the same as the so-called “reformed” version, rather, it is Catholic through and through and thus stands as a bulwark between the Church and those who labor for her destruction.
It must, therefore, be dismantled and discarded.
Given that this entire operation – the Council, the counterfeit church that it spawned, the Novus Ordo rite that it celebrates – is a diabolical effort, we mustn’t be surprised to see that the “long game” is being played. How long? Not very, but not overnight.
Traditionis Custodes puts tremendous pressure on conciliar bishops to curb the spread of the Traditional Latin Mass. Priests who currently offer it must ask for permission to continue. [NOTE: In the Italian text, which in the conciliar church is normative until further notice, it states richiederanno, “they will ask,” i.e., it’s a requirement] Those priests who as yet do not offer the TLM will obviously have to seek permission to begin.
Still, the TLM will continue to be offered in the “full communion” milieu for a time, but eventually, and I would suggest sooner rather than later, as if on a battlefield, with its devotees coming under increasingly heavy fire.
Looking ahead, however, Bergoglio writes to the bishops:
Seminarians and new priests should be formed in the faithful observance of the prescriptions of the Missal and liturgical books, in which is reflected the liturgical reform willed by Vatican Council II.
[NOTE: Once again, the Italian text is less suggestive. It states siano educati i seminaristi e i nuovi presbiteri – seminarians and new priests are educated…]
What this means for seminaries like those of the FSSP and ICK remains to be seen, but the handwriting is most certainly on the wall; it appears that Bergoglio is determined to see to it that the days of a “full communion” exclusive TLM charism are numbered.
For all of the lip service being paid to the bishops’ authority, Traditionis Custodes plainly constrains them to adhere to “the guidelines of the Apostolic See,” which, at present, means the will of Jorge, whose ultimate aim is made most perfectly plain as he states:
I take comfort in this decision from the fact that, after the Council of Trent, St. Pius V also abrogated all the rites that could not claim a proven antiquity, establishing for the whole Latin Church a single Missale Romanum.
The diabolical wordsmithing here is impressive, as if holding the truth before a mirror in order to affect its inversion!
St. Pius V, after the Council of Trent, which was protected from error by the Holy Ghost [Bergoglio, after Vatican II, which sought no such protection] abrogated rites with no claim to antiquity [is moving to abrogate a rite preeminent in its antiquity] establishing for the whole Latin Church a single Missale Romanum [forcing the faithful to accept a non-Catholic rite, utterly devoid of the unity of faith, with roots that run no deeper than 1970].
The most noteworthy portion of the sentence above, the one just screaming for attention (though it seems largely to have fallen on deaf ears) can be found in the words “also abrogated.”
Bergoglio is plainly saying: Pope Pius V abrogated certain rites, I’m doing likewise.
As an aside, I find it very interesting that Francis was hospitalized for ten days in the lead up to Traditionis Custodes. He had plenty of time to reflect on what he was about to do; it’s as if the merciful Lord was giving him ample time to change course.
As it is, in the eyes of the Evil One, Bergoglio deserves an A+ for effort. He’s doing more to push the conciliar revolution forward than any of the putative popes that came before him. In the end, however, Satan and his servants are in for a rude awakening:
The Church of Christ is, in fact, indefectible. Labor as they might to destroy her and the Mass of Ages, they cannot.
Bear this ever in mind, with unshakable trust and hope in the Lord, in the months and years ahead, but DO NOT allow this truth to dull your militancy. We live in truly horrible times, with respect to the numbers of souls that are lost in our day due to the presence of a counterfeit church that is fooling many, they are likely far more horrible than we’re able to realize.
It is only by God’s grace that any of us have eyes to see. If you are among those who have been granted as much, it’s time to stand up and be counted. No matter what it may cost you in this life, let it be said to all within earshot:
The institution presently in occupation of the Vatican is not the Holy Roman Catholic Church, rather, it is an imposter church such as theologians, saints and mystics have forewarned; it is a construct of Our Lord’s avowed Enemy, the Devil.
And the head of this counterfeit church, Jorge Bergoglio, isn’t a Catholic of any rank, much less is he the Holy Roman Pontiff and Vicar of Christ.
The Lord will judge him, just as He will judge us all. When it is your turn, will He commend you for warning others of the diabolical deception described in this article, or will He chastise you for holding your tongue?
