Roundup of Reactions to the Rumored Suppression of Summorum Pontificum

As practically every Catholic with an interest in the restoration of liturgical tradition knows by now, there is a strong current of well-sourced rumors in Rome on Vatican documents that have been prepared with a view to curtailing the freedom to celebrate Mass and other sacraments in the usus antiquior or the so-called Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

We must remember that such rumors have a way of multiplying and diversifying, and that the documents may not come out, or may be so modified by infighting that they no longer resemble the original rumors, and also that the rollout can be significantly delayed — as occurred with Universae Ecclesiae, which was meant to offer guidance on implementing Summorum Pontificum but appeared four years after it.

It is also worth noting — apologies if anyone finds this too cynical — that papal diplomacy is an art perfected over the course of centuries, and that some of the more extreme rumors may have been deliberately circulated with the intention of either causing traditionalists to make rash and extreme statements to their own detriment (“Look! They’re demonstrating all the problems that we are going to attribute to them!”), or of making people feel relief when the restrictions are less numerous or less onerous than feared, even though they are, in reality, still devastating. The latter strategy is a way of fostering gratitude for and dispersing opposition to an enemy action. The loss of a few fingers may seem highly positive if one had been initially threatened with death.

In any case, there has already been extensive discussion of these rumors, and it may be of service to NLM readers to list in chronological order the principal articles in English (if there are any important ones I’ve missed, please add the title and link in the comments). Nearly all of these articles make important theological, liturgical, canonical, or pastoral observations — mostly in the nature of how foolish, not to say criminal, it would be to impose restrictions on a sector of the Church that, at least in Western nations, is currently healthy and flourishing.

Tuesday, May 25
Rorate Caeli: “URGENT: Pope tells Italian Bishops he plans to abolish the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum” (following on an original report from the Italian blog Messa in Latino.)

Wednesday, May 26
Messeinlatino: “NEWS: Summorum Pontificum, Francis wants to abolish it! He said so at the CEI [Italian Episcopal Conference] Plenary Meeting”

Thursday, May 27
The Remnant: Michael Matt, “Will Francis Abolish the Latin Mass? (Archbishop Lefebvre Still Resists… Even from the Grave)”

Saturday, May 29
GloriaTV: Fr Glen Tattersall, “Summorum Pontificum: A Looming War?”

Monday, May 31
Paix Liturgique: “The Summorum Pontificum Galaxy Prepares to Resist!”

Tuesday, June 1
The Remnant: Diane Montagna, “Pope’s Plan to Restrict Traditional Latin Mass Backed by Two Curial Cardinals”
Fr. Z: “ACTION ITEM: Fathers, do not wait any longer. It’s time. Get things in gear NOW.“

Wednesday, June 2
Catholic Culture: Phil Lawler, “Disaster looms if Pope Francis restricts the traditional Mass”

Thursday, June 3
Crux: Elise Ann Allen, “So-called ‘liturgy wars’ more about politics than faith, expert says”
Fr. Z: “A repressive document against the Traditional Latin Mass would be a disaster for those who promulgate and enforce it”

Friday, June 4
Rorate Caeli: “On rumored rollback of Summorum, German website asks: ‘What’s in store for us?’”
Crisis: Eric Sammons, “Pope Francis Sets His Sights on the Latin Mass”
National Catholic Register, Andrea Gagliarducci, “Pope Francis Believed to be Preparing Restrictions for the Traditional Mass” (appeared also on June 3 at CNA)

Saturday, June 5
Rorate Caeli: Fr. Pio Pace, “Restricting Summorum Pontificum: What the Pope Said, the Credible Information, and the Risk of a War within the Church”
The American Spectator: George Neumayr, “The Pope’s Horizontal Church”

Monday, June 7
Gloria TV: “Axed Motu Proprio: Fears and Hopes”

As mentioned last week, there is also a Facebook public group, started by NLM founder Shawn Tribe, called “Preservation of Summorum Pontificum & Access to the Ancient Latin Rites.” Readers are encouraged to join, since the members are keeping good tabs on articles and news.

Above all, it is important to remember three things. First, write letters to the Vatican if you wish (the article by Diane Montagna includes mailing addresses), but let us keep firmly in mind that more will be accomplished by prayer and fasting than by our protests or hand-wringing. Second, even if the restrictions are as bad as we fear or worse, the traditional movement now numbers thousands of clergy and millions of faithful, and will not be so easy to shut down or tamp into confined boxes. Setbacks of this kind will be temporary, since the generation that is so eager to create “Trent-free zones” is inexorably approaching death and their day in the sun will come to an end. Finally, it is a lesson of human psychology that that which is forbidden and that which is challenging call forth the most intense desire and the greatest ingenuity. When it comes to evil objects this is obviously a bad thing, but when it comes to a good object that has been unjustly taken away, it is good — it is part of the way we deal with deprivation and injustice. If the rumors prove to be true, the new approach will precisely accelerate its own demise. God will not be mocked, nor will He allow the tradition of the Church to remain the plaything of its momentary masters.

Five men ordained for the FSSP, May 28, 2021

New Director for the Sistine Chapel II

Back in January we mentioned the news reported by senior vaticanista Sandro Magister that Fr Massimo Palombella was to be appointed new director of the Sistine Chapel, in replacement of Fr Giuseppe Liberto. Yet, this appointment did not happen. Andrea Tornielli, another well-respected vaticanista, now reports that this was due to opposition raised, among others, by Msgr. Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, whereas the appointment was favoured by the Cardinal Secretary of State as well as Msgr. Guido Marini, the Papal Master of Ceremonies. Tornielli writes that now, however, the Holy Father has decided to proceed with the appointment, which will probably announced in October, in time for Fr Palombella to assume his duties with the beginning of Advent.

Rumour Watch: New Primate of Belgium?

Andrea Tornielli, the best informed vaticanista of this pontificate, today has some excellent news, which if true would bode very well for Catholic Belgium as well as the cause of the reform of the reform. Here is an NLM translation of Tornielli's piece:

Within days now the important appointment of the new archbishop of Mechlin-Brussels and Primate of Belgium, the successor of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, ought to be published. The choice of the Pope seems to have fallen on the current bishop of Namur, André-Mutien Léonard, who heads the diocese since 1991. He is considered the most traditional bishop of the Church of Belgium. The French progressivist magazine "Golias" in July 2007 published a portrait of him, saying even then that they were worried that he might be the successor of Danneels and recalling how he welcomed enthusiastically Benedict XVI's motu proprio liberalising the old missal, how he has publicly defended Pius XII against accusations of being insensitive to the tragedy of the Jews, and how he has spoken repeatedly on the "non-negotiable" values, defending the natural law. Leonard is 69 years old.

NLM readers may remember that Msgr. Léonard has celebrated the Pontifical Mass in the usus antiquior at the 2008 World Eucharistic Congress in Québec. He is also one of the participants of the famous 2001 Fontgombault liturgical conference, at which the then Cardinal Ratzinger explained his idea of a reform of the reform (the proceedings were published as "Looking Again at the Question of the Liturgy with Cardinal Ratzinger", ed. by A. Reid).

NCR: Formal Statement on Reform of the Reform Expected Soon

Readers will recall the report by Andrea Tornielli about proposals for a reform of the reform under study at the Congregation for Divine Worship, as well as the qualified denial by the Holy See press office and Tornielli's reaction (here and here). Now, the National Catholic Register has a report about an expected formal statement on the matter. According to the NCR,

The Congregation for Divine Worship is declining to comment further on reports that the Vatican is considering a “reform of the reform” of the liturgy, but a formal statement on the matter is expected soon.

An official told the Register this morning that “everything is under study and is progressing” but added that he could say no more until Cardinal Antonio Llovera Cañizares, prefect of the congregation, or the Holy See Press Office, issues an official statement.

Read the full article at the NCR here.

Further Developments Related to the Tornielli Rumours

Recently it was noted that respected Vatican watcher Andrea Tornielli reported about certain reform of the reform initiatives purportedly being put forward.

Catholic News Agency reports that the Vatican denies liturgical reforms being formalized.

In that report, it is said that on Vatican Radio "[t]he Assistant Director of the Press Office, Father Ciro Benedettini, said that 'so far there are no institutional proposals for amendment of the books currently in use.'"

Zenit reports the same story, attributing a similar statement to Benedettini: "for the time being there are no institutional proposals for a modification of the liturgical books used at present."

If we are receiving the full picture by way of this brief quote, it may be pertinent that Fr. Benedettini appears to be confining himself to speaking specifically of the amendment or modification of the liturgical books. Tornielli for his own part, however suggested that it was believed by the Pope that "to simply drop directives from above, [will] serve no good.... The style of Ratzinger is that of comparison and, above all, of example." In this regard then, it would certainly seem that he has not suggested that modifications/amendments to the liturgical books are underway; of the purported propositions, most do not strictly pertain to the modification or amendment of the liturgical books, speaking instead of recovery, re-affirmation and study.

It may or may not also be pertinent that Benedettini's statement is rather qualified, speaking of "institutional proposals."

Given the possibility of some topical variances here therefore, the question that might arise is whether this is, as is being reported in the aforementioned news sources, an intended denial of the contents of Tornielli's report, or whether it is not a denial, but rather a pre-emptive assurance, on the heels of Tornielli's story, that there are no formal changes to the liturgical books presently planned.

As is always the case with rumours, we shall simply have to wait and see.

Rumour Watch: Motu Proprio on the Reorganisation of Ecclesia Dei

Andrea Tornielli writes that within the next weeks, Pope Benedict XVI will issue a motu proprio attaching the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as anticipated in his letter to the bishops on the lifting of the excommunications of the bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre. Here is an NLM translation of Tornielli's article:

In the coming weeks, the motu proprio of Benedict XVI will be published which makes the Ecclesia Dei commission - originated by will of Pope Wojtyla with the aim of facilitating the return of the Lefebvrians to full communion with Rome - an internal organ of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Ratzinger had already announced this in March, in the letter dedicated to the Williamson case and to the lifting of the excommunications of the prelates consecrated by Lefebvre, sent to bishops around the world. Next 4 July Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, current president of Ecclesia Dei, will turn 80 years old and will leave office on grounds of having reached the age limit. The commission will then be presided over by the Prefect of the former Holy Office, the American Cardinal William Joseph Levada. The Vice President, Monsignor Perl, will remain at his post for now, while a new secretary in place of the late Mario Marini will be appointed. Just this morning, the French agency IMedia has revealed, at the meeting of the "fourth feria" the cardinal members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith have developed a first platform for the beginnig of the dialogue with the Lefebvrians. A dialogue which is comes under the responsibility of the supreme doctrinal dicastery since Lefebvre's followers argue that with the Second Vatican Council the Catholic doctrine has been changed and ask that this be clarified in view of a formal return of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X to the Catholic Church. [NLM note: This is perhaps oversimplified, but it is not the point of the article so let's not focus on this.] Meanwhile, as anticipated by Il Giornale in recent days [cf. NLM article here], this Saturday should be announced the appointment of the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Monsignor Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don, as archbishop of Colombo. In his place will be designated the current undersecretary of the former Holy Office, the Dominican Di Noia.

Traditional Anglican Communion to be Received as Personal Prelature?

By way of Creative Minority Report comes news from the Australian Catholic weekly The Record about the possible way ahead of the Traditional Anglican Communion which had requested full, corporate, sacramental union with the Church in October 2007. If true, this would be absolutely thrilling news, and also show a possible canonical solution for the future status of the SSPX once, Deo volente, full communion is reestablished there as well. As always with such articles, however, keep in mind that this is only a rumour so far. Here is an excerpt of the article:

History may be in the making. It appears Rome is on the brink of welcoming close to half a million members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into membership of the Roman Catholic Church, writes Anthony Barich. Such a move would be the most historic development in Anglican-Catholic relations in the last 500 years. But it may also be a prelude to a much greater influx of Anglicans waiting on the sidelines, pushed too far by the controversy surrounding the consecration of practising homosexual bishops, women clergy and a host of other issues.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has decided to recommend the Traditional Anglican Communion be accorded a personal prelature akin to Opus Dei, if talks between the TAC and the Vatican aimed at unity succeed, it is understood.

The TAC is a growing global community of approximately 400,000 members that took the historic step in 2007 of seeking full corporate and sacramental communion with the Catholic Church – a move that, if fulfilled, will be the biggest development in Catholic-Anglican relations since the English Reformation under King Henry VIII. TAC members split from the Canterbury-based Anglican Communion headed by Archbishop Rowan Williams over issues such as its ordination of women priests and episcopal consecrations of women and practising homosexuals.

The TAC’s case appeared to take a significant step forwards in October 2008 when it is understood that the CDF decided not to recommend the creation of a distinct Anglican rite within the Roman Catholic Church – as is the case with the Eastern Catholic Churches - but a personal prelature, a semi-autonomous group with its own clergy and laity.

Opus Dei was the first organisation in the Catholic Church to be recognised as a personal prelature, a new juridical form in the life of the Church. A personal prelature is something like a global diocese without boundaries, headed by its own bishop and with its own membership and clergy.

Because no such juridical form of life in the Church had existed before, the development and recognition of a personal prelature took Opus Dei and Church officials decades to achieve.

An announcement could be made soon after Easter this year. It is understood that Pope Benedict XVI, who has taken a personal interest in the matter, has linked the issue to the year of St Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the Church.
The Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls could feature prominently in such an announcement for its traditional and historical links to Anglicanism. Prior to the English Reformation it was the official Church of the Knights of the Garter.

The TAC’s Primate, Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth, told The Record he has also informed the Holy See he wants to bring all the TAC’s bishops to Rome for the beatification of Cardinal Henry Newman, also an Anglican convert to the Catholic Church, as a celebration of Anglican-Catholic unity.

Although Cardinal Newman’s beatification is considered to be likely by many, the Church has made no announcement that Cardinal Newman will be beatified.

Rumour Watch: Lifting of Excommunication of SSPX Bishops in the Next Days? [UPDATED]

The NLM's Gregor Kollmorgen has been following this story the past few days, as has Rorate Caeli. A well-informed Spanish writer is reporting "explosive" news [literally, a "bomb"] is to be announced very shortly.

Here is Rorate Caeli's take:

The extremely well-informed Spanish blogger Francisco José Fernández de la Cigoña (whose blog La Cigüeña de la Torre was, for instance, one of the first to predict the nomination of Cardinal Cañizares Llovera as Prefect of CDW) had hinted on the nature of the "explosive news" since last week - and since November, in fact.

Today, he confirms that his sources report "explosive news" related to the "Lefebvrists" [sic] - probably the removal or withdrawal of the excommunications of the four Bishops of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (FSSPX / SSPX), consecrated by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and co-consecrated by Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer in Ecône, Switzerland, on June 30, 1988. Fernández de la Cigoña predicts the Papal act for "tomorrow" (though it is unclear how long it will take for the act to be made public).

(Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer and the Four)

UPDATE:

This story is gaining further steam. Well respected Vaticanista, Andrea Tornielli is now reporting this story: Il Papa ha firmato la revoca della scomunica ai lefebvriani (The Pope has signed the Revocation of the Lefebvrist Excommunications).

Here is the story he reports in an NLM translation:

The decree will be made public in the coming days with which Benedict XVI has determined to lift the excommunications imposed on the four new bishops ordained by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988. Back then, in addition to the four (Bernard Fellay, Alfonso de Gallareta, Tissier de Mallerais and Richard Williamson) had also been excommunicated Lefebvre himself and Brazilian Bishop De Castro Mayer who had participated in the ceremony.

[...]

Now, with a truly magnanimous gesture, granting the request made by Fellay, Benedict XVI has decided to lift the excommunication. Excommunication that, it should be noted, has always only covered the consecrating bishops (Lefebvre and De Castro Mayer, both long gone) and the four consecrated, but never the Lefebvrist priests nor the faithful.

One note on this story. While it is clear that this rumour applies to the four bishops consecrated, the fate of the consecrators remains an open question mark.

Rumour Watch: Cardinal Pell to Head Congregation for Bishops?

Via Rorate Caeli, in turn via the French paper Golias, comes this rumour:

French ultra-"Progressive" religious weekly Golias reports on possible replacements for some important heads of dicasteries who have reached the age limit or will reach it soon.

Cardinal Re, Prefect of Bishops, reaches the age limit next January 30. Other rumors are included in the article, but none so interesting as this one: Golias reports that it "should be known that one of the most mentioned names for the Congregation for Bishops is that of the ultra-Conservative [sic] Cardinal George Pell, of Sydney".

The original Golias article may be found here: Vatican: l’OPA des tradis sur la curie (Loosely translated: "Vatican: The Takeover of the Traddies in the Curia")

The article also discusses the recent appointment of Cardinal Antonio Canizarès Llovera as prefect of the CDW.

It goes without saying that the appointment to the prefecture for the Congregation of Bishops is an extraordinarily important one, and the appointment of Pell (or someone like Pell) to that post would be very good news.

Rumor Watch: Ecclesia Dei to Become Part of CDW?

Via the French blog Le Salon Beige comes this extract from the French publication Monde & Vie (NLM translation):

The Pope intends to take advantage of the appointment of his liege man [Card. Cañizares Llovera] to head the Congregation for Divine Worship in order to profoundly reorganise the Commission Ecclesia Dei, of which it so happens that Cardinal Cañizares is already a member. According to the rumor, which does not seem to be just a hallway rumour, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos who has long reached the age limit, would cede his post to his current second, a personal friend of Pope Ratzinger, Monsignor Camille Perl, who would be consecrated bishop for this reason. And the Commission would then be attached to the Congregation for Divine Worship, assuming, within the framework of one dicastery, the responsibility of the traditional form of the Roman rite, under the charge of Cardinal Cañizares. [...] This means in any case that the Commission Ecclesia Dei establishes itself in the ecclesiastical landscape. In addition, its anticipated director, Msgr Perl is certainly the man in Rome who best knows the traditionalist world, its ways, its outlines or its detours. He has the ear of the Pope for a long time. On more than one occasion his diplomacy has worked wonders.

Such an integration of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei into the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would indeed be excellent for several reasons. It would clearly and unmistakably demonstrate, as the article mentions, that the usus antiquior is now a normal and regular part of the life and liturgy of the Church, attended to by a regular discastery of the Curia, and one of the most important at that, and not by a Special Commission named after a now obsolete indult. It makes sense that the curial authority charged with the Sacred Liturgy should have competence over both forms of the Roman Rite, not only because, once again, the Extraordinary Form is a living and regular part of the Sacred Liturgy, and not some isolated special interest concern, but also because, as we have seen, there are many questions which concern both forms, and where a seperate treatment of the same question can cause frictions. And the intgeration would also bring a number of curial officials experienced in the questions of the usus antiquior into the CDW, where still many officials have very little knowledge of it and are sometimes completely unaware of its content and rubrics. This, it might be hoped and expected, would greatly help the reform of the reform, since the liturgical tradition represented by the usus antiquior would become a daily presence within the Congregation. Nevertheless, this is as yet only a rumour, and should be treated as such.

Rumour Watch: New Maestro of the Sistine Chapel for Lent?

Covering the papal liturgies being celebrated in the Vatican Basilica in Rome, we have recently, especially since the appointment of Msgr Guido Marini, had much reason to rejoice in the gradual restoration of the sacred. One important element, however, which had so far seemed in some ways not to be affected by this restoration (although the proportion of Latin sung actually has increased, I think) was the liturgical music of these celebrations. The quality of the Sistine Chapel choir under its Maestro Msgr Liberto, whose task it is to sing in these liturgies, has often been criticised from various quarters. Today, there is an interesting article by the well-known Vaticanista Paolo Rodari in the Italian paper Il Reformista looking at this, and which indicates that a change towards tradition may also not be far away in this area. Here it is in an NLM translation:

It was about a year after the election to the throne of Peter that Joseph Ratzinger gave an important signal to the finer palates across the Tiber regarding liturgical music. Surprisingly - it was June 24, 2006 - Benedict XVI called upon to direct a concert in the Sistine Chapel Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, i.e. the one who, until the "coup" of 1997, was "perpetual" director (i.e. for life) of the homonymous polyphonic choir responsible for accompanying the papal liturgies musically.

In 1997, the then Master of Papal Ceremonies, Msgr Piero Marini, succeeded in installing in the post of Bartolucci the younger Giuseppe Liberto. The exchange was epoch-making: polyphony and Gregorian chant disappeared from the papal ceremonies, in virtue of the practical implementation of that post-Vatican II reform which, as far as it concerns the liturgy, has often characterized itself as intramundane.

In the 2006 concert there are those who read the Pontiff's intention, not so much to give back to Bartolucci that which had been taken from him, as, in the wake of that "reform of the reform" so often advocated by Ratzinger, to return to the Sistine [Chapel choir] the prestige of centuries of liturgical music that have never had anything to do with that more "popular" [music] proposed by Liberto. And together, the signal that Liberto was soon to be promoted bishop and, therefore, redirected to new pastures.

And, instead, nothing. At least until now. Even if, with the Christmas celebrations of this year, another signal has been given, so much so that it is not impossible that, with the next Lent, Liberto becomes bishop in some Italian diocese and in his place arrives a Maestro more attuned to the musical sensitivity of the Pontiff.

The signal came in the Christmas celebrations of this year. For the first time, by indiciation of the Office of the Liturgical Ceremonies led by Piero Marini's successor, that is Guido Marini, every celebration was preceded by a few minutes of listening to music and readings, so as to "dispose the soul of the faithful to the climate of prayer and recollection." An important signal that could bring with it the return of the use of the organ before and during the papal ceremonies.

On the post of Liberto, it is said, would arrive the one who is seen as the only possible heir: the Catalan Monsignor Valentin Miserachs Grau, president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music [pictured to the right]. In his favour speaks the fact of having the same musical sensibilities as Ratzinger. In his disadvantage, having put himself too much in contrast to Liberto in recent years. Often Benedict XVI, between two contenders, chooses a third, who may possibly be far away from the palace quarrels.

One thing that should be noted if and when such a change does come about is that this must not be seen as simply a choice more attuned "to the musical sensitivity of the Pontiff", as it says at some point in the article. As the article itself points out, this would be a return to the Church's own musical heritage and a millenarian tradition, and therefore, a true restoration of the sacred, not just a new fashion, which is what opponents of the Reform of the Reform and Sacred Tradition in general often try to portray it as.