Well-informed Vatican sources have confirmed to the Remnant, which accurately warned of Traditionis Custodes before it was published in 2021, that the draft document, in the form of an apostolic constitution, was presented to Pope Francis at the end of January by superiors of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments headed by Cardinal Arthur Roche.
The document is said to have been written by dicastery officials, under the guidance of its secretary, Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, OFM, in collaboration with at least one consultor of the Vatican’s office for papal liturgical celebrations.
While Traditionis Custodes is aimed chiefly at thwarting the growth of the traditional Latin Mass and sacraments among diocesan clergy, this new document would deal a particularly heavy blow to ex-Ecclesia Dei communities, by banning diaconal and priestly ordinations in the Vetus Ordo, prohibiting the administration of the other sacraments to the faithful, and requiring concelebration of all priests, including members of these institutes.
It would also be interpreted by cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laity alike as a total repudiation of Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy only months after his death.
A prohibition of Sunday Masses in the Vetus Ordo is also said to be on the table.
The Remnant has also learned that an Italian cardinal created in 2022 is seeking to pursuade Pope Francis to promulgate an alternative apostolic constitution, which may at first glance seem less harsh but in fact be worse by seeking once and for all to bury the traditional Latin liturgy.
This second draft would never mention the Vetus Ordo but rather celebrate the 54th anniversary of the promulgation of Paul VI’s apostolic constitution on the New Roman Missal (April 3, 1969), making the likely date of its release Monday of Holy Week (April 3, 2023). Sources say it would recount the “blessings” of the liturgical reform of Paul VI and the “abundant fruit” it has born in the Church, and would seek to “crown and complete” it by declaring that, henceforth, the only official rite of the Latin Church is the Roman Missal of Paul VI, the Novus Ordo.
Without ever saying a word about the Vetus Ordo, this second option would advance everything contained in the first by the consequences it implies. It would give bishops who are hostile to the traditional liturgy—or who are willing to sacrifice it for what they see as a greater good—the basis to eradicate it in their dioceses. And it would buttress Cardinal Arthur Roche’s efforts to strongarm traditionally minded bishops into implementing his interpretation of Traditionis Custodes, after repeated attempts to do so in ways considered by canonists to be contrary to Church law.
But nothing is set in stone at this point, we are told, and there is considerable resistance from members of the Roman Curia, who believe Pope Francis’ promulgation of either apostolic constitution would send the Church into uncharted waters, further wound Christ’s Mystical Body, and be seen (by Catholics and non-Catholics alike) as a cruel and divisive act.
It would also be interpreted by cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laity alike as a total repudiation of Pope Benedict XVI’s legacy only months after his death.
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