The New Pope and the Liturgy: Bad News

There has been a dispute over the past several days regarding whether Cardinal Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, implemented Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in Buenos Aires. (Summorum is the document that liberated the pre-1970 liturgical books, which had previously required explicit ecclesiastical approval.) Some sources, one of which I quoted, said he had.

Here’s the truth, unfortunately:

And so what was the great and generous application of Summorum Pontificum in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires? One Novus Ordo-TLM hybrid once a month. And, as it happens to any badly celebrated Latin Mass, the number of attending faithful fast dwindled from one hundred to a handful. And, naturally, it was discontinued. So, as correctly mentioned in WikiMissa, there is currently not a single actual traditional Mass strictly according to the 1962 Missal celebrated by diocesan priests of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires. And every priest who tried to truly implement Summorum in his parish – that is, out of their own initiative, without “authorization” from the Bishop – was ordered to stop. It is what happened to a poor priest who tried to do it in the chapel of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, in October 2007, and was personally ordered by the Archbishop to stop in November 2007.

Details here.

the_cutter

This is a real downer and I was currently celebrating the presence of the ecumenical patriarch at the inaugural Mass. Oh well, we need to get our house in order, before I can even start contemplating the healing of the Great Schism. A long road ahead.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

Or is the truth at http://bit.ly/13YeVhN instead?
http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

Is that parish diocesan approved?
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

Did you check the page out? There’s a link to the parish’s website in it: http://bit.ly/ZcZZI4 Just check out who’s figured in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage…
Martin

The blog of the parish mentioned in the link you provided does not list a Mass at 0930 (when the Latin Mass is supposed to be celebrated), nor does it speak of a Latin Mass…
Matthew McGrath

Tom, don’t take this the wrong way as I mean it is a serious question and not as a criticism in any way. You are a big time hero of mine and I admire pretty much everything about you (although I am kind of lukewarm about your taste in music– Jethro Tull is cool, no doubt. Just not sure they are the bestest ever

Obviously, the Church is not the same as the state, but I wonder if you see any inconsistencies here: You are one of the greatest contrarian thinkers out there. You constantly rail against the establishment’s spectrum of allowable opinion. You accept nothing at face value. You never believe what you are told. How do you reconcile that radical contrarian bent with your approach to your religion? The two seem to be at odds, but I am sure you have a good explanation of how it all fits together for you.
Julie S

We currently attend a Novus Ordo mass, but have a Latin mass available just minutes away. I don’t know why we don’t regularly attend traditional mass. Maybe habit. Maybe laziness. I’ve wanted to start going regularly for a long time. I know traditional mass is a good thing because many of my friends (who aren’t cafeteria Catholics) attend traditional mass. I guess I just don’t understand the importance of Latin mass. My husband was raised going to the Novus Ordo and I am a convert. But my dear grandmother loved the Latin mass, and she was a great libertarian (although I don’t think she would have called herself that-probably didn’t even know what a libertarian was) and a devout Catholic. With that said, your posts have made me begin to appreciate the Latin mass that is being offered in our diocese, so close to home! You have inspired me to start attending more regularly and familiarize my children with the traditional mass so instead of thinking traditional mass is hard to understand, maybe they will instead think that Novus Ordo is NOT the way mass should be!
Robertv

Novus Ordo , New Order. Now he is in the Vatican is it going to be the New World Order? Bad News.
Tom

Give it time. I’ve got a feeling we’ve got a lot to learn from this Pope, and I consider it highly doubtful that he’d do anything to reverse Pope Benedict’s work.
Amfortas

A bit of a bummer, but like you said Dr. Woods, hopefully this means that the status quo concerning the liturgy remains unchanged. Pope Francis may not take too kindly to it, but he doesn’t seem overtly hostile.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

That blog hasn’t been updated in ages, so lack of evidence is not evidence of the contrary. Until then, the fact is that we know of one parish in central Buenos Aires that does offer the Mass in the extraordinary form and any accusation of then Bp. Bergoglio to stifle this form amounts to calumny.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

Because the Church, not its caricature out there, fits these traits above.
Gregory

Amen Brother.
Nick

There is nothing “establishment” about the Tridentine mass!

The Church is a collection of people engaged in particular sorts of voluntary interactions. It is not a state. There’s nothing inconsistent about being a libertarian and choosing to promote these particular sorts of voluntary interactions.

Speaking for myself, I am a libertarian because I’m a Catholic first: I think that the Catholic vision of a just society plus the empirical facts (about economics, human psychology, etc) rationally commit me to accepting the non-aggression principle and to promoting free markets and secession rights.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Zebram-Zee/100002539017006 Zebram Zee

I don’t know much about the Catholic Church, but I would imagine that in today’s world, its teachings could actually be considered contrarian. I mean, suppose Dr. Woods came on here and started preaching that everyone must stop hooking up and watching pornography, he’d be seen as crazy. People would say things like ‘It’s the 21st century, get with the times Tom,’ or ‘Why are you so irrational and backwards?’ as if moral intuitions have anything to do with rationality at all, and etc, etc.
Laura

I agree…..with hope
http://www.facebook.com/jorge.huaman Jorge A. Huamán

Shouldn’t we at least wait and see what Pope Francis does as opposed to look at Cardinal Bergoglio’s past? I have faith that the Holy Spirit will work through him and the Church for God’s will to be done. Dr. Woods, you are a personal hero of mine and I am happy to see any post from you related to the Church. Always an interesting read!
Santiago

Hi Tom, I’m from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and I can tell you that you have some options to attend the mass according to the Latin liturgy. The first thing Pope Francis did when proclaimed was to pray for Pope Benedict XVI; I doubt he will change anything concerning the Summorum Pontificum.

I suggest that Catholics look at this matter with Faith: “Tu es Petrus”. What Pope Francis might have done in the past as Archbishop Bergoglio says nothing about what he will to as Pope.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000574231766 Janet O’Connor

He may not have been in favor of the Latin Mass but that does not mean that as Pope he will not continue the implementation of SP and UE. Just yesterday I saw a picture of him wearing a Roman Vestment just last February. We must at least give him a chance. Remember Benedict did not change these things until after 2 years as Pope up until he announced his abdication. Perhaps when he meets with the Pope Emeritus he will be gently moved to do these things for the Unity of the whole Church.
Catholic Austrian

I doubt Pope Francis would or could undo Benedict’s work relating to the Mass. That genie is out of the bottle and the extraordinary form is flourishing.

A war on the forms of Mass is the last thing Francis needs. Alienating the one area of the Church that continues to flourish would make no sense. I can’t see him doing it, and it would only embolden the Roger Mahonys, Rembert Weaklands, and Matthew Clark’s of the world. Those types of prelates and boomer era priests have cashed in all of their influence long ago, and those who are left are fading fast. The young priests and seminarians are an antidote to these clerics of the “old guard.” They are conservative and on fire for Christ. The door is swinging the other way now. Those 1960s holdovers are basically irrelevant.

Cardinals Castrillon, Burke, Arinze, etc. would not let it happen either. There are too many young people to back them up. That is why they are relevant and able to hold on in spite of their brother prelates who have squandered away their influence.
Phillip

I read a person state that Libertarianism and the Catholic church are compatible. this is not true. The underlying basis of libertarianism is that freedom is the free movement of bodies. This theory comes from the atomic theory which is rooted in the most ancient materialist–Democritus. Locke picked this up, and this is the basis for Libertarianism. If this is doubted read Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding which has to be understood before his essays on Civil Government can be properly understood. Libertarianism is ultimately materialistic as it reduces all knowing to material bodies just like Locke did. The Catholic church maintains that the metaphysics and the soul can be known by reason.