Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Summorum Pontificum 'under threat', say Roman sources

By Brian Kopp

A month ago Fr. Zuhlsdorf at WDTPRS wrote about the imminent release of The Instruction concerning Summorum Pontificum.

Now the contents of that clarification are in doubt. See Damien Thompson's blog entry and the latest updates at Rorate Caeli blog:

Summorum Pontificum 'under threat', say Roman sources

By Damian Thompson Last updated: February 16th, 2011

A priest friend emails me to draw my attention to an extraordinary post on the Rorate Caeli blog suggesting that a forthcoming “clarification” to Summorum Pontificum will severely limit freedom to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass. “It seems there is some truth in this awful rumour,” he says.
I do hope not. But here, anyway, is the blog post, written in somewhat melodramatic language (with my emphases):
Strange, violent, and dark forces wish to derail the application of Summorum Pontificum. Lawyers (and those who know lawyers…) and legislators are quite aware how this goes: a lower-ranking interpretive text so modifies the clear letter of the law that renders the latter ineffectual.
Reports from different sources suggest that ill-intentioned people within the highest ranks of the Holy See wish to use the clarification document on Summorum Pontificum as a Trojan Horse, emptying the motu proprio of all its content, especially regarding Parish Priests and other members of the diocesan clergy (see e.g. Messa in Latino). This is a dangerous, clear, and credible threat. We must pray, indeed, but all priests and lay faithful must act. All Catholic faithful must send urgent and respectful letters to the Holy Father, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State, the Pontifical Commission ‘Ecclesia Dei’, and other authorities, asking the Holy Father and curial authorities to defend the clear letter of the motu proprio that gave us freedom and thanking once again the Holy Father for the gift that was Summorum Pontificum, including references to the personal improvement brought to one’s Catholic life and family by the wider availability of the Traditional liturgy.
This is also a time for open letters to the Pope, from all concerned Catholic intellectuals, in Italy, in France, in Germany, in Britain, in America, and elsewhere. We must make our voices heard BEFORE the storm hits, and it may hit us very soon.
RorateCaeli is standing behind its reports:

Wednesday, February 16, 2011


Let us defend Summorum Pontificum against the Trojan Horse


[Update: We will keep this up; all signs from different sources are aligning, and unexpected sources have confirmed our fears; the matter is too relevant to be kept in silence.]





Contacts (for anyone who wants to write in and plead for the correct implementation of Summorum Pontificum):

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI
Palazzo Apostolico
Via del Pellegrino
00120 Città del Vaticano

His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Segretetia di Stato
Palazzo Apostolico
00120 Città del Vaticano

His Eminence Cardinal William J. Levada.
Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l20 Città del Vaticano

Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei"
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00l20 Città del Vaticano

His Excellency The Most Reverend Pietro Sambi
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008-3687

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