Trad bloggers finally touching the Third Rail

It is a subject that had to be addressed at some point; Cardinal Hoyos alluded to it when he filed his public complaints against traditional Catholics this past summer:

Cardinal Castrillon...said his office continues to receive letters requesting the Tridentine rite be used not just at one Mass a week but at every Mass, and that such Masses be available not just at one church in a town but at every church...Such people, he said, are "insatiable, incredible."

"They do not know the harm they are doing," Cardinal Castrillon said, adding that when the Vatican does not accept their demands immediately "they go directly to the Internet" and post their complaints.

...Asked about the status of those detailed instructions, Cardinal Castrillon told Catholic News Service that his office had completed its work and passed the draft on to the pope, who would make the final decision about its publication.

Is this the source of his frustration? Obviously, the delay in the publication of the PCED "clarification" comes from Pope Benedict XVI himself, not PCED or Cardinal Hoyos. Yet Cardinal Hoyos & the PCED have shouldered much of the blame for the perceived inaction of the Vatican in the face of recalcitrant bishops.

And some big guns in trad Catholic blogdom are daring to explore this reality, even if obliquely.

Damian Thompson at his Telegraph Holy Smoke blog writes,

Is Pope Benedict losing the confidence of the Latin Mass faithful?

Just over a year ago, Pope Benedict's decree liberating the traditional Latin Mass came into effect. But it contained so many loopholes that liberal bishops have been able to sabotage it - and a much-needed clarification from Rome has still not appeared.

But if the bishops of England and Wales (and of many other countries) are playing fast and loose with Summorum Pontificum, that's because Pope Benedict XVI is allowing them to.

The original document was not tightly drafted: it left plenty of room for confusion [...] they have not been clarified or amplified by Ecclesia Dei. Why not?

[...]there is still not the slightest indication that His Holiness will celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form publicly. Why? No one knows the answer.

Let us be blunt about this. If the Pope were to die tomorrow, he would be remembered for many fine achievements, most of all his encyclicals, but his liturgical reforms would peter out. Summorum Pontificum would remain on the statute book, but the Magic Circle in England and its powerful allies in the Vatican and Europe would quietly suffocate the work of Ecclesia Dei.

Even Fr. Zuhlsdorf is willing to grant now that the blame for any perceived delay lies with Pope Benedict XVI:

Holy Smoke: Are traditional Catholics losing hope? - Fr. Z responds

[...]Is Pope Benedict losing the confidence of the Latin Mass faithful?

Just over a year ago, Pope Benedict’s decree liberating the traditional Latin Mass came into effect. But it contained so many loopholes that liberal bishops have been able to sabotage it – and a much-needed clarification from Rome has still not appeared. [And it must be said that that is entirely the decision, or non-decision, of the Holy Father. The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei completed its part of the work a long time ago.]

There is only so much Cardinal Hoyos can do, when the delay in publishing the PCED clarification is at the sole discretion now of the Holy Father.

With the exception of the schismatics, most traditional Catholics have been loathe to criticize the present Holy Father. Its been the Third Rail that no trad blogger would touch. But with the Vatican's recent public criticism of the trad blogosphere, combined with few if any verified examples of Vatican intervention in favor of the rights of the laity and priests against intransigent bishops, these questions are going to increase.

Is it time to stop writing to PCED, and instead write directly to the Pope, begging him to put some teeth into what is now perceived to be his Summorum Pontificum toothless tiger -- at least in those dioceses in which the bishops are recalcitrant?

SP Update

Definitive text of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum published

Gianni Cardinale reports in today's issue of the semi-official daily of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Avvenire (transcript), that the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum has been finally published in the official gazette of the Holy See, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis (dated September 7, 2007, and including the official acts of the preceding months), with the following changes:

• A subtitle was given to the motu proprio: «De uso extraordinario antiquae formae Ritus Romani» ("On the extraordinary use of the ancient form of the Roman Rite");


• In article 1, the word «conditiones» was replaced with the more correct form «condiciones», with no change in meaning ("conditions");


• In article 3, the word «plerumque» was replaced with «habitualiter» (our translation remains "habitually");


• In article 5, § 1, «continenter» was replaced with «stabiliter», avoiding the notion that the group of faithful would have to be continuous in a certain parish - it only has to exist in a stable, but not necessarily in a permanent and continuous fashion;


• In article 7, «non potest» ("cannot")was replaced with «non vult» ("does not want to"): «Art. 7 If a group of lay faithful, as mentioned in art. 5 § 1, has not obtained satisfaction to their requests from the pastor, they should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes. If he does not want to arrange for such celebration to take place, the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”.»

More from the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei

We wish to acknowledge receipt of your lcttcr of 7 November 2007 addressed to His Eminence Cardinal Dzirio Castrillôn Hoyos and beg your indulgence for not having managed to respond sooner due to the volume of mal which we have received since the promulgation of the Motu Propilo Suummorum Pontificum and the many matters which have required our immediate attention. We will respond to your questions in the order in which you have raised them, pointing out at the same time that we are expecting the publication of an instruction on the application of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum sometime in the relatively near future and this should deal in more detail with some of the questions which you raise.

It is too difficult to make categorical statements about whether every parish. where there is interest, should provide the extraordinary form of the Mass on a weekly basis. There are many variants involved including the number of the faithful, the availability of’ priests etc. This matter would have to be considered from many practical perspectives.

The Motu Proprio itself does not speak specifically of college and university chaplaincies. but in article 5, 5 it states quae non sunt nec paroeciales nec conventuales Rectoris ecclesiae est concedere licentiam de qua supra. This is understood as referring also to college or university chaplains.

The correct word, that which is contained in the Motu Proprio signed by the Holy Father is stabiliter and the instruction should deal specifically with its correct interpretation.

With prayerful best wishes I remain
Since y yours in Christ,
Rev. Msgr Camille Perl
Secretary

Via Fr. John Zuhlsodorf