Paix liturgique

In my Letter 1358 of April 15, 2026 (Lettre 1358 du 15 avril 2026), following the meeting of the French Episcopal Conference (CEF) in Lourdes, I had told you that our bishops seem to envisage an eventual acceptance of the traditionalists, but in an “assimilationist” manner, and certainly not as they are. They are prepared to grant them the Tridentine Mass, albeit under strict supervision, but with the adoption of the new lectionary and liturgical calendar, without the celebration of the other sacraments—baptism, marriage, confirmation—and especially on the condition of ending the exclusivism of the priests of the Ecclesia Dei communities who refuse, either entirely or with very rare exceptions, to celebrate according to the new missal.

I would note, first of all, that despite this, our bishops are no more inclined to allow diocesan priests, who generally celebrate Mass according to the new rite, to also celebrate according to the usus antiquior. In fact, they are perfectly aware that these diocesan priests rely morally on priests dedicated to the traditional rite, whether they belong to the FSSP, the SSPX, the ICKSP, or the IBP.

In reality, the bishops of France naively admit that they would like to have priests from these communities in their dioceses, for whose pastoral work they no longer have enough personnel. The traditionalist priests would have to celebrate the ordinary liturgy, perhaps with some opportunities to celebrate it according to the VOM rite. All this for the benefit of ecclesial “communion.” In short, they want to have it all, so to speak. They want to be able to take advantage of the vocations of these communities, but by eliminating what attracts young men to them: the desire to be priests for the traditional liturgy.

The Apostolic Nuncio to France, Archbishop Migliore, who oversees the appointment of bishops in France, told a representative of the Ecclesia Dei communities that sooner or later they would be forced to celebrate the new Mass in their seminaries as well. His interlocutor responded that this would stifle the vocations they attract. Celestino Migliore retorted: "What are such vocations worth then?"

This brings us to the heart of the problem: current Church leaders have not advanced an inch since the Second Vatican Council in their ideological fixation on Vatican II and the liturgical reform: neither can be questioned. Regardless of the pastoral fiasco, the empty seminaries, and the weakening of the faith.

Pope Leo XIV, in his comments on the Traditional Latin Mass in his book of interviews with journalist Elise Ann Allen, Léon XIV, ciudadano del mundo, misionero del siglo XXI (Penguin Peru, 2025), available on the Crux website (Le pape Leo s’entretient avec Elise Ann Allen de Crux sur les questions LGBTQ+ et la liturgie | Fond), expressed his incomprehension: “The ‘abuses’ in what we call the Mass of the Second Vatican Council have not helped those who were seeking a deeper experience of prayer, a contact with the mystery of faith that they seemed to find in the celebration of the Tridentine Mass.” And to those attached to the old Mass, one asks: “Well, if we celebrate the Vatican II liturgy correctly, do you really find a big difference between this experience and that one?”

Yes, we find a significant difference, one that affects the Catholic faith. It is possible that the new liturgy, celebrated in a dignified manner, even in Latin, may offer those who celebrate or attend it a “deeper experience of prayer,” but certainly not the same “contact with the mystery of faith,” at least not a deeper contact. What we criticize about the new liturgy of the Mass, to put it simply, is that it is less good than the one it intended to replace. Our first criticism is that it has obscured the clear expression of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice which is patent in the Tridentine Mass and, consequently, that it has weakened the manifestation of the transcendence of the sacramental act, the unfolding of priestly power, and the adoration of the Real Presence. What we criticize about the new baptismal liturgy is that it has erased that tonality the sacrament holds in the Tridentine rite as a combat against the devil to snatch from him a soul stained by original sin, and so forth.

We are therefore faced with the choice between a liturgy weak in its expression of the faith and a liturgy that is fully achieved and complete from this perspective. And we choose the latter. Ultimately, it is a matter of confession of the faith. That is why we opt for the lex orandi which is "rich".

We have been saying, repeating, and explaining all of this for more than fifty years. But we are not naive: we fully understand that, in demanding liturgical freedom and peace in the name of this superior value of the Tridentine Rite, we pose a genuine question to our ecclesiastical pastors, a question that falls within their magisterium and which they prefer to answer, or rather avoid answering, through harassment, prohibitions, and restrictions. The truth is that, before God, as instituted doctors of the faith, they are responsible for answering this question: is the assertion that the Tridentine Mass expresses the unbloody reiteration of Christ's sacrifice more clearly than the Mass of Paul VI liable to any ecclesiastical censure? Everything else is pure rhetoric.

And as a constant question mark for our ecclesiastical authorities, our Parisian sentinels never cease to pray the rosary at number 10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, from Monday to Friday, from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., at Saint-Georges de La Villette, 114 avenue Simon Bolivar, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5 p.m., in front of Notre-Dame du Travail, on Sundays at 6:15 p.m.