Paix liturgique

A year and a half after the change in papacy, those who had hoped that Leo XIV would shift the Church’s focus to the right are in for a rude awakening. Despite Leo XIV’s triumphant trip to France, the news coming out of Rome is hardly cause for celebration. From bishop appointments to public statements by church authorities, the atmosphere in the Vatican seems more like a gentle yet resolute implementation of Pope Francis’s policies.

A brief roundup of recent events

On October 8, the pope appointed a nun as deputy secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, with the additional responsibility of serving as president of the Pontifical Mission Societies. Sister Marie-Thérèse Barron will take office on January 4, 2027. During the Synod on Synodality, she distinguished herself by advocating for the ordination of women, stating that “some women do indeed feel a call to the priesthood or the diaconate.”

On the same day, the first day of a seminar dedicated to the 10th anniversary of *Amoris laetitia* was held at the Vatican. Another consecrated woman, Sister Helen Alford, spoke at the event. Sister Alford, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, suggested that Jesus was flirting with the Samaritan woman in the famous episode at Jacob’s well recounted in chapter 4 of the Gospel according to St. John.

It was then reported on October 10 that Bishop Viola, a 61-year-old Franciscan, had been appointed the new archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This 61-year-old Franciscan, who holds a doctorate in liturgy from the Pontifical Institute of St. Anselm, had previously served as secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship. As the inspiration behind and promoter of the motu proprio *Traditionis custodes*, Bishop Viola likes to express his pride in wearing the episcopal ring of Archbishop Bugnini, the architect of the new Mass. According to reports, the influential Italian theologian and layman Andrea Grillo, known for his strong defense of the irreversibility of the liturgical reform, confided to those close to him: “Bishop Viola is further to the left than I am.”

On October 13, Cardinal Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, drove the final nail into the coffin in which he wishes to lock away the traditional liturgy forever. According to him, the traditional world “is drifting away from the center of Catholicism”; the cardinal also believes that the faithful attached to the Vetus Ordo occupy a disproportionate amount of space in the Church’s media landscape, compared to other segments of the Church. As for hospitality and goodwill, we’ll have to wait and see…

Finally, to top it all off, in the October 2026 issue of the German-language intellectual and progressive journal *Herder Korrespondenz*, the Bishop of Antwerp, Bishop Johan Bonny, spoke out on the issue of *viri probati* and the synodal process. Explaining that he had traveled to Rome on his own initiative (and carrying a letter of support from the Belgian Bishops’ Conference) to defend his plan to ordain married men in the near future, he was able to meet with the prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, as well as Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod. The two cardinals replied that they would forward the matter to Leo XIV. It is worth noting that the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, Father Davide Pagliarani, was not accorded the same consideration in the months leading up to the ordinations on July 1 of this year, even though the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X is significantly larger than the Diocese of Antwerp.

“Pseudo-theologians are broadcasting their intellectual ramblings far and wide”

Faced with this spectacle, in which weak signals are followed by strong ones, the Church’s leadership appears far removed from the expectations of observant Catholics. An ever-more-pronounced disconnect is emerging between a hierarchy marked by progressive whims and a base of the faithful who, for their part, can bear witness to the dead ends these whims create in reality.

In his final writings, dated between 1967 and 1970, Father Gaston Courtois observed: “At this moment, pseudo-theologians are bandying about their intellectual ramblings, believing they are purifying the faith when in fact they are only disturbing it. (…) The world is in a bad way. Even my Church is divided; my Body suffers because of it. The graces of vocations are being stifled and are dying. Satan is unleashed. As he has done after every council in the history of the Church, he sows discord everywhere, blinds minds to spiritual realities, and hardens hearts to the calls of my love. ” (When the Lord Speaks to the Heart, nos. 346 and 347, Éditions Médiaspaul)

In his encyclical on priestly celibacy, *Sacerdotalis caelibatus*, dated June 24, 1967, Pope Paul VI had already highlighted what he called “the root of the problem.” According to him, it is the loss or weakening of the sense of God that explains the crisis in vocations. Fifty years after this text—fifty years of post-conciliar pastoral ministry—it must be noted, alas, that it is precisely this loss of the sense of God that appears to be the primary root of the Church’s general crisis. (See our letter No. 1368)

Priority Given to Man Rather Than to God

In an article published in *La Vie spirituelle* in 1946, Father Paissac, O.P., prophetically perceived the great danger threatening the Church: “We no longer have a sense of God,” he wrote. “This impression becomes clear if our examination of conscience is sincere. (…) One can appreciate a work of art without being a connoisseur, without having a sense of beauty. (…) To have a sense of a reality or an ideal is to possess the ability not only to know, but to savor and appreciate as a value that which toward which one is oriented. One is then drawn in that direction and attuned to it, like the needle of a compass; one senses the slightest influence of that pole and turns toward it instinctively. ”

For this Dominican, having a sense of God would amount to rediscovering this taste for the contemplative life—a life that takes precedence over all else because it has God as its object. And to begin this journey, it would be necessary to start moving away from the worship of man. Just as the focus on progress has caused us to lose the sense of tradition, the worship of human dignity has consigned the worship of God to oblivion. “Just as the focus on justice causes us to lose the sense of order, the focus on the human world tends to cause us to lose the sense of God,” he observes.

This prioritization of man over God is, so to speak, the defining characteristic of modernity. And it is precisely in this sense that the traditional liturgy appears to all as a powerful anti-modern statement, through the priority it gives to God. And it is precisely this anti-modern aspect that disturbs those within the Church who would like to align themselves with the ideas of the world, thinking (at best) that they can spiritualize them or Christianize them.

This, however, overlooks the fact that the very meaning of an authentic liturgy lies precisely in representing God’s intention as faithfully as possible. The sole purpose of liturgical actions, their order, and the rubrics that govern them should be to please God, to give Him satisfaction, and to be what He expects. The sole focus of worship is God. All thoughts, all attitudes, all emotions, and all melodies are directed toward Him. A dignified and fitting liturgy is one that is centered on God. It is only by extension that people derive benefit from it for their inner lives.

Having said that, we can better understand the growing disconnect between the traditional ecosystem and the spectacle presented by the direction taken by certain figures in this pontificate. This disastrous disconnect can only grow as long as it is not countered by courageous decisions aimed at refocusing the Church’s course toward God first and foremost.

In this regard, Cardinal Roche is quite right to speak of those who “are straying from the center of Catholicism.” Our profound and long-standing disagreement concerns the identity of these very people. With all due respect, not everyone who claims to speak in the name of the Church necessarily belongs to it—even if they are a cardinal.