The Spirit of Traditionis Custodes

From the report of the Polish bishops of their ad limina visit:

 On the one hand, the congregation admitted that the matter was resolved too harshly and that instead of serving unity, in individual cases, it could lead to someone leaving the Church because his needs were not met. On the other hand, the will to interpret the motu proprio broadly was expressed – more in spirit than in the letter of the issued law.

Today Pope Francis in no uncertain terms indicates what is the spirit of Traditionis Custodes and, for that matter, that of the current regime in the Roman Catholic Church. What follows are excerpts from his address at the general audience of 10/27/2021 – at which, so the Vatican reports, a significant number of American groups were present.

Saint Paul’s preaching is completely centred on Jesus and his Paschal Mystery. In fact, the Apostle presents himself as a witness of Christ, and Christ crucified (cfr. 1 Cor 2:2). He reminds the Galatians, tempted to base their religiosity on the observance of precepts and traditions, that the centre of salvation and faith is the death and resurrection of the Lord.

Today, there are many who still seek religious security rather than the living and true God, focusing on rituals and precepts instead of embracing God’s love with their whole being. And this is the temptation of the new fundamentalists, isn’t it? Of those who seem to be afraid to make progress, and who regress because they feel more secure: they seek the security of God and not the God of our security…. This is why Paul asks the Galatians to return to what is essential – to return to God, to the essential, not to the securities of God: to the essential – to the God who gives us life in Christ crucified.

And those who seek security, the small group, the things that were clear as they were back then, they live “as it was back then”, they distance themselves from the Spirit, they do not permit the freedom of the Spirit to enter into them.

 Sometimes, those who approach the Church get the impression that they are dealing with a dense mass of rules and regulations: but no, this is not the Church! This can be whatever association. But, in reality, the beauty of faith in Jesus Christ cannot be grasped on the basis of so many commandments or of a moral vision developed in many layers which can make us forget the original fruitfulness of love nourished by prayer from which peace and joyful witness flow.

General Audience of 10/27/2021.

I could write at length about these calumnies – since when in the post-Vatican II world has choosing to follow the traditional rites achieved “security” under any definition for any Catholic? Certainly not institutional security: traditionalists have neither job prospects in the bureaucracy of the Church nor any assurance that any of their congregations has permanent status! But more importantly, I believe the Pope is clearly asserting that “fundamentalists” (a code word, like, in the past, “integralist,” often used by the Vatican and the European Catholic churches for traditionalists) are not even Christians. 1) It establishes a fearful hermeneutic for Traditionis Custodes.

1. It is also most significant, given the presence of American pilgrims at this audience, that one of Pope Francis’s sycophants, Antonio Spadaro SJ, has for several years repeatedly linked (and denounced) Evangelical “fundamentalists” and Catholic “integralists” with specific reference to the political situation in the United States.