In a recent interview, Ecclesia Dei's Msgr. Guido Pozzo explained that
the reference in the Instruction 'Universae Ecclesiae' concerning
Catholics who may be against the 'validity or legitimacy' of the Novus
Ordo ("The faithful who ask for the celebration of the [Traditional
Latin Mass] must not in any way support or belong to groups which show
themselves to be against the validity or legitimacy of the Holy Mass or
the Sacraments celebrated in the forma ordinaria [that is, the
post-1960's form] or against the Roman Pontiff as Supreme Pastor of the
Universal Church") actually refers to...
"certain groups of faithful who consider or propose an antithesis
between the Missal of 1962 and that of Paul VI, and who believe that the
rite promulgated by Paul VI for the celebration of the Sacrifice of the
Holy Mass is detrimental to the faithful." (Msgr. Guido Pozzo)
So, let me get this straight... Cardinal Ottaviani, if he was still
alive, would NOT be qualified to request the TLM?
Recall that the prophetic Cardinals Ottaviani & Bacci said the following
concerning the Novus Ordo... (emphasis added)
"To abandon a liturgical tradition which for
four centuries stood as a sign and pledge of unity in worship, and to
replace it with another liturgy which, due to the countless liberties it
implicitly authorizes, cannot but be a sign of division - a liturgy which
teems with insinuations or manifest errors against the integrity of the
Catholic Faith - is, we feel bound in conscience to proclaim, an
incalculable error." (Cardinals Ottaviani & Bacci)
"We have limited ourselves above to a short study of the Novus Ordo where it deviates most seriously from the theology of the Catholic Mass. Our observations touch upon deviations which are typical. To prepare a complete study of all the pitfalls, dangers and psychologically and spiritually destructive elements the new rite contains, whether in texts, rubrics or instructions, would be a vast undertaking." (Cardinals Ottaviani & Bacci)
Yet, while the illustrious Cardinal Ottaviani would apparently NOT be
qualified to request the TLM, the following 'Catholics' WOULD presumably
be qualified to request the TLM (not that they ever would)...
Likewise, the following would presumably also be qualified...
What's wrong with this picture? And where does
that leave Pope Benedict XVI? Recall that the Holy Father has said that...
"...in the place of liturgy as the fruit of
development came fabricated liturgy. We abandoned the organic, living
process of growth and development over the centuries, and replaced it - as
in a manufacturing process - with a fabrication, a banal, on-the-spot
product." (Cardinal Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI)
And, despite what the good Monsignor would
like us to think, namely that...
"...it is clearly necessary to distinguish the
rite and the Missal in themselves, celebrated according to the norms, and a
certain understanding and application of the liturgical reform,
characterized by ambiguity, doctrinal deformations, abuses and
banalizations, events that are unfortunately so common that they led
Cardinal J. Ratzinger to speak, without hesitations, in one of his
publications of a 'collapse of the liturgy'"
...Pope Benedict could NOT have been speaking
regarding results from a "certain understanding and application of the
liturgical reform", because the Holy Father (when he was known as
Cardinal Ratzinger) clearly stated, as indicated above, that we had
"abandoned the organic, living process of growth and development over the
centuries, and replaced it - as in a manufacturing process - with a
fabrication, a banal, on-the-spot product." In his own words, he is
referring to the "fabricated liturgy" itself, not to some distortion
of it.
So given the above, who would be 'qualified'
to request the TLM? Those in denial of or blind to the devastating fruits of
the Novus Ordo? Those who do not know the TLM and who would therefore never
request it? Those willing to say the emperor is fully clothed? Liberals &
dissenters who are likely to be 'allergic' to the reverent traditional Mass?
Yet, good & knowledgeable Catholics who face
facts are not 'qualified'? Besides the injustice of treating a certain group
of good Catholics differently than others, it seems unconscionable to deny
Catholics a spiritual good based on their discernment of the truths that are
plainly before their eyes (e.g. that 70%+ of Catholics no longer believe in
the Real Presence after 4 decades of the Novus Ordo). Even the 'chief
architect' of the Novus Ordo admitted that he wanted to "strip from our
Catholic prayers and from the Catholic liturgy everything which can be the
shadow of a stumbling block" for heretics
and he admitted that the liturgical reform he oversaw was a "major conquest
of the Catholic Church".
That being said - by the 'chief architect' of
the Novus Ordo himself - why can't good Catholics - armed with
decades of hindsight - also believe this? And if they do, why does that fact
disqualify them from requesting a form of Mass codified by Pope St. Pius V
that was "grant[ed] and concede[d] in perpetuity that, for the chanting or
reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be
followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring
any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used" in a
document that the Pope said "cannot be revoked or modified, but remain
always valid and retain its full force"?
[6/25/11]
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