Abp. Viganò weighs in on ‘scandalous’ prohibition of private Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica

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Abp.  weighs in on ‘scandalous’ prohibition of private Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica

‘For sixty years the doctrinal deviations introduced by Vatican II have insinuated that Mass offered without the people has no value,
or that it has less value than a concelebration or a Mass at which the faithful assist.’

April 1, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — On March 12, by means of an ordinance issued without signature, protocol number, or addressee, the First Section of the Secretariat of State forbade the celebration of private Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, beginning on the First Sunday of Passiontide. In the following days, Cardinals Raymond L. Burke, Gerhard L. Müller, Walter Brandmüller, Robert Sarah, and Joseph Zen expressed their justified bewilderment at this decision, which due to the irregular form in which it was drawn up leaves one to conclude that is an explicit order of Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Catholic doctrine teaches us the value of the Holy Mass, the glory it offers to the Most Holy Trinity, and the power of the Holy Sacrifice for both the living and dead. We also know that the value and efficacy of the Holy Mass does not depend on the number of faithful who assist at it nor on the worthiness of the celebrant, but rather on the unbloody reiteration of the same Sacrifice of the Cross through the work of the priest-celebrant, who acts in persona Christi and in the name of the entire Holy Church: suscipiat Dominus sacrificium de manibus tuis, ad laudem et gloriam nominis sui; ad utilitatem quoque nostram totiusque Ecclesiae suae sanctae.

The scandalous decision of an anonymous functionary of the Secretariat of State, easily identified as the unmentionable Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, unfortunately simply makes explicit what is already the practice in dioceses all over the world: For sixty years the doctrinal deviations introduced by Vatican II have insinuated that Mass offered without the people has no value, or that it has less value than a concelebration or a Mass at which the faithful assist. The post-conciliar liturgical norms forbid the erection of more altars in the same church and prescribe that during the celebration of a Mass at the main altar, other Masses should not be celebrated at the side altars. The Montinian Missale Romanum even provides a specific rite for the Missa sine populo, in which the greetings are omitted — for example, the Dominus vobiscum or the Orate, fratres — as if, in addition to those present, the Heavenly Court and the souls in purgatory were not also assisting at the Eucharistic Sacrifice. When a priest presents himself in any sacristy in the world asking to be able to celebrate the Mass — I am not saying in the Tridentine Rite, but also in the reformed one — he invariably hears the answer that he can join the previously scheduled concelebration, and in any case he is looked upon with suspicion if he asks to be able to celebrate without having some of the faithful present. It is useless to object that celebrating a private Mass is the right of every priest: The conciliar mens knows how to go far beyond the letter of the law in order to apply the spirit of Vatican II with tetragonal coherence, manifesting its true nature.

On the other hand, the reformed [Novus Ordo] Mass was modified in order to attenuate, silence, or explicitly deny those Catholic dogmas that constitute an obstacle to ecumenical dialogue: speaking of the four purposes of the Mass is considered scandalous, because this doctrine disturbs those who deny the latreutic, propitiatory, thanksgiving, and impetratory value of the Holy Sacrifice, as defined by the Council of Trent.

For the Modernists, nothing is more detestable than the simultaneous celebration of several Masses, just as celebration coram Sanctissimo (that is, in front of the tabernacle placed over the altar) is intolerable. The Holy Mass, for them, is a supper, a convivial feast, and not a sacrifice: For this reason the altar is replaced with a table and the tabernacle is no longer present over the altar, moved to “a place that is more suitable for prayer and recollection”; for this reason the celebrant faces the people and not God.

The ordinance of the Secretariat of State, beyond the disrespect towards the Canons of the Basilica and the hypocritical sleight-of-hand of the absence of a signature or protocol number, represents only the latest confirmation of a fact that evidently does not want to be either admitted or opposed by those who, albeit with good intentions, insist on considering individual actions without wanting to frame them in the broader context of the so-called “post-council,” in the light of which even the most insignificant changes acquire a disturbing coherence and demonstrate the subversive value of Vatican II. While it is true that on paper Vatican II reaffirms the value of the private Mass — as His Eminence Cardinal Burke recalls in his recent statement — in reality it has made private Mass the prerogative of “nostalgics” who are doomed to extinction or to eccentric groups of the faithful. The condescending air with which liturgists pontificate on these themes is indicative of an intolerance for anything Catholic that has survived in the tortured ecclesial body. In coherence with this position, Bergoglio can deny the title of Mediatrix and Co-Redemptrix to Mary Most Holy with impunity, with the sole intent of pleasing Lutherans, who say that “papists” idolatrize a woman and deny that Jesus Christ is the One Mediator.

Prohibiting private Masses at Saint Peter’s today legitimizes the abuses in the other Basilicas and churches of the world, where this ban has already been in force for decades even though it has never been explicitly formulated. And it is even more significant that this abuse is imposed by means of an apparently official act, in which the authority of the Secretariat of State is meant to silence with reverential fear those who wish to remain Catholic despite the efforts of the present Hierarchy to the contrary. But in the past, prior to Benedict XVI, anyone who wanted to celebrate Holy Mass at Saint Peter’s did not have an easy life and was expelled from the temple like an excommunicated vitandus if he simply dared to celebrate the Novus Ordo in Latin, to say nothing of the Tridentine Rite.

Of course, for the neomodernists, private Masses can be prohibited, and they will also seek to abrogate the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, because — as “Max Beans,” one of the most zealous sycophants of Santa Marta, recently admitted — the Tridentine liturgy presupposes a doctrine which is intrinsically opposed to “conciliar theology.” But if we come to the point of the scandal of the prohibition of private Masses in Saint Peter’s, we owe it also to the modus operandi of the Innovators, who proceed step-by-step in the liturgical, doctrinal, and moral fields, applying the principles of the “Overton Window.” Let’s acknowledge it: These indecorous winks at heretics and schismatics are in line with a strategy aimed at non-Catholic sects which finds its true completion in the broader strategy aimed at non-Christian religions and today’s reigning neopagan ideologies. This is the only way to understand this deliberate will to indulge the enemies of Christ in order to please the world and its prince.

It is from this perspective that one should understand the projection of animals on the facade of the Vatican Basilica; the entrance of the pachamama idol carried on the shoulders of bishops and clergy; the offering dedicated to Mother Earth placed on the altar of the Confession during a Mass presided over by Bergoglio; the desertion of the papal altar by the one who refuses the title of Vicar of Christ; the suppression of liturgical celebrations under the pretext of the pandemic and their replacement with ceremonies that recall the cult of personality of communist regimes; Saint Peter’s Square completely immersed in darkness so as to align itself with the new rites of globalist ecologism. This modern golden calf awaits the return of a Moses who descends from Sinai and restores Catholics in the True Faith after driving out the new idolaters, the followers of the Aaron of Santa Marta. And let no one dare to speak of mercy or love: Nothing is more distant from Charity than the attitude of he who, representing the authority of God on earth, abuses it in order to confirm in error the souls whom Christ has entrusted to him with the order to feed them. The pastor who leaves the sheepfold open and encourages the sheep to come out of it, sending them into the jaws of ravenous wolves, is a mercenary and an ally of the Evil One, and will have to render an account to the Supreme Pastor.

In the face of this umpteenth scandal, we may note with dismay the timid and complicit silence of the prelates: Where are the other cardinals, where is the archpriest emeritus of the Basilica, where is Cardinal Re, who for years, like me, celebrated his private Mass each morning in Saint Peter’s? Why are they now silent in the face of so much abuse?

As also happens in the civil sphere on the occasion of the pandemic and the violation of natural rights by the temporal authority, so also in the ecclesiastical sphere the dictatorship needs subjects without backbone or ideals in order to impose itself. In other times, the Vatican Basilica would have been besieged by priests, the first victims of this hateful tyranny that has the audacity to pass itself off as democratic and synodal. God forbid that the hell on earth which is establishing itself in the name of globalism is nothing but the consequence of the indolence and timidity, or rather the betrayal, of many, too many, clergy and laity.

The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is drawing near to Her Passion, in order to complete in Her own members the sufferings of Her Head. May these days that separate us from the Resurrection of Our Redeemer spur us on to prayer, penance, and sacrifice, so that we can unite ourselves to the Blessed Passion of Our Lord in a spirit of expiation and reparation, according to the doctrine of the Communion of Saints which permits us, in the bond of true Charity, to do good to our enemies and beg God for the conversion of sinners: even those whom Providence has inflicted upon us as temporal and ecclesiastical Superiors.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop

31 March 2021
Feria Quarta Hebdomadae Sanctae

[Emphasis mine.]

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Cardinal Zen expresses dismay at individual Mass ban in St. Peter’s Basilica

‘Pain and indignation invade my heart at hearing certain incredible news,’ Zen wrote. ‘They’ve prohibited private masses in St. Peter’s!?’

HONG KONG, March 31, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen has added his voice to those demanding a return of so-called “private” masses to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, after such Masses were essentially banned by the Secretariat of State earlier this month.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, formerly the Archbishop of Hong Kong and still a champion of the beleaguered Church in China, has written an open letter to the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Robert Sarah, to express his pain at the recent abolition.

Zen published the Italian original of his letter on his own website, and Catholic News Agency provided an English translation.

“Pain and indignation invade my heart at hearing certain incredible news,” Zen wrote. “They’ve prohibited private masses in St. Peter’s!?”

Cardinal Zen said that if it were not for the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 measures, he would “take the first flight to Rome and kneel before the door of Santa Marta,” the hotel in which Pope Francis resides, “until the Holy Father retracts the edict.”

The cardinal — the leading critic of the Vatican’s secret deal with the ruling Chinese Communist Party regarding Catholic worship in China, described what a comfort saying Mass at one of the side altars at St. Peter’s had been for him.

“It was the thing that most strengthened my faith every time I came to Rome,” he wrote.

“At seven o’clock precisely, I would go into the sacristy (where I would almost always encounter that holy man, the Archbishop and then Cardinal Paolo Sardi), a young priest would come forward and help me vest, and then they would lead me to an altar (whether in the Basilica or in the [crypt] did not make a difference to me; we were St. Peter’s Basilica!).”

Zen wrote that he thought he never celebrated Mass with more fervor and emotion that at these Masses, and was sometimes in tears as he prayed “for our living martyrs in China, now abandoned and driven into the bosom of the schismatic [Chinese Patriotic] church by the ‘Holy See.’”

The cardinal, who is a sharp critic of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his China policies, attacked the Secretariate of State for its role in the edict against individual Masses at St. Peter’s. At times, his tone was bitter.

“It is time to reduce the power of the Secretariat of State,” Zen wrote.

“Away with the sacrilegious hands from the communal home of all the faithful worldwide,” he continued. “Let them content themselves with diplomatic games played with the father of lies. Go ahead and make the Secretariat of State a ‘den of thieves’, but leave in peace the devoted people of God!”

Zen then ended his letter with a quotation from John 13:30, which was part of the Gospel reading for the day: “It was night.” It follows the Evangelist’s description of Judas Iscariot’s departure from the Last Supper.

A former Canadian ambassador to China and practising Catholic, David Mulroney, told LifeSiteNews that he was not surprised that both Cardinal Zen and Cardinal Sarah had spoken out against the ban on individual Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“It is not surprising that, in the midst of a Pontificate notable for its confusion, and in which the universal call of the Church is enfeebled, its two most saintly figures are raising their voices in concern that a reassuring sign of universality has suddenly disappeared,” Mulroney said via social media.

Earlier this month, a notice dated March 12 appeared on the door of the sacristy in St. Peter’s Basilica, saying that from March 22 all Masses in St. Peter’s said in the ordinary form would be concelebrated. The notice specifically states that “individual Masses” — that is, Masses said by a single priest, were “suppressed.” Mass in the Extraordinary Form, which cannot be concelebrated, would be offered in the Clementine Chapel in the Vatican grottos (crypt), but limited to only four Masses a day.

Laymen and clerics alike were astonished by the development and the Secretariat of State’s role in it. Cardinal Raymond Burke responded on March 13, saying that the new rules should be withdrawn.

“For the sake of the Catholic faith and for the good order of the Sacred Liturgy, the highest and most perfect expression of the Church’s life in Christ, the document in question should be rescinded immediately, that is, before its supposed effective date of March 22nd next,” Burke wrote.

Cardinals Gerhard Müller and Walter Brandmüller also objected to the abolition of individual Mass. Both cardinals pointed out that the Secretariat of State had no authority to make such a decision.

“It seems to be a mystery why the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s diplomatic service, should be involved in this, and no less strange that it should apparently contradict the right of priests to celebrate individually enshrined in canon law (can. 902), and the presumption, also in canon law, that priests in good standing be allowed by the rector of any church to celebrate Mass if an altar is free (can. 903),” wrote liturgical expert and LSN columnist Dr. Joseph Shaw on March 17.

“The fact that priests from all over the world, and those living and working in Rome, have been able up to now to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s in the early morning, and that visitors can see them stream out of the great sacristy to a myriad of little altars around the upper basilica, and to a whole lot more in the crypt, has been a real joy: an illustration of the Church’s unity in diversity, and of the ceaseless prayer offered to God by His Spouse, the Church.”

On March 29, Cardinal Robert Sarah, until recently the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, wrote a long letter explaining the canonical and theological problems that arose from forbidding priests to celebrate individual Masses.

He concluded with an appeal to Pope Francis, saying: “For all the reasons set out here and for yet others, together with a boundless number of baptized persons (many of whom do not want to or cannot express their thoughts) I humbly beg the Holy Father to order the withdrawal of the recent norms issued by the secretariat of state, which are as lacking in justice as in love, do not correspond to the truth or the law, do not facilitate but rather endanger the decorum of the celebration, devout participation in the Mass, and the freedom of the children of God.”