Vaticanista Diane Montagna has obtained documents that were referenced as the basis for Pope Francis’ overturning of Pope Benedict XVI’s document freeing up access to the traditoinal Latin Mass, Summorum Pontificum. Pope Francis abrogated that earlier papal text in 2021 with his promulgation of Traditionis Custodes.
What Miss Montagna has obtained is a part of the CDF’s report to Pope Francis, which was a summary and analysis of a 2020 survey of the world’s Bishops. Pope Francis expressed dismay over what he saw in that report and, as a result of the alarming situation he said the report outlines, he tightly restricted access to the traditional Latin Mass.
There were many commentators who questioned the veracity of Pope Francis’ stated reasons for Traditionis Custodes based both on the secrecy under which the CDF report was kept and the public statements made by many Bishops that they were, in fact, supportive of Summorum Pontificum and saw no need to change it.
Assuming that the text Miss Montagna has obtained is genuine — which we have no reason to doubt — those commentators are now justified.
Two questions come to my mind, questions I don’t expect to see answered anytime soon other than by conjecture: How did Diane Montagna get a copy of this and, more importanly, why? My assumption is that someone who had access to it hoped that a leak of it — followed by the inevitable firestorm in the Catholic commentariat — would encourage Pope Leo XIV, who desires to be a pontiff of peace and unity, to restore the status quo ante in the face of such a manifest injustice. That is only my conjecture.
If that was the purpose behind the leak, time will tell whether the leaker hit his mark. We can hope and pray that a bold representative number of the worldwide episcopate, having discovered how misrepresented their views actually were, will make known to the Supreme Pontiff their pastoral aspirations in favor of the traditional rite.
Miss Montagna’s highly recommended writeup is here: EXCLUSIVE: Official Vatican Report Exposes Major Cracks in Foundation of Traditionis Custodes.
Below are some excerpts.
This journalist has obtained the Vatican’s overall assessment of the consultation of bishops that was said to have “prompted” Pope Francis to revoke Summorum Pontificum, Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter liberalizing the vetus ordo, more commonly known as the “Traditional Latin Mass” and sacraments.
The previously undisclosed text, which forms a crucial part of the official report by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on its 2020 consultation of bishops concerning Summorum Pontificum, reveals that “the majority of bishops who responded to the questionnaire stated that making legislative changes to Summorum Pontificum would cause more harm than good.”
The overall assessment directly contradicts, therefore, the stated rationale for imposing Traditionis Custodes and raises serious questions about its credibility.
Conversely, the official CDF report states that “the majority of bishops who responded to the questionnaire, and who have generously and intelligently implemented Summorum Pontificum, ultimately express satisfaction with it.” It adds that “in places where the clergy have closely cooperated with the bishop, the situation has become completely pacified.”
Furthermore, the text clearly shows that Traditionis Custodes disregarded and withheld what the report said about the peace Summorum Pontificum had restored, and turned a blind eye to a “constant observation made by the bishops”— that younger people were being drawn into the Catholic Church through this older form of the liturgy.
The overall assessment also predicted, based on the responses of bishops, what would ensue were Summorum Pontificum suppressed — forecasts that turned out to be accurate.
Miss Montagna’s article, with attachments, may be found here.
A Traditional Latin Mass is celebrated at the tomb of St. Catherine of Siena at the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome, Sept. 15, 2017 (Photo: Edward Pentin)
