And people ask me why I post a lot about chess these days.
The Congregation Dicastery for Worship has become a parody of itself.
So much for the ‘Social Justice’ Principle of Subsidiarity!
Translated:
The Holy Father, in the Audience granted on 20 February this year to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the following regarding the implementation of his Motu Proprio Traditionis custodes of 16 July 2021.
These are dispensations reserved in a special way to the Apostolic See (cf. C.I.C. can. 87 §1):
the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist using the Missale Romanum of 1962 (cf. Traditionis custodes art. 3 §2);
the granting of the license to priests ordained after the publication of the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes to celebrate with the Missale Romanum of 1962 (cf. Traditionis custodes art. 4).
As established by art. 7 of the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes, the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments exercises the authority of the Holy See in the cases mentioned above, supervising compliance with the provisions.
If a diocesan Bishop has granted dispensations in the two cases mentioned above, he is obliged to inform the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments which will evaluate the individual cases.
Furthermore, the Holy Father confirms – having already expressed his assent in the audience of 18 November 2021 – what was established in the Responsa ad dubia with the annexed Explanatory Notes of 4 December 2021.
The Holy Father has also ordered that this Rescript be published in L’Osservatore Romano and, subsequently, in the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.
From the Vatican, 20 February 2023
Arthur Card. Roche
Prefect
A few thoughts.
The first is obvious. If the documents in the Rescript had been sound and good law in the first place, then why did it need this shoring up?
Evidence is in the first point, about how – apparently – bishops are not to invoke can. 87 to dispense from things in Taurina cacata. Can. 87 reads:
Can. 87 §1. A diocesan bishop, whenever he judges that it contributes to their spiritual good, is able to dispense the faithful from universal and particular disciplinary laws issued for his territory or his subjects by the supreme authority of the Church. He is not able to dispense, however, from procedural or penal laws nor from those whose dispensation is specially reserved to the Apostolic See or some other authority.
There was no indication in TC that what was in it was “reserved“.
A bishop might respond:
Can. 90 §1. One is not to be dispensed from an ecclesiastical law without a just and reasonable cause, after taking into account the circumstances of the case and the gravity of the law from which dispensation is given; otherwise the dispensation is illicit and, unless it is given by the legislator himself or his superior, also invalid.
§2. In a case of doubt concerning the sufficiency of the cause, a dispensation is granted validly and licitly.
If anything is clear about the present situation it is the lack of clarity. Doubt surrounds and interpenetrates everything having to do with TC.
Smart bishops should, if they are not already, get up to speed with Title IV of the 1983 Code about administrative acts.
Note also that Roche wants to micromanage bishops, tell then what they can and cannot do in their dioceses. No can. 87! You are not competent. No faculties for priests! You aren’t as informed about your diocese and priests as we are. No Masses in churches, because we know more than you do.
One has the sense that this was motivated from a growing panic that power was slipping away. Hence, run and tattle.
However, maybe this is like Charlie Brown on Halloween. He rangs at the door and he got a rock…. not an Apostolic Constitution. Does that rule out an ApConst? No.
Bottom line, the cruelty continues.
As we know from the Laws of the House of God:
VIII. THEY CAN ALWAYS HURT YOU MORE.
Meanwhile, when I first saw this I thought it was from the Babylon Bee.
Did you read about the opening of the new “Abrahamic Family House“? This is a church and it is named, I’m not making this up:
St. Francis Church.
It’s named, it seems, after St. Francis of Assisi. By coincidence, someone called Francis signed a document in Abu Dhabi – the inspiration for this project – that seemed to state that there are different religious by God’s will. Only later was it dragged out that that is God’s permissive.
I read on wiki that “The implementation of the project is supervised by the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity. Robert Hugh Benson, call your pool man.
Think about that.
But the Traditional Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church must be suppressed, the people who want it scattered.
Ironically, the Abrahamic Family House project was inaugurated officially on 16 February 2023 by Abu Dhabi’s
Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence.
How do we get one of those?
Someone should ask if the new church component could be used for a Pontifical Mass in the traditional Rite.
In our traditional Roman calendar, Sunday is Quinquagesima, Latin for the symbolic “Fiftieth” day before Easter. This is one of the pre-Lenten Sundays which prepare us for the discipline of Lent.
