Fr. Z's Blog

A picture is worth a thousand words.

This on 12 March 2022, the 400th anniversary of the canonization of Sts. Teresa of Avila, Phlip Neri, Isidore, Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola.

At the altar of the great Jesuit church in Rome, the Gesù (location of the tomb of Ignatius and arm of Francis Xavier), as the principle celebrant is NOT the ranking cleric there, but rather the head of the Jesuits who seemingly doesn’t believe that the Devil is a personal, angelic agent and who undermined the Faith in a comment that there were no tape recorders at the time of Christ and who doesn’t like doctrine. Standing among the “secondary” celebrants and quite obviously concelebrating, is an old Jesuit, the guy in white.

No alb.  No chasuble.  Not even a stole.

Apart from the fact that Francis is not the main celebrant, I propose that the Jesuits had all those things available at the Gesù and that they could have been fetched a matter of a few minutes.

I am reminded of the old phrase: As lost as a Jesuit in Holy Week.

Jesuits are famously lax in liturgical matters… though there are exceptions and perhaps some of the younger men are more conscientious.

BUT… this is quite simply DREADFUL.   The disregard of liturgical propriety and the of the sensibilities of the faithful is on a global scale here.

But, remember, the Traditional Latin Mass needs to be suppressed.

UPDATE:

My friend Fr. Murray wrote about this at The Catholic Thing.  HERE

He wrote with his characteristic clarity:

[…]

He brought up this problem in his July 16, 2021 letter to the bishops of the world accompanying Traditionis Custodes, his motu proprio restricting the celebration of the Old Mass: “I am saddened by abuses in the celebration of the liturgy on all sides. In common with Benedict XVI, I deplore the fact that ‘in many places the prescriptions of the new Missal are not observed in celebration, but indeed come to be interpreted as an authorization for or even a requirement of creativity, which leads to almost unbearable distortions.’”

He counseled the bishops: “I ask you to be vigilant in ensuring that every liturgy be celebrated with decorum and fidelity to the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican Council II, without the eccentricities that can easily degenerate into abuses.”

Pope Francis’ own words serve as a rebuke of his decision to concelebrate Mass without liturgical vestments. The sacred character of our acts of worship is fostered and protected when priests and bishops willingly and carefully follow the requirements of liturgical law. The Christian faithful have the right to participate in liturgical prayer without being compelled to experience “unbearable distortions” of good liturgical order. That right depends upon the willingness of priests and bishops to obey what is set down in liturgical law.

There is no clerical privilege that allows priests and bishops to rewrite the rules to suit their own tastes. Yet that is precisely what some priests and bishops will sadly take away from this regrettable instance of papal liturgical abuse.

[…]