“Our dedication to Tradition must be total, we cannot settle for anything less.”
The above-named essay, bearing the subtitle, “Mysticism and Human Calculations”, appeared in the June 2015 newsletter of the Catholic community of Vocogno, in the Diocese of Novara, Italy.
We republish the same essay here, below, in English, thanks to (more…)
Three newly ‘declassified’ projects from NCCL’s ‘TOP SECRET’ archives
Read about three recently declassified projects by clicking on the respective hyperlink. (more…)
The Empire Strikes Back
It’s all over … the news, that is.
Those opposing Pope Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum, have taken a first, practical step to reverse the motu proprio.
And the sum of it is sheer hypocrisy at its Roman worst. One only wonders what took them so long. (more…)
How seriously does the Roman Curia need ‘cleansing’?
For those paying attention, it is reported in a few reliable places that the 300-page report prepared by three Cardinals to investigate the “Vatileaks” scandals has to do with the need (more…)
An history lesson about the Roman Papacy, and reform of the Roman Curia
With the express permission of The Lepanto Foundation, we post the following unabridged essay by the eminent historian, Prof. Roberto de Mattei, PhD.
Among the many questions the essay provokes is whether the Roman Curia has ever (more…)
More correspondences ‘declassified’ from NCCL’s ‘TOP SECRET archives’
Two more letters have been recently declassified. Both are written to an Anglo-Catholic bishop, some time before his reception into communion with the See of Rome. Find the first one (more…)
Roman Cardinal hurls a bombshell with an almost magical power to restore whatever its blasts touch
Though even 2009 may seem long ago to some afflicted with an equivalent of an ‘ecclesial alzheimers’ disease, Mons. Domenico Bartolucci, now a Cardinal Prince of the Roman Church, back then gave an interview on the liturgical reforms and the so-called ‘reform of the reform’ which is hardly an everyday kind, (more…)
Then-Father Ratzinger’s words on genuine reform
In case you hadn’t yet read the excerpts from a book by then-Father Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI — the excerpts were, after all, rather ‘buried’ in the post (of June 1, below), we re-post some of the more salient passages here, to entice you to read more in the post of June 1.
We emphasize these excerpts in the context of the Holy Father’s perseverance to reconcile the Holy See with the Society of St. Pius X, urging those Catholics who aspire to serve him loyally with the spirit of humble sons seeking wisdom to edify the members of the Church at large, to learn from what the Pope has been thinking for a long time, in order to be ready, should the opportunity arise, to communicate better to him how to draw on or from the (re)sources of tradition and put them to work for the salvation of souls today.
The Church now finds itself in a situation of Babylonian captivity, in which the ‘for’ and ‘against’ attitudes are not only tangled up in the oddest ways, but seem to allow scarcely any reconciliation.
(more…)
Rome is ‘occupied’
The following post, written in July of 2005, might have been written yesterday. (more…)
Small is beautiful
In continuation of the post of March 26, what does the Pope’s vision of reform in general mean for a traditional reform?
First, it, too, will be small in numbers, composed of members “with the élan of faith”.
Second, it will be joyful and convinced.
Third, it will be about reform, gradually (or quickly as the case may be) transforming the rest of ecclesial life; but definitely not ‘babysitting’ Catholics of any one sort or stripe. Pope Benedict is not concerned with babysitting anyone or marginalizing them by use of labels or prejudices. One could even say, his sole aspiration for the Church is reform of Her ecclesial life. He, perhaps better than anyone, is painfully aware of the need to reform.
Fourth, it will live at peace with the rest of the Church’s members: hierarchy and people. But the intensity of its joy living the faith will irradiate to the rest.
Those above four points pretty much summarize the crux of the response which former Cardinal Ratzinger gave to Raymond Arroyo’s question about renewal or reform in the interview of September 2003, published elsewhere on this blog. (See the post dated March 26, 2012 for the link to the interview.)
Reform of the Reformer 