[nickcarraway]

I thought it was wrong that people would say the Pope was the "sworn enemy," of the Traditional Mass. I doubt he is the, "sworn enemy," of anything. But he may view it as unnecessary, and perhaps harmful. Maybe he was just indifferent. But this letter shows that Pope Francis has a far more negative view towards the Extraordinary Form than I would have expected.

Pope Benedict granted a universal indult and said that every parish could have the EF, without consulting the bishop. Then Cardinal Bergoglio's response was order a EF in one church, and that only one priest would be saying the EF. Basically, this was isolating it from the rest of the diocese, like it's an infection, and preventing it from other parishes. Technically, he was not following what Pope Benedict said. But not Pope Francis is the Pope, so he gets to call the shots. He probably won't explicitly ban the EF, but most bishops will eliminate it, or limit it to one parish and one priest in the diocese. Even with Summorum Pontificum, most bishops didn't follow it. That was with Pope Benedict in office. Even to the extent he would stick up for it, bishops ignored it. So, unless Pope Francis takes great steps to stick up for it, the bishops will revert back to before, or perhaps suppress it more. That's just the way it is. If you go to the EF, you're probably violating the spirit of the Church, if not the letter of the law.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

Only time will tell. I’m not at all worried that Pope Francis will actively undermine his predecessor’s intent and legislation on the TLM, and the Ecclesia Dei commission will continue to enforce the legislation. Just recently Ecclesia Dei forced the Diocese of Greensburg PA to start offering a TLM as it was formally requested by the faithful there long ago. Ecclesia Dei is not going to stop defending the rights of the laity as laid out in Summorum Pontificum, and more and more priests and especially seminarians are learning the TLM. This will not be turned back. And Pope Francis will not interfere with the growth of the movement.

[cothrige]

Pope Benedict granted a universal indult and said that every parish could have the EF, without consulting the bishop. Then Cardinal Bergoglio's response was order a EF in one church, and that only one priest would be saying the EF.

I rather liked what I read on a Catholic blog when a commenter posted something to the effect of "So, when Pope Benedict promulgated Summorum Pontificum Cardinal Bergoglio responded by immediately implementing Ecclesia Dei Adflicta." I thought that was amusing.

Personally, though, I am going to try to be as positive as I can be and give our new Holy Father the benefit of the doubt. These reports are still sketchy, and we must remember that with God all nothing is impossible. If God is with the reforms of Pope Benedict, and I believe he is, then there is no stopping it anyway.