I’ve been pretty disgusted by all the nitpicking “traditionalist” attacks on the Pope, as well as the arrogant tone of some of the comments. It reminds me of the Jews complaining that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath - they, who couldn’t heal anybody no matter what day of the week it was!
Personally, I think the TLM folks have lost a lot of friends with this, and I even noticed a couple of comments on Fr. Z’s blog from people who said they had been sort of interested in the TLM but after the display of hatred against Pope Francis ... Forget it, they were going back to the Novus Ordo and just trying to improve it.
I don’t think Pope Francis is going to “drive people” to the EF (old rite) but just the reverse, mostly because of the display of uncharitability and pride that has boiled out of that group. Not to mention hysteria: I don’t think the Pope has really done anything very shocking. He is clearly orthodox, very devout, a man of great prayer and charity, intelligent, and aware of the importance of getting the Gospel message through the walls that we have built around it. His masses are correct and reverent. When I saw him in Rome on Palm Sunday I was impressed by his seriousness, although he is also a excellent, affecting preacher and I liked that too.
And I say this as someone who thought BXVI was wonderful. Btw, I wonder how many of the things Francis is doing might actually be with the support of BXVI. I think Benedict really felt trapped by the bureaucracy and remoteness of life in the Vatican and didn’t feel he could accomplish anything more but knew that the world needed the Faith now more than ever. Maybe he told Francis to just go for it!
Let's face it most of them won't be happy until the kneelers are removed so we can all have our knees on the concrete, and the entire Mass is in Latin
This is my take as well. I have to admit, I was (and remain) leery of a Pope who pays his own hotel bill and cancels his own newspaper subscription - doesn't he have more important things to do? To me such overt signs of regular guy-ness dredge up images of an incompetent Jimmy Carter. However, all this other stuff that RadTrads are getting worked up about don't bother me at all. I pray Pope Francis will be able to be a strong leader and not one who will be giving away the Catholic Panama Canal.
Personally, I think the TLM folks have lost a lot of friends with this, and I even noticed a couple of comments on Fr. Z’s blog from people who said they had been sort of interested in the TLM but after the display of hatred against Pope Francis ... Forget it, they were going back to the Novus Ordo and just trying to improve it.
I have read these kinds of reports (I was going to be a traditionalist, but now I'm not!, etc, etc.) on various sites for weeks now, and I can tell you I just don't buy a word of it. It sounds like those people who love to say "I was going to be a conservative, but then I heard Rush Limbaugh and the NRA and now I am going to be a raging liberal Democrat . . ." As Keanu would wisely say, "Bogus!" This is just a typical comment people make when they want to add force to their criticism of somebody personally or something they said. It is the kind of tactic people like Bill Maher love to revel in.
Being a conservative of any kind, and this includes traditionalism, is about holding a particular value system. You adopt such views over time by learning something, and after you find the truth in such a system you don't just abandon it because you were offended by somebody who is also associated with those values. And, in addition to this, traditional Catholicism is about religious conviction and belief. You don't just decide to believe something, and then decide not to because that guy over there said something ridiculous. If that were true then the TLM crowd would be giant right now because all these people would have abandoned their commitment to the modern Mass since there are thousands and thousands of ignorant people who support that Mass on TV and online everyday saying outrageously stupid things, often about the pope! But, strangely, they don't abandon what they believe because of them. Imagine that.
People who say they were going to believe something to be true, and then just decided not to now, are only saying this because they think it makes their argument against the people they are trying to blame seem stronger.
I've never been impressed by the "more Catholic than the Pope" crowd, and some of their comments about Pope Francis have been more ridiculous than usual.
There is no Catholic doctrine or dogma about which shoes the Pope should wear, or which vestments, at what time. This is all such superfluous nonsense about which to get one's knickers in a twist.