[HiTech RedNeck]

hey guys I’m a (honorary) Baptist not a Roman Catholic but I agree it looks, brothers and sisters, like there is a problem here. the word of the Lord is not ‘yes and no.’

[nickcarraway]

Pope Francis, when he was a cardinal, didn't abide by Summorum Pontificum, so I don't see why he would as Pope. I don't see why any bishop who didn't want to, would go by it now. At the very least, it wouldn't be enforced. I didn't see many bishops around me honor it, while Pope Benedict was still around.

[nickcarraway]

This brings us to the elephant in the room; neither does the current pope view them as equals, difference being, however, he seems rather obviously to hold the exact opposite opinion as his predecessor.

I have to disagree a little. At least the way I see it, it's not that Pope Francis sees the Novus Ordo as superior to the EF, it's that Pope Francis sees liturgy altogether as a distraction from the Church's mission. If it was easier to use the EF, and get rid of the NO, he'd do that. It just happens, that is not easier. I almost imagine he's just assume get rid of Mass altogether and replace it with something, "more productive."

[Claud]

You know what bugs me about all this traditionalist navel-gazing? There’s a disturbingly ultramontanist tendency to minutely dissect every little statement and preference of Pope Francis and treat him as this superhuman legislator who can change the entire direction of the Church on a whim.

Does it make any difference what Francis’s opinion of the traditional Mass is? Really?

Summorum Pontificum is the law of the land. The 1962 Missal was never abrogated. Period. So let’s use its provisions to push as hard as we can for continued growth of the Latin Mass. And then if anyone—bishop or Pope—tries to curtail that, we patiently but firmly say at every turn “Sorry Your Excellency, this Mass is part of our right and heritage as Catholics and we are sticking to it.”

That’s it. No stomping our feet, no whining, no schism, just stick to what is right and don’t be cowed, and don’t let your obedience to the Teaching Authority of the Church make you forget that that authority has its due limitations, which *need to be respected* by the Pope and everyone else.

The whole reason we are in this mess is that too many of us just laid down and took it when Paul VI and the bishops completely gutted the Mass of the Ages. We are wrong, and foolish, as Catholics to act like the Pope is an absolutist monarch who can do whatever he wants with regard to the sacred liturgy. That idea has already done untold damage to the Church. Let’s abolish that from your minds, and start thinking of the Pope—and all of us really—as *custodians* of sacred tradition.