Posted on 07/27/2021 9:56:39 PM PDT by Marchmain
Bishop Mutsaerts, 63, suggested that the pope’s decision indicated that he was “losing authority.”
AMSTERDAM — A Dutch Catholic bishop has launched a strongly worded attack on Pope Francis’ motu proprio restricting Traditional Latin Masses, saying that the document seemed to be a “declaration of war.”
In an essay posted on his blog on July 22, Bishop Rob Mutsaerts described the pope’s intervention as “dictatorial,” “unpastoral,” and “unmerciful,” and argued that it would benefit the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a breakaway traditionalist group.
The comments by the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of ’s-Hertogenbosch, in the southern Netherlands, contrast with those of other European bishops who have broadly welcomed the motu proprio, such as Bishop Jean-Pierre Batut of Blois and Bishop Olivier Leborgne of Arras in France....
The Dutch bishop’s essay was entitled “A malicious ukase from Pope Francis.” An “ukase” was a proclamation with the force of law issued by the czar of Russia....
Bishop Mutsaerts argued that Sacrosanctum concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, was a “conservative document” that did not give sanction to many liturgical changes that followed.
“Only 17% of the prayers of the old missal (Trent) are found in the new missal (Paul VI). It is then difficult to speak of continuity of an organic development,” he wrote.
He continued: “Pope Francis is now pretending that his motu proprio stands in the organic development of the Church, which utterly contradicts reality. By making the Latin Mass practically impossible, he is finally breaking with the centuries-old liturgical tradition of the R.C. Church. Liturgy is not a toy of popes, but is the heritage of the Church.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
“...contrast with those of other European bishops who have broadly welcomed the motu proprio, such as Bishop Jean-Pierre Batut of Blois and Bishop Olivier Leborgne of Arras in France...”
I really wonder about the sort of bishop who “welcomes” this. Gays? Brown-nosers? Both? Even the worst bishops in the U.S. who are quietly implementing it and putting the hammer down don’t seem to be cheerleading it. They’re kind of keeping their mouths shut. I’ve yet to see an America bishop come out and say, “Bravo, Francis, it’s about time that someone kicked these trads in the teeth and shut down their brazen, anachronistic attempt to have Catholicism in the Catholic Church.” I’m sure that a few of them are *thinking* that, but at least they aren’t saying it out loud (yet).
Hmmm, that’s interesting. Maybe there are enough trads in the US, spread thru many dioceses, maybe large contributors, and the bishops don’t want to blatantly offend them.
Yes, I have to think that the “active diocesan donor” factor, though of no concern at all to Bergoglio, is indeed of some consequence to the bishops who have to balance their books. This is anecdotal of course, but my parish, TLM central of the archdiocese, is always the first to make its numbers for the archbishop’s annual appeal... and the parish as a big quota, too. Does that count for anything for at diocese headquarters... especially when novus ordo attendance and contributions have been decimated by covid? You better believe it does.
I’m not a huge fan of Ross Douthat in the NY Times, but he made a good point in his piece yesterday on the current chaos in the Church. Douthat asserts that Catholic Church was strong enough in 1975 to shut down the TLM for the same reason that it was able to shut down investigations into sexual abuse: it had enough residual power and prestige from its pre-Vatican II peak to get away with a lot. Those days are long gone.
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