Don Joaquín Manuel Serrano Vila, a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Oviedo who is also involved in the formation of seminarians, commented on the Roman Rite Pilgrimage of Our Lady of Christianity to Covadonga.

"I am writing these lines after having experienced the pilgrimage from the outside," he wrote on SanFelixDeLugones.blogspot.com (10 August).

Don Serrano has no experience of the Roman rite and only took part in the Archbishop's blessing of the pilgrims and the Te Deum in Covadonga.

Through his involvement in the formation of seminarians, he has noticed how much the new generations have a "very special sensitivity" to Catholicism.

He notes that this phenomenon has become unstoppable in many countries.

For some advocates of the "spirit of Vatican II", the Catholic resurgence is "worrying, regrettable and embarrassing". "Is this all that the champions of freedom and charismatic progressivism have to say and contribute today?" - asks the priest.

He understands that the nostalgics of the "spirit of Vatican II" are losing sleep over the Covadonga pilgrimage, because it is disturbing to see that what they have supported in life is becoming irrevocably extinct, like the dinosaurs.

Don Serrano points out the fatal contradiction in the pontificate of Francis, who wants to "forbid" the Roman rite, while at the same time allowing the celebration of the Eucharist in swimming costumes, with water pistols, or approving African liturgies.

He notices that the "progressive" clergy who are still alive have become secularised, repeating their boring and petrified discourse in their little battles like bad digestion.

At the same time, he was struck by the fact that the pilgrimage to Our Lady was not invented by priests, but by the laity.

There is still a deaf resistance to the revival of Catholicism, so much so that the priest of the Covadonga pilgrimage had to celebrate Mass in a meadow in Sorribas (Piloña).

Don Serrano concluded with an imprecation: "May the Holy Spirit, who also speaks to us in mathematics, be free, because the numbers speak for themselves, and may we make the words of Francis come true: 'everyone, everyone, everyone'."

Thousands of Spanish Pilgrims to Be Denied Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Covadonga

The Dicastery of Divine Worship notified the Archdiocese of Oviedo that the pilgrims of Nuestra Señora de la Cristiandad are forbidden, at the end of their pilgrimage, to celebrate the TLM in the great historic shrine of Covadonga, as they have peacefully and fervently done the past three years. Here are a couple of photos from last year, showing the large numbers, and the poster for 2024:

Photo of last year's pilgrims in front of the shrine

Worshiping in the shrine, as their forefathers had done

This sad news comes less than a month before the event.

Here is the letter from the pilgrimage organizer, followed by a translation:

Beloved pilgrims,

In a few days we will see each other in Asturias for the fourth annual pilgrimage organised by Nuestra Señora de la Cristiandad (Our Lady of Christendom). Like every year, it will be a time of much joy and profound faith.

We want to make known that there will be a change compared to last year. The Archbishopric of Oviedo has informed us that they have received instructions from the Dicastery for Divine Worship indicating the Traditional Latin Mass is not to be celebrated in Covadonga.

Given this new situation, the Mass of the third day will be celebrated at the campsite, before the last stage. This situation must not be a reason for us to be saddened. Instead, it should strengthen us in persevering in the love and devotion that we profess for the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar within the bosom of Holy Mother Church.

Upon arriving to Covadonga, the chanting of the Te Deum will take place before the Blessed Sacrament solemnly exposed and the consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a way of concluding the pilgrimage.

Our Lady of Covadonga, save us and save Spain!

Diana Catalán Vitas

President of NSC-E

Commentary:

Despicable functionaries, seeking only their petty ideological victories. Recall the high official who said to Card. Müller: "There's no reason to rejoice in the 20,000 people who showed up for the final Mass of the Chartres pilgrimage, because they celebrated the TLM" (translation: better no youth, no future, no Church, than THAT!).

Can you imagine any other religion in the world saying: "Although it was unexpected, our youth nowadays are flocking to the most ancient and most demanding form of worship we have. Let's ban it and cause them as much pain as possible!"

This is sheer irrationality, if it is not diabolism. Such an attitude can only be founded on contempt for the bimillennial heritage of the Catholic Church, contempt for the workings of the Holy Spirit, and contempt for the baptized faithful, sealed with the mark of Christ.

If the men behind it are still (in some sense) Christian believers, they could only be modernists who are committed to the thesis that the old form of worship is false and wrong (otherwise, why prohibit something that so obviously suits the "New Evangelization"? Or have we given that up as an outdated relic of the JP2 pontificate? Is it now "backwardist" and "nostalgic" to want to reach modern people with whatever brings them back to the Church and to Christ? Somehow I thought that was the whole idea behind Vatican II...).

The recent letter of the 48 cultural figures in England, published on July 3 in The Times of London, drew attention to the very bad look (so to speak) that this kind of behavior has to anyone outside the Catholic Church, or, frankly, to anyone inside it too. It looks like trying to stamp out growth and vitality. In fact, that's exactly what it is—and in the name of what?

May the reign of such small-minded Vatican II hippies be as short as it is already nasty and brutish.

Thanks be to God, the good Spanish pilgrims will not abandon their program: they will simply offer the Divine Sacrifice in an open field, where God's cathedral, at least, offers them welcome.

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[Catholic Caucus] A Novus Ordo Priest Comments on a Roman Rite Pilgrimage

Thousands of Spanish Pilgrims to Be Denied Traditional Latin Mass at the Shrine of Covadonga