Posted on 02/13/2026 6:15:14 PM PST by ebb tide
Bishop Marian Eleganti exhorted the Church and Pope Leo XIV to “finally admit their own failures since the Second Vatican Council,” including those of the Novus Ordo Mass, and of ecumenism.
In an exclusive statement to LifeSiteNews, Eleganti returned to the last point of a recent statement in which he said that the faithful who “criticize the horizontalism and anthropocentrism in the Novus Ordo must be taken seriously.” This reference to the emphasis on man rather than God in the new Mass, relative to God-centered orientation of the traditional Latin Mass (TLM), was made in response to the SSPX’s announcement of plans to consecrate bishops without papal approval.
“Once again: the universal Church and the Pope would do well to take legitimate criticism from this side and the concerns of the faithful regarding the liturgy seriously, and to finally admit their own failures since the Second Vatican Council,” Eleganti said Thursday.
He stressed that this includes the failure of the so-called liturgical “reform” after Vatican II as well as “ecumenical and interreligious efforts, which have not led to unity in truth, but to an unprecedented decline in the religious life of Catholics.” He noted that this decline is evidenced by Catholics’ rejection of basic tenets of the faith and of its teaching on sexual morality, and their disengagement from faith practices.
Not only have Mass attendance and religious vocations plummeted since Vatican II; now, attendance at the traditional Latin Mass is strongly associated with acceptance of the fullness of Church teaching while attendance at the Novus Ordo Mass is strongly associated with rejection of multiple key church teachings, including on contraception, gay “marriage,” and even the necessity of weekly Mass attendance. These statistics provide robust support for Eleganti’s assertion that changes to the liturgy and practice of the faith have led to “unprecedented decline in the religious life of Catholics.”
The prelate also highlighted the “historically unprecedented relativization” of Christ’s mediation and of “the necessity of salvation through Jesus Christ and his Church within the Church’s own ranks,” as exemplified in Germany’s Synodal Way. This heretical program has proposed women “deacons,” blessings of homosexual relationships, changing Church teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts, and even “transgender” priests.
The Synodal path has “nothing to do with the faith of the Church, but all the more with the standards of the world, and ideologically does without JESUS CHRIST,” Eleganti declared.
“Indeed, the Antichrist comes from our own ranks, thus showing that he never belonged to us. These people and their heresies should finally be named and excluded before they completely tear apart the body of Christ,” the bishop continued, echoing his previous warning that the Synodal path is a “creeping schism.”
Eleganti expressed his hope that the pope and cardinals will in time finally acknowledge the “disastrous reality” in the Catholic Church and “initiate genuine reforms,” not including the “synodality” of either Germany or the Vatican.
Far from acknowledging the failures of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Leo XIV declared earlier this year that Vatican II is the “guiding star” of the Church’s path and announced that the Vatican would be beginning a new catechism series based on the documents of the Council.
In fact, in stark contrast to Eleganti’s hopes, Leo praised the so-called “liturgical reform” launched by Vatican II, which laid the groundwork for the revolutionary Novus Ordo Missae, the new Mass. The Council “set in motion an important liturgical reform by placing at the center the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire People of God,” Leo said in his general audience at the time.
Leo also celebrated another “achievement” of Vatican II decried by Eleganti: Its new conception of ecumenism. He praised the Second Vatican Council for being responsible for a Church committed to “seeking the truth through the way of ecumenism, interreligious dialogue and dialogue with people of good will,” as if the Church needs to seek truth outside of Herself. The idea that the fullness of the truth is not found within the Catholic Church is heretical.
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