[Catholic Caucus] Abp. Cordileone says Vatican TLM restrictions aren’t ‘realistic,’ contra Cardinal Roche

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said that the Vatican’s restriction of the Traditional Latin Mass “isn’t realistic” because young Catholics’ love of tradition is “unstoppable.”

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s realistic. We look at the younger generation. They all love the tradition,” he told Raymond Arroyo on EWTN’s “The World Over” last night.

“They love the more classical way that the Church worships, the traditional Mass,” he said, also citing interest in the Novus Ordo Mass celebrated “in a more traditional way, with the priest ad orientem and the sacred music and great solemnity and reverence.”

“They’re desiring this deep tradition. It takes them to a very deep place,” the prelate said.

“This is unstoppable. It’s what’s drawing young people in and will continue to do so.”

The San Francisco archbishop, who Pope Leo XIV last week named as a member of the Vatican’s highest court, additionally pushed back on claims by Cardinal Arthur Roche, the head of the Vatican’s liturgy office, that Leo will not change Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional rite.

“I don’t know how well he knows the mind of the Holy Father,” Archbishop Cordileone said about Roche.

“But I think one thing that’s clear to everyone is the Holy Father wants to bring everyone together. He he’s all about unity,” he continued.

“My concern is that if these restrictions remain in place, as I said in my statement, people will feel they have no choice to find where they experience being spiritually nourished in kind of the more traditional form of way the Church worships – they have to go outside of officially approved institutions and communities,” the archbishop said. “They will do that.”

The Traditional Latin Mass continues to draw millions of Catholics, including many young people, despite Pope Francis’ 2021 decree Traditionis Custodes, which heavily restricts it.

Traditional liturgical practices have also grown in popularity in recent years. In 2024, a large survey of U.S. Catholics found widespread support for receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling, the ad orientem posture – where the priest celebrates Holy Mass facing east or the tabernacle, and altar rails.

However, Cardinal Roche told heterodox Catholic weekly The Tablet on Wednesday that Pope Leo “is not going to change Traditionis Custodes, and he’s not going back to Summorum Pontificum,” Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 document that granted priests nearly unrestricted permission to celebrate the Latin Mass.

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful,” Benedict said in a letter accompanying Summorum Pontificum.

Leo has previously signaled support for access to the TLM, including in a March letter to the French bishops. At the same time, he has so far kept Traditionis Custodes in place and allowed bishops around the world to continue cracking down on the Latin Mass and reverent liturgical practices, such as Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte, who has banned the TLM at parish churches and prohibited altar rails and kneelers.

Archbishop Cordileone, for his part, has repeatedly called for an end to restrictions on the traditional rite and has also encouraged reception of Holy Communion kneeling and the use of altar rails. He again urged “easier access” to the TLM after the Society of St. Pius X’s consecration of four bishops earlier this month without the approval of the Holy See.

Leo appointed Archbishop Cordileone a member of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court of the Catholic Church, on Saturday.

Here is the biographical summaries of the newly "excommunicated" SSPX bishops:

Fr. Pascal Schreiber

53 years old, Fr. Schreiber was born into a Catholic family of five children from the canton of Aargau, Switzerland. In 1992, he entered the Herz Jesu seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany, before continuing his studies at Écône, Switzerland, where he was ordained a priest in the summer of 1998. After five years of ministry in Germany and French-speaking Switzerland, he was entrusted in 2003 with the directorship of a boys' secondary school in Mels, Switzerland. Two years later, he took responsibility for the primary and secondary girls' school in Wil, a ministry he held for nine years. Called in 2014 to Rickenbach, at the headquarters of the Swiss District, he served as bursar for two years before being named District Superior. Since August 15, 2020, he has been the director of the Herz Jesu seminary in Zaitzkofen, Germany, where he is dedicated to the formation of over 50 future priests and brothers from 16 countries. He speaks fluent German and French, and also speaks English.

Fr. Michael Goldade

Originally from North Dakota and having grown up in St. Marys, Kansas, Fr. Michael Goldade comes from a Catholic family of ten children that includes three Sisters of the Society of Saint Pius X. At the age of 18, he entered the seminary in Winona, where he was ordained a priest in 2004. He exercised his ministry in Armada, Michigan, for five years before being called to direct the retreat house in Ridgefield. In 2014, he was named prior in Kansas City, where he managed the priory, a large parish, a school, and a community of religious sisters. In 2021, the position of assistant to the District Superior was added to these responsibilities. Appointed in the summer of 2023 as director of the Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Virginia, he currently oversees the formation of nearly 100 seminarians. 45 years old, he speaks English, has studied French, and also possesses some knowledge of Spanish.

Fr. Michel Poinsinet de Sivry

Of French nationality and coming from a Catholic family of seven children, Fr. Michel Poinsinet de Sivry is 42 years old. He completed his priestly formation at the seminary in Flavigny, France, and then at Écône, where he was ordained a priest in 2008. Beginning his ministry at the Saint-Joseph-des-Carmes school in southern France, he was entrusted in 2011 with the direction of the Saint-Louis primary school in Paris. He held this position for five years, while also serving a chapel in Seine-Saint-Denis and participating in the apostolate of the church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet in Paris. He then directed the Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-La-Salle high school in Camblain-l'Abbé, not far from Arras, for six years before being appointed Superior of the Benelux District in 2022, a position he still holds today. Besides French, he also speaks English and continues his study of German and Dutch.

Fr. Marc Hanappier

Fr. Marc Hanappier, of French nationality, was born in 1990 into a Catholic family of ten children with several vocations: one of his brothers is an SSPX priest, another is a priest with the Capuchins of Morgon, and one of his sisters is a teaching Dominican of Saint-Pré. Formed at the seminaries of Flavigny and Écône, he was ordained a priest in 2013. He began his ministry in France in education, first at the Étoile-du-Matin school near Bitche, then at the Saint-Michel school not far from Châteauroux. In 2020, named a professor at the seminary in Dillwyn, Virginia, he began by perfecting his mastery of English for one year in Scotland, while collaborating in parish ministry. At the seminary, he primarily teaches metaphysics and dogma, while providing pastoral ministry on Sundays in several chapels. He is fluent in French and English, has studied German, and has also begun learning Spanish.

They come from traditional Catholic families with anywhere from 5, 10, 7, and again 10 children.

The boy rapist, Teddy McCarrick, was an only child.

Fr. James Martin, S.J. only had one sister.

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[Catholic Caucus] Abp. Cordileone says Vatican TLM restrictions aren’t ‘realistic,’ contra Cardinal Roche

‘We look at the younger generation. They all love the tradition,’ Archbishop Cordileone told Raymond Arroyo. ‘This is unstoppable.’

They come from traditional Catholic families with anywhere from 5, 10, 7, and again 10 children.