[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Schneider: Leo XIV’s Liturgical Catechesis Reflects Neither Reality Nor History

Bishop Athanasius Schneider has criticised Pope Leo XIV’s August 26 presentation of the post-conciliar liturgical reform. He argued that the Novus Ordo does not correspond to what the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council intended.

Speaking to AdVaticanum.com on September 2, Schneider also argued that non-definitive teachings of Vatican II can be amended or corrected.

Conciliar Formulations Can Be Corrected

Bishop Schneider referred to the Council of Florence (1431 to 1449), citing two doctrinal statements that were later discussed and corrected by the Church.

One concerned Holy Orders. Florence identified the handing over of the sacred instruments as the matter of priestly ordination rather than the laying on of hands, despite the latter having been practiced during the first millennium. Schneider noted that Pope Pius XII later definitively taught that the matter of ordination is the laying on of hands, thereby formally correcting Florence.

Schneider also pointed to Florence’s teaching that every unbaptised person who died went “straightaway to hell.” He said Pope Pius IX later corrected this teaching, affirming that those who die in invincible ignorance could be saved by means known to God.

For Bishop Schneider, such precedents demonstrate that non-definitive conciliar formulations can be reconsidered.

“We cannot continue with ambiguous texts of Vatican II,” Bishop Schneider said. “We must correct them so that they will be crystal clear regarding ecumenism and religious liberty.”

Novus Ordo Must Be Corrected

Bishop Schneider applied the same argument to the post-conciliar liturgy, saying that studying its texts and historical testimony had led him to a more critical assessment.

“We cannot say that the Novus Ordo — its legitimacy, in other words — need not be corrected. We cannot continue with such an ambiguous liturgical rite, which is undermining the clarity of the sacrificial character of the Mass.”

“Leo XIV Did Not Grasp Reality of Novus Ordo”

Asked about Leo XIV’s August 26 Wednesday audience on the liturgical reform, Bishop Schneider said the Pope’s catechesis “did not grasp the true reality of what the Novus Ordo is and how it is overwhelmingly celebrated all over the world.”

And, “It is simply not stating, not accepting, not seeing the reality. It is more a theoretical speech which does not correspond with the praxis as it actually is.”

Bishop Schneider argued that the post-conciliar liturgy went beyond what the Council Fathers envisaged.

“The Novus Ordo as it is does not correspond to the intention of the Council Fathers,” he said.

He described Leo XIV’s catechesis in strong terms: “It seemed to me simply to close one’s eyes and continue to repeat rhetorical phrases, which in themselves can be true but do not correspond to reality and to history.”

“Surprised that Leo XIV Did Not Realise It”

Schneider also challenged Leo XIV’s treatment of Latin, arguing that Sacrosanctum Concilium explicitly requires its preservation.

“Even in Sacrosanctum Concilium - and I am surprised that Pope Leo did not realise it - there are two numbers which say that the Latin language must be conserved: not only could be, but must be conserved in the Latin rite. It is a ‘must be’.”

Yet this is “in more than 90 per cent of the Novus Ordo reality, not applied at all,” making current practice “contrary to an explicit mandate of the Council.”

Council Fathers Laughed at Critical Bishop

Bishop Schneider recalled an episode from the Council’s liturgical debates in which a bishop warned that expanding the vernacular would eventually result in Mass being celebrated entirely in the vernacular.

“And then almost the entire Council started to laugh, because this was not possible,” Monsignor Schneider said.

According to Schneider, the committee president responded: “Your Excellency, we assure you this is not possible. It will never happen that the entire Mass will be celebrated in the vernacular.”

For Bishop Schneider this shows the psychological atmosphere during the Council, “The majority of the Council Fathers did not imagine that the Mass could be entirely in the vernacular.”

Schneider concluded, “I would have desired that Pope Leo XIV had studied this before he made his speech on this: to study all these elements of history and facts, to read the debates and to listen to the witnesses.”

He (Bishop Scheider) described Leo XIV’s catechesis in strong terms: “It seemed to me simply to close one’s eyes and continue to repeat rhetorical phrases, which in themselves can be true but do not correspond to reality and to history.”
...

Schneider concluded, “I would have desired that Pope Leo XIV had studied this before he made his speech on this: to study all these elements of history and facts, to read the debates and to listen to the witnesses.”

He will know them by their frits, not words.

So no need to discuss V2....the fruit is either rotting or the tree is barren (birth control, abortion)everywhere.

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