Replies

Do you believe that one Pope can overturn a Council/Papal decree or ignore it completely? Can the Pope make up any new rule he wants?

Two questions, each deserves a decent answer.

1) The Pope is the supreme lawgiver for the Church and this applies to the matter of liturgy. Paul VI had the authority, as Pope, to suppress the Old Rite and establish the New as 'the norm.' That said, there are many (myself included) who think that this demonstrated a serious lack of pastoral judgment.

2) The Pope CANNOT 'make up any new rule he wants' in matters of doctrine and dogma. Some argue, in vain, that the NO is dogmatically or doctrinally contrary to the Faith. Certainly the translation into English is deficient on a number of levels: but it is NOT contrary to the Faith.

It seems that some people want the entire Catechism of Trent read at every Mass to assure that the proper doctrine and dogma is taught....

1. The Pope cannot tamper with Tradition. He is the supreme lawgiver for one reason only: to protect the deposit of faith and Sacred Tradition. The Novus Ordo was a violation of this trust. Power is given for a reason--not to lord it over others, but to guard the revelation and practices handed-down from the apostles. The question as to whether a pope has the authority to actually invent a Mass has, in fact, never been resolved. A pope, after all, is not an absolute monarch. He is hemmed in by Tradition itself and many great liturgists believe the question of whether or not he has the power to innovate a Mass is open to dispute.

2. The argument is not that the N.O. is contrary to the faith, but that it SUPPRESSES the faith and SUBVERTS the faith. Communion in the hand, proscriptions for kneeling, the emphasis on the commemorative meal aspect of the Mass which undermine its sacrificial elements, the removal of references to expiation for sins--all these, whether in Latin or in the vernacular--have done great damage to the Catholic faith. The old faith cannot find proper expression in such a negative liturgical environment.