“Far more permanent” excommunications this time around?

 N.B. Well said …

“There's good reason to believe that the upcoming SSPX excommunications will be far more permanent than those of 1988.

“1. In 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre was a renowned figure. He had plenty of enemies in the Roman Curia, to be sure — but he was also a highly influential missionary to Africa due to his prolific work in the Holy Ghost Fathers. He had brother bishops in Rome going back to pre-conciliar times, and they would have been at least somewhat sympathetic to him, even if they disagreed with his cause.

“In 2026, this is no longer the case. A generation of SSPX priests and bishops has now run its course in relative isolation from the conciliar structures. Those types of personal relationships are long gone.

“Sure, its possible that Bishop Fellay made some friends during his negotiations in the 2010s...but I think it's safe to say that SSPX sympathizers in Rome are few and far between these days.

“2. Benedict XVI wasn't exactly a traditionalist, but his attempts at a hermeneutic of continuity betrayed his desire for some kind of post-conciliar course correction. Reconciliation with the SSPX was a big part of that, as evidenced by Summorum Pontificum and the lifting of the 1988 excommunications.

“But under Francis, the hermeneutic of continuity died — and the eulogy was Traditionis Custodes. And to make matters worse, the cardinals he appointed make a future Benedict XVII exceedingly unlikely.

“You'd assume that Francis was opposed to the very raison d'être of the SSPX, yet he granted them more privileges than anyone else. He was also kind enough to eliminate most of their competition by issuing Traditionis Custodes.

“Unfortunately, while the more skittish SSPX faithful might have enjoyed the comforts of those papal privileges, the doctrinal crisis reached a fever pitch under that pontificate — and the chief architect of those problems is the man now presented to the SSPX for negotiations. Not good.

“3. Whatever doctrinal problems existed in 1988 have only gotten worse since then — or, in the words of Father Pagliarani, "received, developed, and applied for sixty years by successive popes."

“In 1988, there was collegiality, ecumenism, religious liberty, and of course, the Novus Ordo Missae to deal with. The most scandalous event in recent memory was the Assisi meeting.

“A reconciliation in The Big '26 would mean resolving all those original issues, PLUS Traditionis Custodes, Mater Populi Fidelis, Fiducia Supplicans, Amoris Laetitia, the Abu Dhabi declaration...to say nothing of the many public scandals that have hardened so many hearts since 1988.

“4. The Ecclesia Dei groups are now well-established, along with plenty of diocesan TLMs that have escaped Traditionis Custodes unscathed.

“Of course, anyone who's been in traditionalist circles for a while knows that the Missal is just the tip of the iceberg. Still, the existence of "safe, legal, and rare" traditionalist ghettos does a lot to neuter the opposition: If you've got a comfortable longhouse where you can just pretend the Novus Ordo doesn't exist, why rock the boat? (You aren't a schismatic, are you?)

“All of that to say...even if the Vatican attempts a copy-paste on John Paul II's response to the consecrations of 1988, the experience on the ground will be very different this time.

“And whatever your take on the issue, prayer and pursuit of personal holiness is never a bad response.”

@CullumSmith

Cardinal Pizzaballa intervenes after Israeli authorities stop Marian festival in West Bank

 A Catholic Marian festival in the West Bank was able to proceed after Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa intervened with Israeli authorities amid mounting pressure on Christian communities.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads the Christmas Mass on the occasion of Christmas on December 24, 2025, in Bethlehem, West BankPhoto by Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Getty Images

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Gaetano Masciullo

June 1, 2026

TAYBEH, Palestine (LifeSiteNews) — A Marian festival in the Christian West Bank town of Taybeh proceeded after Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa intervened after an attempt by Israeli military personnel to halt preparations.

On May 29, Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, intervened with Israeli authorities after military personnel ordered organizers to stop preparations for a Catholic Marian festival in Taybeh, a Palestinian town in the West Bank that is widely regarded as the last entirely Christian locale in the territory. According to witnesses and representatives of the Vulnerable People Project (VPP), the intervention by the cardinal resulted in permission being granted for the celebration to continue as planned.

More: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-pizzaballa-intervenes-after-israeli-authorities-stop-marian-festival-in-west-bank/?utm_source=FB&fbclid=IwZnRzaASOOhpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEedTfSjtskRZrDJ54JQTQmSDCeUL8V6L92sSpx7mPBjxP_o7dTZH7rxk2Gevc_aem_DcfhPbH88k8jsYAceCsO0g

Morning meditation

Every morning Saint Francis de Sales recommends meditating on this:

God had no need for you, yet He made you.

He made you out of nothing.

He did not need you, and you do not add to Him

Yet out of nothing, He made you solely out of Love.

Consider also the times you’ve betrayed God, but specifically how He brought you back when you repented…

He had no need to bring you back, but He did.

Solely out of His immense love for you, and you in particular.

Remember that God loves you.

- @BeSaintly

Lift High the Cross

 

June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 

BISHOP VARDEN ON HOPE, AI, PATIENCE — AND NOT WEAPONIZING CHRISTIANITY

 written by  Gina Christian 6:00 AM May 11, 2026

Pope Leo XIV poses with Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim during the Roman Curia's annual Lenten retreat in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican Feb. 22, 2026. The Norwegian bishop was chosen by Pope Leo to preach at the Lenten retreat, which ran from Feb. 22 to 27, and reflected on the theme, "Illuminated by a Hidden Glory." (OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media)

Editor’s note: You can also listen to Gina Christian’s interview with Bishop Varden here at the OSV Newscast.

BALTIMORE (OSV News) — During his May 7 visit to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway, a member of the Trappist monastic order, sat down with OSV News to share his insights on Christian hope, the dangers of AI and weaponizing the Christian faith, and the need for patience in the spiritual life.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

OSV News: You provided the reflections for the Lenten Spiritual Exercises in the Vatican for Pope Leo XIV and others, and in your final reflection, you focused on the theme of communicating hope. In the U.S. there’s been a real interest in Nordic noir films and books — often bleak and morally ambiguous — and a perception that Nordic culture is broadly the same. Do you find any irony in a Nordic bishop focusing on hope?

Bishop Varden:  Well, your question makes me smile, because I’ve lived in a number of different countries, mainly in Europe, and I find that the more you move south in Europe, the more people have extravagant notions of the North, and the more they assume that it is an area of the world plunged in perpetual darkness, where everyone is given to drink and excess, and where everyone is on antidepressants, and where people keep killing themselves with axes.

‘It isn’t really quite like that’

And it isn’t really quite like that. I think this idea of the long Norwegian winter powerfully impacts the imagination. But what most people don’t realize is the extreme luminosity of a Norwegian summer, and that exposure to light without any trace of darkness. That is intrinsic to our way of just living the cycles of the year.

The phenomenon of Nordic noir is interesting. But I suspect that it is a genre that has arisen precisely because a few cunning authors have noticed that it corresponds to what people expect. And so they feed the stereotype because it sells, and because people find it entertaining in a slightly perverse sort of way.

But when you look at our own literature, poetry and music, it is to such an overwhelming extent a celebration of light and of the spring. The amount of Norwegian poetry and music dedicated to spring, to the melting of the ice and the appearance of the first flowers, is fascinating.

By all means, I’m not trying for a moment to deny that the Vikings weren’t brutal — but that wasn’t all they were about. I think that there is a constructed Nordic identity that spans centuries.

Lenten reflection about hope

OSV News: In your Lenten reflection about hope, you noted the modern tendency to either attach ourselves to our wounds or to airbrush them altogether. How do we avoid either extreme?

Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim leads the Roman Curia’s annual Lenten retreat in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican Feb. 22, 2026. The Norwegian bishop was chosen by Pope Leo XIV to preach at the Feb22-27 Lenten retreat, reflecting on the theme, “Illuminated by a Hidden Glory.” (OSV News photo/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media)

More: https://x.com/theanchoress/status/2054195070581010905?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

Saint Kevin of Glendalough, pray for us!

 

Saint Kevin and the blackbird, 10th century 

Monsignor Bux: ‘The crisis of the liturgy is the crisis of the Church’

 

Niwa Limbu

May. 7, 2026

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Monsignor Nicola Bux speaks to AdVaticanum about the SSPX, Traditionis Custodes, the “reform of the reform”, women’s ordination, Anglicanism and what he describes as the Church’s liturgical and doctrinal crisis under the post-conciliar era

Monsignor Nicholas Bux is a priest and theologian whose work has spanned academia, pastoral ministry and service to the Roman Curia. Born in Bari, southern Italy, in 1947 into a modest family, he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University before being ordained in 1975 by Archbishop Anastasio Ballestrero, the Discalced Carmelite archbishop later known for overseeing the first modern scientific examination of the Shroud of Turin in 1978.

A specialist in Eastern liturgy and sacramental theology, he obtained a doctorate at the Pontifical Oriental Institute and went on to teach in his native Bari, Jerusalem and Rome. His service to the Holy See began under Pope John Paul II, who appointed him a consultant to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A collaborator of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, he contributed to synodal preparations and Eucharistic texts, and later served during Benedict XVI’s pontificate in roles connected to synodal assemblies and papal liturgies.

AV: Monsignor Bux, since leaving Rome and your responsibilities in the Roman Curia, what have you been doing? How have you been spending your time? Are there any particular projects, writings or pastoral activities you are currently working on? How did your work and apostolate develop following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, particularly during the pontificate of Pope Francis?

Monsignor Nicholas Bux: After concluding my collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff upon Benedict XVI’s resignation, I continued working until 2019 with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and until 2021 with the Congregation for Divine Worship. Having reached the age limit for teaching theology in a faculty, I have continued giving conferences in Italy and abroad, and publishing on topics related to Eastern liturgy, ecclesiology and ecumenism.

During the pontificate of Pope Francis, in which the Magisterium experienced a serious crisis, I devoted myself to explaining the reasons why one must remain in the Church, resisting despotic forms and avoiding the mistake of placing oneself outside it. By dying within the Church – like the grain of wheat that falls to the earth – one contributes to overcoming the crisis and renewing it. Together with theologian friends, we promoted the Scuola Ecclesia Mater, an Italian network of clerics and laity, with study sessions and spiritual exercises.

Along with Cardinals Caffarra, Brandmüller, Burke and Sarah, we continue to advance the idea and practice of the “reform of the reform” of the liturgy and the Church according to the thought of Pope Benedict, as well as the international Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage at the end of October in Rome.

I can say, in light of the Pope’s latest address to the French bishops, that we were right.

AV: Looking back on the years spent in the Curia, particularly your service at the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, what were the most significant challenges or moments you faced?

NB: In 2009, after a plenary meeting of the Congregation that had decided to propose to the Pope the inclusion in the Missal of certain rites from the Vetus Ordo Missae – for example, the Offertory, to be used ad libitum – the news was leaked by someone, and an alarm was sounded by those who feared an attack on the post-conciliar liturgical reform, so everything was stopped.

Another issue we began to address was that of mega-concelebrations. The rite of concelebration promulgated by Paul VI in 1965 prescribed no more than 50 concelebrants so that they could “stand around the altar”, even if not all could immediately touch the altar table and pronounce the words of consecration over the bread and wine. These are the intention and external action required for a true concelebration and simultaneous consecration. Otherwise, saying “This is my body … this is the chalice …” does not correspond – to use the liturgists’ terms – to the truth of the sign, because one should say “That is my body …”

These are the conditions for the validity of a concelebrated Mass, so that it is sacramental and not merely a ceremony, as Pius XII affirmed. The limit set by Paul VI has disappeared in the current Missal, so doubts arise about the validity of the celebration when the number of concelebrants overflows the presbyteral area or when it takes place outdoors in enormous spaces, where non-liturgical equipment of the concelebrants is added – hats, sunglasses, water bottles and cameras.

More: https://x.com/realadvaticanum/status/2052321082980680092?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w