ANALYSIS
Niwa Limbu
The Benedictine Bishop Marian Eleganti, former Abbot of St Otmarsberg Abbey and auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Chur until 2021, is well known for his defence of the truth and beauty of Catholicism in the face of an increasingly hostile West.
A principled churchman, he has often paid the price for adhering to his conscience, stepping down as the Swiss bishops’ youth bishop in 2018 due to disagreements with other bishops at the 2018 Youth Synod and offering his resignation in 2021 at the age of 65, a full ten years before the mandatory retirement age for bishops.
In this interview, he sits down with AdVaticanum to reflect on his years of priestly ministry and to offer his erudite analysis of the challenges facing the Church in the twenty-first century. He addresses Islam, the Society of St Pius X, the liturgy and the fallout of the Second Vatican Council with the characteristic clarity that has made him a much respected voice within the Church.
AV: Your Excellency, you were born in 1955 and have recounted serving as an enthusiastic altar boy in the traditional rite in your childhood before being retrained for the Novus Ordo. You have described the post-conciliar liturgical intervention as “a rather violent, provisional reconstruction of the Holy Mass… associated with great losses that need to be addressed”, noting differences especially in the prayers, postures, and ad orientem orientation. Young Catholics today, who often know little about the texts of Vatican II, are increasingly drawn to the Tridentine rite for its beauty and transcendence. In your view, what specific elements of the ancient liturgy address the spiritual hunger of this generation, and how would you respond to claims that restricting the Traditional Latin Mass is necessary for ecclesial unity?
+ME: I believe that the appeal of the Old Liturgy for young people lies primarily in several key aspects. Firstly, its focus, and the centrality, on God or Christ, rather than on the community. The general orientation of everyone (the congregation and the priest) is towards Him. Another is the palpable reverence associated with the encounter with the transcendent God or the present Christ. There is also the stillness and silence, reminiscent of the worship of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation. I believe people are also drawn to the solemnity and dignity of the vestments, liturgical objects, and the altar, as well as the overall design of the sanctuary. Finally, Gregorian chant, which has been a trend for some time, even in secular circles.
Reverence, faith, prayer, love, and inner devotion or participation have their roots in the heart. They can be found just as easily in the Novus Ordo. I am the same person in any rite. How I stand before God and celebrate Him is decided within me. It is not the form that makes me devout. Devotion is either present or it is not, regardless of the form. The inner self then also takes on the proper mode of expression; it does not work the other way around.
I kneel because I am devout; I am not devout because I kneel. If a form becomes associated with false thinking, it can become a divisive force and a question of “to be or not to be”, which a rite never is. Every form has advantages and disadvantages, and the wise person distinguishes without doing wrong. Why did Jesus call the outwardly righteous Pharisees whitewashed tombs? The discrepancy between what is inside and what is outside can be very great, whatever form it takes.
More: https://x.com/realadvaticanum/status/2049799033745502325?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte refuses communion to family at altar rail
Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte has refused Holy Communion to a Catholic family who approached the altar rail during a Confirmation Mass, in an AdVaticanum exclusive report.
The incident took place on April 29 at Our Lady of Grace parish in Greensboro, North Carolina. While the Confirmation ceremony took place as usual, during Communion only two or three families approached the altar rail to receive the Eucharist.
One father who brought his family said to AdVaticanum: “He was sitting in front of us when we went to the rail and he simply ignored us. All the priests turned their backs on us,” he said. “Everyone else communicated and we were denied. To be frank, it was very humiliating.”
The same witness said that while the wider congregation received Communion, those kneeling at the rail were passed over. Attempts were made to speak to Bishop Martin about incident after the Confirmation Mass, but he did not respond in detail.
The claim comes amid the current liturgical dispute in the Diocese of Charlotte. Bishop Martin has introduced norms governing the reception of Holy Communion, emphasising that the “normative posture” in the United States is to receive standing, following a bow of the head.
The controversy unfolds alongside involvement from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which has acknowledged receipt of a formal “hierarchical recourse” concerning Bishop Michael Martin’s handling of liturgical matters in the Diocese of Charlotte.
In a letter dated February 16 and signed by Fr Pierre Paul, the dicastery confirmed that the case had been registered under protocol number 369/25 and would be examined in accordance with canonical procedures.
The acknowledgement signifies that the Holy See has formally taken cognisance of the complaint, although such steps are procedural and do not in themselves indicate that any corrective action will follow.
More: https://x.com/pluant/status/2049526882995986628?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
From the age of 5, she desired to receive Communion, but there was no age for it yet. At 9, she entered the convent of the Dominicans, living solely to prepare for that moment.
On May 12, 1333, after Mass, a consecrated host appeared suspended above her head. Before the miracle, the priest gave her her First Communion.
Shortly afterward, Imelda was found dead, with a smile on her face. Her heart could not withstand the joy of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.
Beatified by Pope Leo XII, she is the patroness of children receiving their First Communion. Her incorrupt body remains in the Church of St. Sigismund, in Bologna.
@Pai_estovir
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On June 11, 2026, as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. bishops will consecrate the United States of America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Parishes around the country are encouraged to join the bishops in celebrating the consecration of our nation to the Sacred Heart.
For more on local celebrations of the consecration: https://www.usccb.org/local-celebrations-consecration-united-states-america-most-sacred-heart-jesus
For the second time …
AdVaticanum
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — While Pope Leo’s new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas,tackles transhumanism and new technologies, it also departs from theological Tradition on issues such as human dignity and the doctrine of just war.
On May 25, Pope Leo XIV published his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”) at 11 AM Italian time. In the lengthy document, the Pope argues that humanity today finds itself at a crossroads. We have a choice between building a new “Tower of Babel,” marked by self-sufficiency and the idolatry of profit, and rebuilding “Jerusalem,” a project of co-responsibility and communion under the gaze of God. However, the document presents problematic doctrinal elements, particularly the reaffirmation of the doctrine of infinite human dignity by Francis.
Despite its attention to Christ, the five-chapter encyclical is clearly oriented toward man and his dignity. In fact, by reaffirming Francis’ error of the infinite dignity of man, Leo XIV makes Christ and the human being — regardless of religion and state of grace — equivalent. In other words, Christ becomes the symbol of humanity:
The document explores the problem of artificial intelligence, but also addresses a wide range of anthropological, social, and political problems. The Pope identifies AI as an “accelerator” that places traditional social categories in crisis.
Magnifica Humanitas begins with a series of general principles from the Social Doctrine of the Church. Among these, in addition to the infinite dignity of man, are the notions of the common good and the universal destination of goods.
The first principle is the “State’s responsibility to ensure cohesion” among individuals and to “harmonize the different sectoral interests with the requirements of justice” so that society may have a “shared vision.”
The second is a guarantee to everyone of the use of natural resources and the products derived from them and also — in one of the document’s most innovative theses — “immaterial and cultural goods” such as patents, algorithms, digital platforms, technological infrastructures, and data. In other words, the encyclical suggests that all this should be state property, or at least strongly regulated by states. It should not be individual property in an absolute sense; Magnifica Humanitas assumes that public ownership of material goods guarantees a broader diffusion of the knowledge necessary for present-day development.
More: https://www.lifesitenews.com/analysis/breaking-leo-xivs-new-encyclical-makes-christ-equivalent-to-mere-human-beings/