Busting the myth of a “parallel Church” with the traditional rite of Mass

Towards a "normalization" of the Tridentine Mass?

 Those Catholics who pray in both Latin and French

La Croix

Matthieu Lasserre & Eve Guyot

December 14, 2025

 While Gregorian chants still resonate inside Saint George's, in Old Lyon, several fathers are already on the church square, letting their children get some fresh air. Among them is Grégoire, 31 years old. This Lyon native began attending the parish five years ago to follow his wife, a devotee of the Latin Mass. Full of preconceived notions about "this world of traditional Catholics," he now alternates between the ordinary rite without any problem: "First, there's the place of silence, which fosters my contemplation, and, more strangely, the power of Latin."

 The language, which had distanced him from religion during his time at a traditionalist school in his adolescence, ultimately reconnected him to his faith. "As an adopted child, I was also very afraid of not belonging here, but I was completely wrong," he insists, explaining that he has found "true diversity" there.

As the Mass draws to a close, the profile of the parishioners emerges at the door: numerous families with young children, a handful of elderly people, a few foreigners passing through the city. But also, and above all, young adults. "More and more of them are coming here, but without preventing themselves from attending Mass elsewhere and in other ways," observes Father Mathieu Grenier, chaplain of Saint-Georges.

A youth of both rites

The priest's observations extend beyond the capital of Gaul. According to a Bayard-La Croix study conducted by Ifop, 9% of regular churchgoers say that the Latin Mass is their preferred Mass, and 25% indicate that they like "the Latin Mass as much as the Mass in French." In total, 67% of Catholics who attend Mass every week state that they have at least no objection to the Tridentine Rite.

Thus, in recent years, a generation of "bi-ritualists" has emerged, Catholics who appreciate both missals, far removed from the historical divisions between traditionalists and those who follow the Second Vatican Council. The record attendance at the Chartres pilgrimage at Pentecost attests to this trend: the gathering now attracts people far beyond the "traditionalist" sphere.

La Croix wanted to understand this phenomenon: how can the two rites be complementary and nourish the faith of both groups? And above all, who are these Catholics capable of alternating between the liturgies, from one day or week to the next? Most of the faithful interviewed are young adults, under 35 years old, living mostly in large cities – where the availability of Masses offers them a choice. Rejecting labels of affiliation, they do not recognize themselves in the danger of a "parallel Church" that Pope Francis invoked in 2021 to restrict the celebration of the Mass in use before the Second Vatican Council.

More: https://x.com/roratecaeli/status/2000691245241213335?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

If I have not charity, “I am nothing”.

Lesson from the first letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

1 Cor 13:1-3
1 If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Trump administration restores Title X funding to Planned Parenthood

Tens of millions of dollars of funding have been restored for Planned Parenthood’s birth control and other non-abortion services.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters building in Washington, D.C. | Credit: ajay_suresh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia

By Katie Quinones - EWTN

More: https://x.com/edwardpentin/status/2011912134838665273?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

When the Vicar of Christ Joins the Media Scrum

COMMENTARY: What are the advantages, perils and unwanted consequences of Pope Leo XIV’s Tuesday evening ‘doorstep’ exchanges with the press at Castel Gandolfo?

Pope Leo XIV speaks to reporters after a daylong stay at the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo on Nov. 25, 2025. (photo: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA / EWTN News)

Edward Pentin CommentariesDecember 16, 2025

It has become a new papal convention.

Every Tuesday evening, as Pope Leo XIV departs for the Vatican after his now routine day of rest at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo just outside Rome, he will stop and chat with the press. 

Reporters ask the Holy Father questions relating to whatever is in the news, usually to do with world politics or the Catholic Church, and the Pope spontaneously responds with unrehearsed answers. The format resembles a “doorstep scrum” or “press gaggle,” which is common for politicians or celebrities when engaging with the media. 

For a pope, however, this is a first. No supreme pontiff, not even Pope Francis, who liked to be interviewed as pope, has stopped to speak to the press in such an ad hoc way. In-flight papal press conferences, begun by Pope St. John Paul II, are similar but they are infrequent and more controlled. 

Pope Leo’s own motives for taking this media approach remain unclear. He first started the practice in June when journalist Ignazio Ingrao from Italy’s state broadcaster RAI collared the Holy Father as he left Vatican Radio territory near Rome. 

The Holy Father seemed comfortable answering Ingrao’s questions, especially as they were on topics that interest him: sustainability, the environment and threats to world peace. But the exchange was striking in that, for the first time outside of a papal trip, it removed a certain recognized distance the pope naturally enjoys as the Vicar of Christ.

Some like the down-to-earth, spontaneous and folksy appearance of these exchanges; others say these informal encounters risk blurring the distinction between the Petrine office and a political celebrity, even while offering pastoral and PR advantages.

Running in their favor is that they can help the Pope look less distant, accessible, more human and answerable to the faithful in this democratic, accountability-demanding, 24/7 news cycle age. They serve the insatiable contemporary demand for transparency in all things, which has become especially acute at the Vatican following the scandals of clerical sex abuse, financial malpractice and poor governance. 

The inherent frankness of the exchanges can help the faithful become better acquainted with Leo who is still unknown to many and somewhat enigmatic. The Holy Father can also make use of this opportunity to teach, reach more people who might not otherwise see his other pre-written messages, and apply his teaching to burning issues of the day. 

Yet the very qualities that commend this practice also generate new risks. Since the Pope began giving these Castel Gandolfo “doorstep” interviews in early September, the media has drawn him into spontaneously commenting on specific policy matters and domestic issues, leading to a fair amount of unwanted and, some would argue, avoidable controversy.

More: https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/pope-leo-presser-castel-gandalfo-media-scrum

When legacy media buries the race of a murderer

The likelihood of legacy media discussing a murderer’s race depends on the murderer’s race.

This is why BLM martyrs like George Floyd get endless coverage while cases like Iryna Zarutska are forgotten.

The bias is clear:

Source: @TheRabbitHole on Twitter/X

The panicked effort to force the only liturgy that was never accepted by the whole Church

From @DrKwasnieski on Twitter/X:

Diane Montagna has obtained the secret letter that Cardinal Roche had distributed to all the cardinals before they departed. Liturgy may have been taken off the consistory's agenda—but it wasn't taken off of *his* agenda, and he made sure they received the right advice.

The sheer breathtaking stupidity of these two pages should be held up as a model of all that is wrong in the heads of these people. A bunch of tired long-exploded claims mashed up with a generous sprinkling of equal signs (Vatican II = liturgical reform = Holy Spirit) and several outright lies.

My favorite mendacity is his statement that "The use of liturgical books that the Council sought to reform was, from St. John Paul II to Francis, a concession that in no way envisaged their promotion." 

1. First, as you'd think the Prefect for the DDW should know, it was  Paul VI who first allowed the use of the "unreformed" books, not John Paul II. 

2. More to the point, the Vatican over the years approved many religious orders, communities, and houses that make exclusive use of the old liturgical books, and these groups have established a growing number of parishes with growing numbers of faithful. All along, this was understood and accepted. How exactly is that "not envisaging their promotion"? 

3. Finally, Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum EXPRESSLY makes room for the return and spread of the old rite, precisely because it has been found to be fruitful, especially among youths: "Immediately after the Second Vatican Council it was presumed that requests for the use of the 1962 Missal would be limited to the older generation which had grown up with it, but in the meantime it has clearly been demonstrated that young persons too have discovered this liturgical form, felt its attraction and found in it a form of encounter with the Mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist, particularly suited to them." (Letter of Benedict XVI to All Bishops, July 7, 2007)

If I were one of his fellow cardinals, I'd say to him: "Arthur, resign from your office. You have neither the intelligence nor the goodwill to run it without endangering your soul by your ignorant and malevolent scheming.”

Source: https://x.com/drkwasniewski/status/2011115105073705131?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

How to speak about the dangers of Islam

Know how to speak about the danger of Islam.  Here are a few helpful hints....

1) The stated objective of Islam is to wage war against non-muslims to establish a Global Islamic State (caliphate) under "allah's divine law"/sharia.

2) All authoritatively published sharia mandates that all non-muslims must convert to Islam or be killed.  Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians must convert to Islam, pay the non-muslim poll tax and submit to sharia, or be killed.

3) When someone tells you Al Qaeda or ISIS or the Muslim Brotherhood or Hizbollah or Iran are "radicals" ask them where is that "other version" of Islam they are talking about taught.  Ask them to name one book of Islamic Law/sharia or one text book used in America to teach muslim children about Islam which does not state the purpose of Islam is to impose sharia on the earth. They can't name one because it doesn't exist.

4) The Islamophobia campaign is used to silence all truthful discussion about Islam by imposing the Islamic Law of Slander on non-muslims.  In sharia "Slander" is defined as saying anything about Islam "a muslim would dislike" and its a capital crime.  Therefore, to be called an "Islamophobe" is to be threatened with death by muslims.  Speak truth about Islam using sharia and don't back down.

5) The "moderate muslims" like Raheel Raza, Qanta Ahmed, Zuhdi Jasser and the rest of them serve a specific purpose in the Islamic Movement.  They tell us there is a difference between Islam & Islamism, Sharia & Sharia Law, etc.  They exist to perpetuate the myth there are competing versions of Islam which is an outright lie.  And all 3 of the "moderate muslims" listed above are propelled by conservatives (do your homework and you'll see who). 

6) Stop quoting the Quran & Hadith to people because muslims are not obliged to impose the Quran or Hadith on the earth, they are obliged to wage war until the SHARIA is imposed on the earth.  Sharia is easy to understand and all of the questions have been answered.  There is NO DISAGREEMENT in sharia when it comes to the non-muslim population.  Muslims must wage war against non-muslims to establish a global Islamic State under sharia.

7) Focus on the life of Mohammed.  In Islam Mohammed is the perfect man for all muslims for all time.  Authoritative sharia reveals Mohammed:  commanded muslims to wage war against non-muslims until they "testify there is no god but allah"; tortured people; killed (beheaded) up to 900 Jews after the Battle of the Trench; married a 6 year old girl & consummated the marriage when she was 9.  This is the example muslims follow which is why there is no place for them in civilized society and why civilized societies across the world are being overrun by these barbarians.

For more info go to JohnGuandolo.com