Facing God, Rooted in Christ: On Tradition and Orthodoxy

 By Archbishop Héctor Aguer

 Emeritus of La Plata, Argentina Buenos Aires, Monday, July 13, 2026

The always remembered Pope Benedict XVI — whom it is quite possible will one day be declared a Doctor of the Church — sought, through his Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 7, 2007, on the two uses of the one Roman Rite in its ordinary and extraordinary forms, to liberalize the celebration of the Mass commonly called "traditional," "Tridentine," "of Saint Pius V," or "the Mass of all time." He did so with the aim of contributing to liturgical peace and out of the respect owed to an ancient and venerable usage. In this way, any priest could celebrate the "Latin Mass" without need of special permissions and without risk of ideologically motivated reprisals from certain bishops.

In the letter to the world's bishops that accompanied the Motu Proprio, the Pontiff emphasized that what was sacred for previous generations remains sacred and great for us as well, and cannot suddenly be entirely forbidden or even deemed harmful. God alone knows how much the German Pope suffered when, fourteen years later, on July 16, 2021, his successor in the pontificate revoked that legislation with a stroke of the pen and imposed draconian restrictions on the Vetus Ordo. Something of that suffering has been revealed in recent days by the one who was his faithful personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

Traditionis Custodes, issued five years ago, far from closing wounds, only deepened them. And contrary to what its promoter sought, it contributed to a growing interest in Tradition and Orthodoxy — especially among the young. Today, a good portion of conversions occur among those who prefer the ancient use. And the transmission of the faith, to a significant degree, is no longer passed from parents to children but from young people to young people. I recall here what I have said on so many occasions: I was ordained a priest in 1972 according to the Novus Ordo, and I have never celebrated in the extraordinary form.

The Mystery, without question, continues to captivate hearts. And before a world of liquid relationships, drowning in emptiness and dehumanization — a world that arrogantly claims to live in post-truth, post-humanism, and post-Christianity — Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jn 14:6), reasserts all his rights. He shows that through him, facing the Father, in the Holy Spirit, human existence finds its full meaning, in view of the better Future that awaits. The Pauline exhortation to the Colossians thus resonates with renewed vigor: Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith (Col 2:7). It is a matter, then, of not allowing oneself to be enslaved by the emptiness of a deceptive philosophy inspired by purely human traditions and the elements of the world rather than by Christ (cf. Col 2:8).

It is not, therefore, persecution or the extreme measures of progressivism that will be able to stop this growing movement — which, as we have seen, goes far beyond mere fashion. For the fashion over the past sixty years has been to make of the Novus Ordo — even contrary to what Sacrosanctum Concilium mandated — an anything-goes vehicle of liturgical devastation.

More: https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2026/07/facing-god-rooted-in-christ-latin-mass.html

Cardinal Burke: ‘Synodality Has to Be Stopped’

 The US cardinal questions its theological basis, criticizes controlled ‘synodal’ procedures at the latest consistory, and urges a serious study of its impact on the Church.

CARDINALS IN THE NEWS

JUL 15, 2026

VATICAN CITY, 15 July 2026 — Cardinal Raymond Burke has raised serious concerns about the use of “synodality” in a recent consistory of cardinals, warning that the current methodology risks undermining open debate within the Sacred College and obscuring critical issues facing the Church.

Speaking to The College of Cardinals Reporton June 28, following the June 26–27 consistory convened by Pope Leo, Cardinal Burke welcomed the renewed gathering of cardinals, something he noted had not occurred for many years under Pope Francis, and described the opportunity for greater fraternal exchange as a “very great fruit.”

But he also expressed concern that the structure of the meeting limited meaningful discussion as it had adopted a format modeled on “synodal” processes, with cardinals divided into small groups and guided by preset questions.

He argued that this approach prevented in-depth engagement and reduced feedback to consensus-based summaries, potentially excluding dissenting but important viewpoints from reaching the Pope.

“The reports are only reports of what every cardinal agreed upon,” Cardinal Burke said, adding that perspectives not shared by a majority may be omitted despite their significance.

He described a final session conducted in the traditional open-debate format as the most productive part of the gathering, although limited by time. The free discussion, in the presence of the Pope, was how past consistories of cardinals were undertaken.

Overall, he said the consistory was a “very controlled” process, including the apparent pre-selection of discussion leaders and limited opportunities for free intervention. In his view, this risked diminishing the role of cardinals as advisors to the Pope.

Turning to the growing use of “synodality” in the Church, Cardinal Burke firmly questioned its theological and historical grounding, describing it as a concept without clear definition or precedent in Church tradition. While synods have long existed as occasional consultative gatherings, he emphasized that they are not constitutive elements of the Church’s nature.

“There is no definition of synodality, there’s no history of it in the Church,” he said, expressing concern at the merging of established structures, such as consistories, with what he regards as an undefined concept.

Citing St. Paul’s teaching on the transmission of the faith — “I hand on to you what I first received” — Burke argued that continuity is essential and absent from current formulations of synodality.

“So we have to insist that this whole synodality business stop, and there be a very serious study done of the whole matter, because we’re talking about the very life of the Church, and we’re talking about the salvation of souls,” he said.

The cardinal also cautioned against reshaping established ecclesial structures around what he characterized as a contemporary and insufficiently examined idea. “The Church does not have paradigm shifts,” he said, rejecting language used in synodal and other discussions that suggested a radical change in direction for the Church’s teaching or mission.

The cardinal also warned that an excessive focus on contemporary concerns risks conforming the Church to secular ways of thinking, rather than addressing the modern world from within her own doctrinal and historical continuity.

“I’m confident our Lord will protect the Church,” he said, “but we have to do our part to say, ‘No, this concept of synodality, while it may have a good motive in the sense of wanting to address the faith of the contemporary time, is fundamentally flawed.”

More: https://x.com/edwardpentin/status/2077489570065899776?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

Pray for France and Spain on fire

FLASH INFO** — A crucifix remained standing after the violent fires that ravaged Gironde and Landes.

Source: @lechochretien, Twitter 

 

The image of Christ on Fr Hamel’s blood-stained stole

The blood-stained stole worn by Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel on 26 July, 10 years ago, when he was murdered by Islamist terrorists during Mass in France, is displayed at the same church where he was killed.

Can you see the image of our Lord left on this stole by the blood of a priest-martyr who lived as an alter Christus, was killed in His Name and thus conformed forever to His saving death on the Cross?

Cardinal Burke: Traditionis Custodes a “persecution” of Catholics

The cardinal, who was speaking to The College of Cardinals Report just ahead of the illicit consecrations of four bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, also highlighted the absence of discussion on that issue, one he views as a serious schismatic act, and other pressing matters, including the status of the Traditional Latin Mass.

He criticized restrictions imposed by Traditionis Custodes, describing them as a “persecution” of those who are spiritually nourished by worship according to the More Ancient Usage (Usus Antiquior) of the Roman Rite. “There can be no question in anybody’s mind, and Pope Benedict XVI made it so clear: [the vetus ordo] is an eternal good in the Church,” he said, and suggested that Pope Leo could revisit or modify the legislation, noting that papal documents can be revised by successors.

“It is a form of the Roman rite that was celebrated for more than fifteen centuries,” he stressed. “It’s simply so beautiful and the faithful have been nourished spiritually by this form of the Latin rite. This should be allowed freely.”

“It’s been a great enrichment to me as a priest and bishop,” he said. “The greater part of the faithful are just devout Catholics who are trying to live their faith at as intense a level as possible and hand it on. One of the marks of the traditional Latin Mass community is that there are many children, and the parents are very concerned to hand on to their children the Catholic faith.”

As a potential remedy, he called for the establishment of a dedicated Vatican body to support Catholics attached to the older form of the Roman Rite. “We need a dicastery,” he said, so that Catholics who desire to worship according to the extraordinary form “can receive all the sacraments” according to prior liturgical forms.

More: https://x.com/jhwesten/status/2077490670663540933?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

RIP Pere Hacques Hamel, Marytr

It was ten years ago, and the pain remains intact.

On July 26, 2016, Father Jacques Hamel was murdered as he celebrated Mass in his church in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a victim of Islamist barbarity.

Today, we honor the memory of this man of goodness. We think of his loved ones and all those whom this attack has wounded forever.

In the face of barbarity, we will yield nothing. France will always stand united, determined to protect and eradicate this scourge.

@Gabriel Attal

The blood-stained alb of Catholic priest Father Jacques Hamel is being displayed at Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray church, the place where he was murdered on this day in 2016 by Islamic State terrorists while celebrating Holy Mass.

Image: Pierre Amar

@Sachenittiyil

Cardinal Burke says Latin Mass is ‘intimately linked to the very identity’ of Catholic Church

Cardinal Burke said that the Traditional Latin Mass is ‘missionary’ and attracts young people through its sense of the sacred and transcendent.

Pilgrimage on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Summorum Pontificum, Pontifical Mass in Vetus Ordo Mass in Latin, Holy Mass at the Saint Peter's ChairShutterstock

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Patrick Delaney

LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Raymond Burke has again strongly defended the traditional Latin Mass, recently calling it “an invaluable treasure of the Church that must be preserved and cherished, for it is intimately linked to the very identity of the Roman Catholic Church.”

The American cardinal made the remarks in an interview with Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, the organizers of the annual Chartres pilgrimage, during this year’s Pentecost weekend event in late May, though it was only released on July 14. The pilgrimage drew a record 20,000 participants, with an average age of 22, despite the intense heat and ongoing restrictions on the ancient rite in many dioceses.

Speaking on the theme of mission, Cardinal Burke emphasized that the liturgy celebrated according to the older use (usus antiquior) of the Roman Rite is itself missionary. “It is evident that this liturgy is missionary,” he said. “This is seen by its fruits now as in centuries past, for it attracts through its sense of the sacred and of the transcendent. This is particularly evident with the younger generation, which has a deep thirst for the spiritual in an increasingly horizontal world.”

The cardinal also addressed concerns about the compatibility of devotion to the traditional liturgy with the Second Vatican Council. He rejected any suggestion that Catholics who attend the Mass according to the 1962 liturgical rites are somehow less than fully Catholic or opposed to the Council. “It is obviously possible to be fully Catholic while experiencing the sacraments according to the Books of 1962,” he stated. “It is absolutely unacceptable to claim the contrary.”

He pointed out that the 1962 liturgical rites were the very ones used by all the Council Fathers during the Second Vatican Council itself. Any claim that fidelity to these books requires rejecting the Council or the validity of later forms of the sacraments is, according to his teaching, historically and theologically unfounded.

More: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/cardinal-burke-says-latin-mass-is-intimately-linked-to-the-very-identity-of-catholic-church/