Bishop Eleganti on the old rite, Islam and the future of the Church

Niwa Limbu

Apr. 30, 2026

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Bishop Marian Eleganti speaks to AdVaticanum on the appeal of the traditional liturgy, Islam and the Society of St Pius X. Eleganti addresses the fallout of the Second Vatican Council, the place of the old rite and the pertinent questions facing the Church in the West

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

Roman Dicastery Acknowledges Receipt of Formal Complaint In Regard to Bishop Martin

Bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte refuses communion to family at altar rail

AdVaticanum

Apr. 29, 2026

A Catholic family in North Carolina claims they were refused Holy Communion after approaching the altar rail during a Confirmation Mass, according to a report from the Diocese

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.

Photo taken from the confirmation Mass. Submitted anonymously.

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

In Memoriam

 

Beata Imelda: patroness of chijdren receding Holy Communion

Imelda Lambertini; the girl who died of love for the Eucharist.

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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US bishops to consecrate America to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

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

Pope Leo receives TLM Supporter Cardinal Simoni in private Vatican audience after Easter appearance

 For the second time …

AdVaticanum

Apr. 28, 2026

Pope Leo received Cardinal Ernest Simoni in a private Vatican audience on April 27, marking their second meeting since Easter Sunday. The Albanian cardinal, once sentenced to death under communism, presented a relic the Albanian martyrs.

The audience took place in the Hall of Popes and included around 40 members of the cardinal’s family. It marked the second notable encounter between the two men in recent weeks, following the Easter Sunday Urbi et Orbi blessing on April 5, when Cardinal Simoni stood alongside the cardinal protodeacon during the papal appearance from the central loggia of St Peter’s Basilica.

Speaking afterwards to Vatican Media, Cardinal Simoni described the meeting in direct and emphatic terms. “All joy, all hope,” he said, describing the atmosphere of the encounter. He added: “It was an atmosphere of all joy, all hope, gazing upon the face of the Holy Father, which represents the face of Jesus, to proclaim to all men the news of Heaven, of peace, of brotherhood and of love for all the peoples of the world.”

 “Let us proclaim together for all the peoples of the world the peace that comes from Heaven,” Cardinal Simoni said.

At the conclusion of the audience, Cardinal Simoni presented Pope Leo with a gift connected to the history of Catholic persecution in Albania. “Coming to Italy from Albania, my thoughts are with the martyrs,” he said, before offering “the cross and a relic of the Albanian martyrs who gave their lives for fidelity, for the love of Jesus, for the salvation of the Albanian people, to see all men smile upon Heaven”.

A priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodra-Pult, he marked the 70th anniversary of his ordination earlier this month, on April 7, a milestone reached after a lifetime marked by persecution under Albania’s communist regime.

Arrested on Christmas Eve 1963 for celebrating a Mass deemed illegal by the authorities, he was initially sentenced to death before the penalty was commuted to 25 years of forced labour.

Released in 1981, he remained under suspicion and was still regarded by the regime as an “enemy of the people” until the collapse of communism in 1990 allowed him to resume public ministry. His testimony later came to wider attention during the papal visit to Albania in 2014, when Pope Francis listened to his account and referred to him as a “living martyr”. Two years later, he was created a cardinal in recognition of that witness.

Despite his age, Cardinal Simoni has remained active in maintaining links with communities attached to the Traditional Latin Mass. He is a defender of the older liturgical form and has longstanding associations with traditionalist institutes, including regular visits to the International Seminary of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at Gricigliano, near Florence. He has been present there for major liturgical celebrations, including the Feast of St Joseph, and has spent periods such as Holy Week with the community in recent years.  

During a Pontifical Latin Mass for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage celebrated by Cardinal Raymond Burke in St Peter’s Basilica on October 25, 2025, Cardinal Simoni recited the prayer to St Michael the Archangel, describing it as a reminder that “the Devil exists, and the Church continues to fight”.

More: https://x.com/realadvaticanum/status/2049087212625461260?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w

Scripture for today: the Diotrephes problem

N.B. The malicious words and works of Diotroephes are seen today in calumniators who, in attacking others by name within the community, commit mortal sin.

 3 John 1:5-10

5 Dearly beloved, thou dost faithfully whatever thou dost for the brethren, and that for strangers,
6 Who have given testimony to thy charity in the sight of the church: whom thou shalt do well to bring forward on their way in a manner worthy of God.
7 Because, for his name they went out, taking nothing of the Gentiles.
8 We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow helpers of the truth.
9 I had written perhaps to the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-eminence among them, doth not receive us.
10 For this cause, if I come, I will advertise his works which he doth, with malicious words prating against us. And as if these things were not enough for him, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and them that do receive them he forbiddeth, and casteth out of the church.