A French bishop has ordained a priest using the pre-Vatican II Pontificale Romanum in a ceremony that has renewed unresolved tensions surrounding the implementation of Pope Francis’s restrictions on the traditional liturgy.

On Saturday January 17, Bishop Alain Castet, the 75-year-old emeritus bishop of Luçon, ordained Brother Thomas-Marie Warmuz to the priesthood at Chémeré-le-Roi in western France. The ordination took place within the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican-inspired clerical fraternity known for its exclusive use of traditional liturgical rites. During the same ceremony, Brother André-Marie Mwanza was ordained as a subdeacon.

The ordination was conducted according to the Pontificale Romanum in force before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments stated in December 2021 that bishops are not authorised to confer Holy Orders using the older pontifical. That clarification was issued in the form of Responsa ad dubia, responding to questions raised by Pope Francis’s motu proprio Traditionis custodes.

Traditionis custodes, promulgated in July 2021, declared that the liturgical books promulgated after the Council are the “unique expression” of the Roman Rite. It placed new restrictions on the celebration of the pre-conciliar liturgy, reversing the broader permissions granted under Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum. The Pope said the measure was necessary to protect ecclesial unity and to counter what he described as an ideological use of the older rites.

The December responsa went further by addressing sacramental questions, including ordinations. They stated that the use of the older Pontificale Romanumis not permitted, even in communities where the celebration of the traditional Mass has been authorised. Responsibility for enforcing these norms lies with the diocesan bishop, acting under the authority of the Holy See.

The ceremony at Chémeré-le-Roi therefore raises questions about how Traditionis custodes and its subsequent clarifications are being interpreted and applied in practice. Bishop Castet, who led the Diocese of Luçon from 2008 until his retirement in 2017, has not publicly commented on the decision to use the older pontifical.

More: https://x.com/catholicherald/status/2021562444380885039?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w