Paix liturgique

In his response of February 18 to Cardinal Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Father Davide Pagliarani, Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X, told him: “As a cardinal and bishop, you are above all a pastor: allow me to address you in this capacity. The Society is an objective reality: it exists. That is why, over the years, the Sovereign Pontiffs have taken note of this existence and, through concrete and significant acts, have recognised the value of the good it can accomplish, despite its canonical situation. That is also why we are speaking today. This same Society asks you only to be allowed to continue to do this same good for the souls to whom it administers the holy Sacraments.”

This is precisely what might say to the Roman authorities all diocesan priests, religious, ex-Ecclesia Dei, parishes, communities, chapels, schools, movements, and organizations worldwide committed to the traditional liturgy. The traditional world is an objective reality: it exists. And it bears missionary and vocational fruits in terms of priests and religious. And nuns! In fact, within the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and the former Ecclesia Dei groups, there are around twenty female religious congregations, despite what they are experiencing everywhere else, catastrophic decline or disappearance.

This entire traditional movement represents, in fact, the youngest segment of the Church in the West. The St. Pius V universe is a community of practicing families (Sunday attendance, unlike that of ordinary parishioners, is regular and constant), often large families, who form a dynamic environment in terms of their activities, especially regarding the founding and operation of independent schools, which require a very significant and militant commitment and considerable financial sacrifices. These independent schools, in harmony with a supportive family environment, complemented by various youth movements and spiritual activities (Scouting, MJCF, Rassemblement des Jeunes Catholiques, Domus Christiani, spiritual retreats, pilgrimages), are their main source of vocations, just as the religious schools of the past were. All things being equal—and they considerably more effective in the context of Saint Pius V—the independent schools play a role similar to that of Scouting (Scouts of Europe and Scouts Unitaires de France) in the context of Paul VI.

And while the traditional resistance to liturgical innovations dates back more than fifty years, the new generation of priests and parishioners is making its mark by embracing social media as a platform for information, explanation, and evangelization.

Traditional pilgrimages, first and foremost the Pilgrimage of Christendom to Chartres, but also all the national and regional pilgrimages that keep multiplying themselves (Nosto Fe to Saint-Maximin, Feiz e Breizh to Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, Arresbatir to Lourdes, Our Lady of Christendom to Covadonga in Spain, to Our Lady of Luján in Argentina, the SSPX pilgrimage to Lourdes, etc.), and the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage to Rome, are a pious and remarkable testimony of the vitality and appeal of the traditional liturgy. "The traditional liturgy is a contagious disease," commented one bishop halfway between annoyance and appreciation.

This traditional world, with all its diverse tendencies, asks for nothing else than to continue to live and grow. There is something strange, something that cannot come from God, in the determination of churchmen that, in an extremely secularized world, are so keen to eliminate, or at least obstruct as much as possible, this spiritual good. “It seems to me,” Father Pagliarani wrote to Cardinal Fernández, “the only point on which we can agree is that of charity toward souls and toward the Church.” But in the name of what might authentic pastors, who would normally be concerned with the salvation of souls and not with ideology, wish to prevent the entire traditional world from living and developing?

“We can agree on one point,” Davide Pagliarani continued: “neither of us wishes to reopen wounds […] I only emphasise that, in the present situation, the only truly viable path is that of charity.” How many times, indeed, must we repeat that we only desire liturgical peace?

And in any case, the prohibitions, the permits granted with restraint, the various forms of harassment, the suppression of overly visible and flourishing places of worship, the suspension of traditional confirmations, the dismissal of priests from ex-ED communities, the removal from service of traditional diocesan priests, the blocking of traditional ordinations, the prohibition of baptisms and marriages in the traditional rite, the furious maneuvers of Bishop X and Bishop Z against ex-ED communities, all this will change nothing; on the contrary, this reality will not disappear. It will continue to exist and will even grow. Traditionis Custodes was intended to close a parenthesis; but in the end, Traditionis Custodes will have been nothing more than a parenthesis.

Meanwhile, our Parisian sentinels, tireless in prayer in the streets of the capital, are a good illustration of the words of Jesus in Luke 11:11: “which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?” They keep praying their rosaries relentlessly, 10 rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, Monday to Friday, from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m., at Saint-Georges de La Villette, 114 avenue Simon Bolivar, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 5:00 p.m., in front of Notre-Dame du Travail, on Sundays at 6:15 p.m.