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Is there a secret plan to suppress the TLM — again? Skip to content Traditionalist Catholic websites and media began discussing last week what they describe as “persistent rumors” of a planned Vatican document, which is supposedly meant to suppress entirely the celebration of the extraordinary form of the liturgy, often called the “Traditional Latin Mass.” Credit: Thoom / Shutterstock. The current round of speculation began in earnest when Rorate Caeli, a traditionalist website, carried a post last week citing “the most credible sources” to say that a “Vatican document with a stringent, radical, and final solution banning the Traditional Latin Mass” exists and was being pushed for papal approval. The post did not include details about the alleged document’s provisions, who had drafted it, ...

The decision was announced by Mario Iceta, the archbishop of Burgos, who is also the pontifical commissioner and legal representative of the monasteries of Belorado, Orduña and Derio in Spain. The Catholic Church in Spain has decreed the excommunication and expulsion from consecrated life of the Poor Clare nuns of Belorado for committing the crime of schism. Canon 751 of the Code of Canon Law states that schism is “the refusal of submission to the supreme pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him.” The penalty for this crime is excommunication. In a June 22 press release, the Archdiocese of Burgos “has communicated the decree of declaration of excommunication and declaration of ‘ipso facto’ [immediate] expulsion from consecrated life of each and every one of the...

Last year, Pope Francis instructed Gänswein to return to Germany, leaving him without any official role in the Church. The 67-year-old has resided in his home region of the Archdiocese of Freiburg in southern Germany since July 2023, where he is an honorary canon in the Freiburg cathedral. Before his departure from the Eternal City, Gänswein spent many years in Rome. He served as Benedict XVI’s personal secretary from 2003 until the Bavarian pope’s death on Dec. 31, 2022. Benedict also appointed him to serve as the prefect of the papal household in 2012, a role he carried into the pontificate of Pope Francis and concluded in February 2023. Hailing from the Black Forest region of Germany, the son of a blacksmith was ordained a priest in 1984 by Archbishop Oskar Saier in Freiburg and holds a...

During his Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis calls on faithful amid all uncertainty and fear, to draw fearlessly toward Christ who will always calm the storm. By Deborah Castellano Lubov Even amid turmoil and distress, we are to abandon ourselves to the Lord, trusting in Him always… This was the comforting message Pope Francis offered to the faithful at his weekly Angelus address on Sunday. Speaking to the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square at midday, the Holy Father reflected on today’s Gospel reading according to St. Mark, which recounts the story of when Jesus and the disciples were in a boat on Lake Tiberias, and the disciples were terrified, as Jesus slept, when a sudden and strong storm threatened, or so it seemed, the sinking of the boat. Trusting the ...

Bishop Luis Marín de San Martín, undersecretary of the synod, told journalists last year that Yang and Bishop Antonio Yao Shun of Jining, in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia, were nominated to attend the synod by Pope Francis from a list approved by the Chinese government. Yang was ordained a Catholic priest in 1995. He was named a bishop by papal mandate in November 2010, and his consecration as bishop took place a little over two years later, in February 2013.  He was elected vice president of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association in December 2016. The Archdiocese of Hangzhou is located in the province of Zhejiang on the eastern coast of China. The province’s capital city of Hangzhou has an estimated population of nearly 12 million people, according to a 2020 c...

ANALYSIS: Whatever the results of his canonical trial, the controversies Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has stirred up and the polemical climate that he epitomizes will persist for the foreseeable future as major challenges to Catholic unity. ROME — Nine years ago, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was the Holy See’s envoy to the U.S., dealing with the White House and Congress to prepare for Pope Francis’ September 2015 visit to the country. This week, Archbishop Viganò is being tried by the Vatican’s doctrinal office, accused of fomenting schism — a split in the Catholic Church — by denying the legitimacy of Pope Francis and rejecting the Second Vatican Council. He faces possible penalties that include excommunication and dismissal from the priesthood. The archbishop’s astonishing transformati...

Viganò charged with schism, calls Vat II and Pope Francis ‘cancer’ Skip to content Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former papal nuncio to the United States, has been charged by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith with the canonical crime of schism.  The outspoken former Vatican diplomat published Thursday morning images of his citation in an extrajudicial process, authorized by the congresso of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s members on May 10.  Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò According to the citation, dated June 11, the DDF’s senior membership voted to proceed with Viganò’s prosecution via an abbreviated extrajudical process, as opposed to a full canonical trial, and have ordered the former Vatican ambassador to appeal at the dicastery in Rome to answer the c...

During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis encourages the faithful to engage in a ‘symphony of prayer’ by praying the Psalms, as Jesus did. By Deborah Castellano Lubov “It is necessary to make the Psalms our prayer, making them ours and praying with them,” urged Pope Francis during his Wednesday General Audience in the Vatican. As the Holy Father continued his catechesis series on the Holy Spirit, this week he reflected in a special way on the Psalms. The Pope had begun by recalling that in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee, he had proclaimed 2024 a Year of Prayer. Symphony of prayer “With today’s catechesis,” he therefore explained, “I would like to recall that the Church already possesses a symphony of prayer, whose composer is ...

The Vatican has partnered with the Japanese multinational company NTT DATA to expand “the Vatican Library’s online community by connecting the cultural institution with its supporters through Web3 technology,” according to a June 17 press release from the Vatican Library. The future of the project, the Vatican said, may include the ability to visit the library through immersive extended reality (XR) experiences, like augmented or virtual reality. “I believe that our heritage requires special attention and dedication geared toward preservation and promotion,” Salesian Father Mauro Mantovani, prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, said this week. “NTT DATA,” he continued, “has played an important role in supporting the Vatican Library’s mission to make its unique collections accessib...

Angelus Angelus Dómini nuntiávit Mariæ.Et concépit de Spíritu Sancto.Ave Maria… Ecce ancílla Dómini.Fiat mihi secúndum verbum tuum.Ave Maria… Et Verbum caro factum est.Et habitávit in nobis.Ave Maria… Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei génetrix.Ut digni efficiámur promissiónibus Christi. Orémus.Grátiam tuam, quǽsumus, Dómine,méntibus nostris infunde;ut qui, Ángelo nuntiánte, Christi Fílii tui incarnatiónem cognóvimus, per passiónem eius et crucem, ad resurrectiónis glóriam perducámur. Per eúndem Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen. Gloria Patri… (ter)Requiem aeternam… Benedictio Apostolica seu Papalis Dominus vobiscum.Et cum spiritu tuo.Sit nomen Benedicat vos omnipotens Deus,Pa ter, et Fi lius, et Spiritus Sanctus. Amen. The Angelus Prayer The Angel of the Lord d...