Return to The Reign of Mary No. 127
The Reign of Mary
Vol. XXXVIII, No. 127: Letter from the Editor
October 2, 2007
Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels
Dear Readers,
Praised be Jesus and Mary!
In recent months, both religious and secular newspapers have given considerable coverage to the Motu Proprio of Benedict XVI, which grants a wider use of the Latin Mass according to the 1962 missal. With this in mind I would like to briefly comment on the significance of this decision. This does not change the serious problems that led to the destruction of the Faith after Vatican Council II. According to the Motu Proprio, the Novus Ordo continues to be the “ordinary expression” of the Modern Church’s rite of the “Mass.” And as we well know, this Novus Ordo is a striking departure from the Mass as defined by the Council of Trent, to use the words of Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci in 1969. It is well for us to recall that there were six Protestant theologians who assisted on the special commission to change the Mass, and that one of them expressed satisfaction that the Protestants could use the Novus Ordo without any theological problems. From beginning to end, this new “Mass” has been stripped of all reference to a propitiatory sacrifice — that is, a sacrifice to atone for sin — and is simply a Protestant memorial of the Last Supper. To put the Novus Ordo side by side with the Latin Mass and claim they are merely two expressions of the same rite is utterly false.
I also find it interesting that those traditionalists who compromised with the modern Church in order to obtain permission to offer the Latin Mass (the Good Shepherd Institute, the Fraternity of St. Peter, the Institute of Christ the King) are now in an awkward position, for they are now required, according to Benedict XVI, to offer the New Mass when circumstances require it: “The priests adhering to the former usage cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books. To do so would be a failure to recognize the value and holiness of the New Mass.” So much for their compromise of the Mass and the Faith!
Furthermore, we well know that after Vatican II, not only was the Mass changed, but also the rite of consecration of bishops in which the very form of consecration (as clearly determined by Pope Pius XII in his Apostolic Constitution Sacramentum Ordinis [1947]) was completely destroyed and replaced by an ambiguous prayer. By the same principles of sacramental theology taught by Pope Leo XIII in Apostolicae Curae, in which the Pope declared Anglican orders invalid, these modern bishops of the Vatican II Church are not valid bishops. Invalid bishops equals invalid ordinations of priests! Invalid priests who use the Latin Mass cannot offer a valid Mass! What a mess!
On another note, this year 2007 marks the centenary of the encyclical Pascendi of Pope St. Pius X, which condemned the various errors of Modernism. This encyclical is most significant for us today because the false teachings emanating from the Vatican II Church are saturated with the very errors condemned by the saintly Pontiff a hundred years ago — in particular, the error of dogmatic relativism, which erroneously holds that dogmas change with the times. We see this also when we compare the Syllabus of Errors of Pope Pius IX (December 8, 1864) with the Vatican II decree Dignitatis Humanae of December 7, 1965. Pope Pius IX explicitly condemned religious liberty, whereas Vatican II explicitly taught these very condemned propositions. How do the Modernists explain it? They speak of “development.” Herein lies their deception: they change the teachings of the Catholic Church and falsely claim that the modern teaching is a “development” from the past, but without quoting references to the past teachings of the Church. The same dogmatic relativism can be found in the recent “clarification” of Benedict XVI, in which he repeats the false teaching of Vatican II in regard to the nature of the Church. Prior to Vatican II the Catholic Church always held that the true Church of Christ is the Catholic Church. This was especially reiterated by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical on the Mystical Body of Christ (1943). Now, the modern Church holds that the true Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church and that it also subsists in varying degrees in non-Catholic churches. In other words, the Modernists say that the true Church of Christ is not exclusively identified with the Catholic Church; the true Church of Christ, they say, extends beyond the Catholic Church. To quote a Vatican II theologian, Fr. Avery Dulles (later made a cardinal by John Paul II), “The Church of Jesus Christ is not exclusively identical to the Roman Catholic Church. It does indeed subsist in the Roman Catholic Church, but it is also present in varying modes and degrees in other Christian communities… As a result of their common sharing in the reality of the one Church, the several Christian communities already have with one another a real but imperfect communion.” Once again, to hide this change of doctrine, they use the term “development.”
How beneficial it is to read the various teachings of the Popes prior to Vatican II, especially Pope Pius IX’s Syllabus of Errors, Pope St. Pius X’s Pascendi, Pope Pius XI’s Mortalium Animos (condemnation of ecumenism), and Pope Pius XII’s Mystici Corporis and Mediator Dei! For herein we find the answers to the crisis facing the Church today…
With my prayers and blessing,
Most Rev. Mark A. Pivarunas, CMRI