Is the Latin Mass Back? By Rev. Fr. Dominic Radecki, CMRI What are we to think of Benedict XVI’s recent document bringing back the Latin Mass? Perhaps your friends or relatives have already said to you: “Well, are you happy now? You got your Latin Mass back. Isn’t that what you’ve been so upset about all these years?” Well, yes... and no. Of course, we have been upset about the New Mass or Novus Ordo — that’s why I offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in this church and why many of you come a long distance to attend this Tridentine Latin Mass. (The term Tridentine Latin Mass is derived from the word Trent, and refers to the authentic Latin Mass offered from the Roman Missal of Pope St. Pius V.) Most of the traditional Catholic groups springing up all over the world in the 70’s rallied around the idea that the Novus Ordo was sacrilegious and invalid. In lieu of this, the Tridentine Latin Mass or true Mass was to be preserved at all costs. Soon seminaries were established to train priests so that the true Mass and sacraments would be preserved for future generations. For many years the Church was forced once again into the “catacombs” as the "outlawed” Tridentine Latin Mass was offered in rented halls, hotel conference rooms and the living rooms of private homes. As long as we could attend the true Mass and receive valid sacraments, it didn’t matter where or under what circumstances. Over the past four decades the traditional Catholic movement has become so large in certain areas of the world that the new religion has been totally rejected and only the Latin Mass is offered. They have even purchased or built churches for this purpose. And now, the New Postconciliar, Vatican II Church, after 40 years, is saying that the Latin Mass is back. Nevertheless, we have to say to our friends and relatives, “No, we’re not happy about it.” Why not? The document or motu proprio of Benedict XVI promulgated on July 7, 2007, makes it clear that the Novus Ordo, the New “Mass” of Paul VI, is the “ordinary expression of the law of prayer of the Catholic rite” — in other words, the Novus Ordo remains the primary “Mass” of the Postconciliar Church. Now along with this “Lord’s Supper” service, Benedict is allowing a Latin Mass. However, he did not accompany the word Latin with Tridentine so this leads us to ask the question, “Which Latin Mass is it?" Some of you may remember or are familiar with the fact that in 1962 John XXIII promulgated a new missal in which St. Joseph’s name was inserted into the Canon of the Mass. Perhaps at the time you thought that this was a good thing. Here it is helpful to note that in 1815 there was a movement inaugurated among the clergy and laity to add St. Joseph’s name to the Canon. Hundreds of thousands of petitions were sent to Rome, but the Sacred Congregation of Rites remained firm in denying the request. “So careful is the Church to prevent innovations from entering into this part of the Mass that she forbids anyone to meddle with it under pain of incurring her most severe censures” (Fr. John O’Brien, A History of THE Mass and the Ceremonies in the Eastern and Western Church, 1879, p. 296.) In fact, so sacred is the Canon that no changes have been made in it since the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great in the sixth century, until John XXIII changed it. The changes made by Pope St. Gregory the Great were only minor. However, John XXIII’s insertion of St. Joseph was intended to serve as a wedge to break open the Canon of the Mass and to authorize change to the very words of Consecration, the Modernists’ ultimate target. Along with this 1962 missal came a new calendar that demoted or removed a great number of saints and feasts, including those of St. Philomena, St. Christopher, the Finding of the Holy Cross, St. Peter’s Chains and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. In addition, they made more changes in the Mass. The Confiteor prayers before Holy Communion were eliminated, as well as the Last Gospel and Leonine prayers. In 1984 John Paul II allowed this so-called Indult Mass to be offered, but only under certain circumstances and with permission of the bishop. Benedict’s decree now allows this same Indult Mass to be offered by any priest, at any time without any special permission. But this is not the Tridentine Mass, the immemorial, unchanged Mass handed down to us from Our Lord Himself and codified by Pope St. Pius V over 500 years ago! Thus it is not the true Latin Mass that is back, but rather only John XXIII’s mutilated and deformed version (known as the Indult Mass.) The media press releases, and even the pseudo-traditionalists, have shown an incorrect picture. Benedict is allowing only the 1962 pre-Novus Ordo illicit Mass of John XXIII. Even though the New Church now has two Masses, Benedict insists that there is really only one rite used two ways, or as he says, “a twofold use of one and the same rite.” Benedict’s document, the motu proprio, also allows priests to pray the 1962 breviary and to use the old rite for the sacraments of Baptism, Matrimony, Penance and “Anointing of the Sick.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? However, one might ask how an invalidly ordained priest can validly confect the sacraments of Penance, Extreme Unction and the Holy Eucharist, regardless of the rite used. They would have us believe that Benedict XVI is Catholic again! The “Abomination of Desolation” is over! We don’t have to crowd into a traditional Catholic church anymore. We can just go across town to our local Novus Ordo meeting hall and hope for the best. Well, before you let out a sigh of relief, let’s take a close look at this decree, what it really means and the reasons behind it. With this Apostolic Letter to the Universal Church came a cover letter to the bishops allaying any fears they might have about the Latin Mass being restored. This letter is very insightful. Even a cursory or hasty reading of it betrays a master of deceit at work. That’s just what the Modernists are, masters of deceit, and Benedict XVI is a master among masters. What are Rome’s motives for allowing the Latin Mass to come back? In his letter to the bishops, Benedict tells them not to be afraid and confused by his decree because the Novus Ordo “Mass” of Paul VI is still and will remain the Mass of the New Church. The Latin Mass of John XXIII, he says, was never really abolished. (He is right, of course — it was the Tridentine Mass of Pope St. Pius V that was abolished in the postconciliar Church.) Benedict admits that the Modernists thought that after Vatican II people would forget all about the Tridentine Latin Mass as time went on. But they didn’t count on so many people stubbornly adhering to the true Mass. He writes, “It soon became apparent that a good number of people remained strongly attached to the Mass which had been familiar to them from childhood.” Surprisingly enough, even young people were attracted to the Tridentine Latin Mass, not just the old fogies! So many people, in fact, that the bishops are having to “constantly evaluate anew how they are to respond to various situations.” Clearly we’re a thorn in their side and the bishops can’t deal with it anymore. That’s why Benedict is going to give them a Latin Mass. But he goes on to say that the bishops have nothing to fear. In his own words Benedict says, “The use of the old missal presupposes a certain degree of liturgical formation and some knowledge of the Latin language, and neither of these is found very often... From these concrete presuppositions, it is dearly seen that... [the Novus Ordo] will certainly remain the ordinary form of the Roman rite, because of the actual situation in the communities of the faithful." Translated, this means that since the Novus Ordo priests no longer know or understand Latin, and very few have any training in the liturgical ceremonial or the rubrics, the Novus Ordo will end up being the only service offered anyway! How pacifying, how diabolically deceitful! Benedict is allowing the Latin Mass, realizing that almost no one knows how to say it anyway! So why is Benedict making this useless gesture, this show of tradition? Probably to placate the people, since so many have been leaving the false religion of the Postconciliar Church and it is suffering the consequences. Benedict further puts a contingency on the offer of his Latin Mass. He expects that as Rome has accepted the traditional Mass, so too traditional Catholics must accept the New “Mass” in order to experience “full communion.” Benedict says that, “The priests adhering to the former usage [that is, traditionalists] cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books [the Novus Ordo]. To do so would be a failure to recognize the value and holiness of the New Mass." Let me ask you, my dearly beloved in Christ, what would and should you do IF it were announced — note that I’m saying IF it were announced — that next Sunday we were going to experience full communion with the new religion by celebrating the holiness of the Novus Ordo or New “Mass"? The pews would be empty and all of you would be looking for a Tridentine Latin Mass again. Why would you continue to reject the New “Mass"? Because you know that it is not a Mass at all; it is invalid. The Novus Ordo or “Lord’s Supper [by definition], the assembly or gathering together of the people of God, with a priest presiding, to celebrate the Memorial of the Lord,” is a typical Protestant service — a celebration of praise and thanksgiving. Benedict would have us believe that the New “Mass” is the same as the Tridentine Mass. However, this is untrue. The Novus Ordo is NOT a propitiatory sacrifice, a sacrifice to atone for sin, as is the unchanging Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which Christ, through the ministry of the priest, offers Himself to God in an unbloody manner under the appearances of bread and wine. It is said that if a person tells a lie often enough, people will accept it as truth. This nevertheless does not change the fact that the truth remains regardless of how many follow the lie. The Tridentine Latin Mass is the true Mass and anything short of it is false. It is interesting to note that a recent press release headlined the story this way: “Pope Frees Up Use of Old Latin Mass. Stresses No Reversal on Vatican II.” And they had it right — nothing is changed. This is a cunning move on the part of the Modernists, intended to lure traditional Catholics back into the one world church of anti-Christ. The results of Vatican II are still in full force — new catechisms, new canon laws, new sacraments, new doctrines, new “Mass,” new everything — except the collection basket! Church officials told the press that Benedict is in no way refuting Vatican II. The document, Vatican spokesman Rev. Rederico Lombardi said, “doesn’t impose any return to the past, it does not mean any weakening of the authority of the Council.” After Vatican II, not only was the Mass changed, but also the rite of ordination of priests and the consecration of bishops were substantially changed. The 1968 rite for the ordination of bishops completely destroyed and replaced the very form of consecration as clearly determined by Pope Pius XII in 1947 in his Apostolic Constitution Sacramentum Ordinis. By following the same principle of sacramental theology taught by Pope Leo XIII in in which the pope declared Anglican orders invalid, the bishops consecrated in the 1968 rite are not valid bishops. Invalid bishops cannot validly ordain priests. Invalid priests who use the Latin Mass will offer invalid Masses. Thus, most of the sanctuaries of the postconciliar churches are staffed by invalidly ordained clerics. Regardless, then, of any seeming concessions, present or future, there will always remain in the postconciliar Church a lifeless ceremonial with no inner value, grace or effect. Satan has thus tried and will continue to try to deceive “even the elect” with his illusion of Catholicism, ever seeking the ruin of immortal souls. Commenting on the words of the Gospel for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, St. Hilary says: “We should look not so much to what a man says, as to what he does; for there are many who hide the ravening of a wolf under sheep’s clothing. As, then, thorns do not bear grapes, nor do thistles produce figs, and evil trees do not bring forth good fruit, so the Lord teaches, neither do evil men bring forth good works. Therefore all men are to be known by their works” (Roman Breviary, 3rd Nocturn of Matins, 7th Sunday after Pentecost). “Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.”

Bishop Salvador Lazo D.D.

To His Holiness POPE JOHN PAUL II Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of Vatican City. Ascension Thursday May 21, 1998 Most Holy Father, On the tenth anniversary of the consecration of the four Catholic bishops by His Grace Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for the survival of the Catholic Faith, by the grace of God, I declare that I am Roman Catholic. My religion was founded by Jesus Christ when he said to Peter: Thou art Peter and upon this Rock, I will build my Church. (Mt. 16:18) Holy Father, my Credo is the Apostles’ Creed. The deposit of Faith came from Jesus Christ and was completed at the death of the last Apostle. It was entrusted to the Roman Catholic Church to serve as a guide for the salvation of souls to the end of time. St. Paul instructed Timothy: "O Timothy, keep the deposit." (I Tim. 6:20), the deposit of Faith! Holy Father, it seems that St. Paul is telling me: Keep the deposit… the deposit that is entrusted to you, not discovered by you. You received it: you did not draw it from your resources. It is not the fruit of any personal understanding but of teaching. It is not personal use, but it belongs to public tradition. It does not come from you, but it has come to you. With respect to it, you cannot act as an author, but only a simple keeper. You are not its initiator but its disciple. It is not for you to direct it, but your duty to follow it. (St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium, No. 21). The Holy Council of Vatican I teaches that the doctrine of Faith that God has revealed, was not proposed to the minds of men as a philosophical discovery to be perfected, but as the divine deposit, entrusted to the Spouse of Christ that she might faithfully keep it and infallibly define it. Consequently, the meaning of the Sacred Dogmas which must always be preserved is that which our Holy Mother the Church has determined. Never is it permissible to depart from this in the name of a deeper understanding. (Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius, Dz. 1800). The Holy Ghost was promised to the successors of Peter, not that they might make known new doctrine by His Revelation but rather that, with His assistance, they mighty religiously guard and faithfully explain the Revelation or deposit of Faith that was handed down through the Apostles. (Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Æternus Dz. 1836) Moreover, "the power of the pope is not unlimited; not only can he not change anything which is of divine institution (to suppress episcopal jurisdiction, for instance), but he is to build and not to destroy (cf. II Cor. 10, 8); he is enjoined, through natural law, not to sow confusion in the flock of Christ" (Dict. De Théol. Cath., II, col. 2039-2040). St. Paul too confirmed the Faith of his converts: "But though we or an angel from heaven preach a Gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema." (Gal. 1:8) As a Catholic bishop, briefly, this is my stand on the post-Conciliar reforms of the Second Vatican Council. If the Conciliar reforms are according to the will of Jesus Christ, then, I will gladly cooperate in their implementation. But if the Conciliar reforms are planned for the destruction of the Catholic Religion founded by Jesus Christ, then, I refuse to give my cooperation. Holy Father, in 1969, a communication from Rome was received in San Fernando Diocese of La Union. It said the Tridentine Latin Mass was to be suppressed and the Novus Ordo Missae was to be implemented. There was no reason given. Since the order came from Rome it was obeyed without any protest (Roma locuta est, causa finita est). I retired in 1993, 23 years after my episcopal consecration. Since my retirement, I discovered the real reason for the illegal suppression of the traditional Latin Mass. The ancient Mass was an obstacle to the introduction of ecumenism. The Catholic Mass contained Catholic dogmas, which Protestants denied. To achieve unity with Protestant sects, the Tridentine Latin Mass had to be scrapped, being replaced by the Novus Ordo Missae. The Novus Ordo Missae was a concoction of Monsignor Annibale Bugnini, a freemason. Six Protestant ministers helped Monsignor Bugnini in fabricating it. The innovators saw to it that no Catholic dogmas fully and replaced them with very ambiguous Protestantizing and heretical things. They even changed the form of the consecration given by Jesus Christ. With these modifications, the new rite of the Mass became more Protestant than Catholic. The Protestants maintain that the Mass is a mere meal, a mere communion, a mere banquet, a memorial. The Council of Trent emphasized the reality of the sacrifice of the Mass, which is an unbloody renewal of the bloody sacrifice of Christ on Mount Calvary. "He, therefore, our god and Lord, though He was about to offer Himself once to God the Father upon the altar of the Cross… offered to God the Father His own body and blood under the species of bread and wine… at the last supper on the night He was betrayed, so that He might leave to His beloved Spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as nature of man demands), whereby that bloody sacrifice once to be completed on the Cross might be represented…" (Dz 938). The Mass is also as a consequence a communion to the sacrifice previously celebrated: a banquet where one eats the immolated Victim of the sacrifice. But if there is no sacrifice there is no communion with it. Mass is first and foremost a sacrifice and secondly a communion or a meal. It is also noted that in the Novus Ordo Missae, Christ’s Real Eucharistic Presence is implicitly denied. The same observation is also true concerning the Church’s doctrine of Transubstantiation. Connected with this, in the Novus Ordo Missae, the priest has been demoted from a priest who offers a sacrifice to one who merely presides over the assembly. Now he is the president of the assembly. For this role he faces the people. In the Traditional Mass, the priest, on the contrary, faces the tabernacle and the altar where Christ is. After having known those mutations, I decided to stop saying the New Rite of Mass, which I was saying for more than twenty-seven in obedience to ecclesiastical superiors. I returned to the Tridentine Latin Mass because it is the Mass instituted by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper which is the unbloody renewal of the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary. This Mass of all times has sanctified the lives of millions down the centuries. Holy Father, with all the respect I have for you and for the Holy See of St. Peter, I cannot follow your own teaching of the "universal salvation", it contradicts Sacred Scripture. Holy Father, are all men going to be saved? Jesus Christ wanted all men to be redeemed. In fact, He died for us all. Still, not all men are going to be saved because not all men fulfill all the necessary conditions in order to be numbered among the elects of God in Heaven. Before Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He entrusted to His Apostles the duty of preaching the Gospel to every creature. His instructions already hinted that all souls were not going to be saved. He said: "Go into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned." (Mk. 16:15-16). St. Paul supported this in his instruction to his converts: "Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the Kingdom of God? Do not err, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterous, nor the effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners shall possess the Kingdom of God." (I Cor. 6:9-10) Holy Father, should we respect false religions? Jesus Christ founded only one Church in which one can find eternal salvation. This is the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. When He gave all the doctrines and all the truths needed to be saved Christ did not say: "Respect all false religions." In fact, the Son of God was crucified on the cross because He did not compromise His teaching. In 1910, in his letter "Our Apostolic Mandate", Pope St. Pius X warned that the interdenominational spirit is part of the great movement of apostasy being organized in every country for a one world church. Pope Leo XIII warned that to "treat all religions alike… is calculated to bring about the ruin of all forms of religion, and especially of the Catholic Religion, which, as it is the only one that is true, cannot, without great injustice, be regarded as merely equal to other religions (Encyclical Humanum Genus). The process is this: FROM CATHOLICISM TO PROTESTANTISM; FROM PROTESTANTISM TO MODERNISM; FROM MODERNISM TO ATHEISM. Ecumenism, as practiced today, flies in the face of traditional Catholic doctrine and practices. It places the one true Religion established by Our Lord on the same base level with false, man-made religions —something that popes throughout the centuries absolutely forbade Catholics to do: "It is clear that the Apostolic See can by no means take part in these (ecumenical) assemblies, nor is it in any way lawful for Catholics to give to such enterprises their encouragement or support" (Pope Pius XI, Mortalium Animos). I am for eternal Rome, the Rome of Ss. Peter and Paul. I do not follow Masonic Rome. Pope Leo XIII condemned Freemasonry in his encyclical Humanum Genus in 1884. Neither do I accept modernist Rome. Pope St. Pius X also condemned modernism in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis in 1907. I do not serve the Rome that is controlled by Freemasons who are the agents of Lucifer, the Prince of devils. But I support the Rome that leads the Catholic Church faithfully to do the will of Jesus Christ —the glorification of the most Holy and Triune God —God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. I consider myself fortunate because in this present crisis of the Catholic Church I received the grace to have returned to the Church that adheres to Catholic Tradition. Thank God, I am again saying the traditional Latin Mass —the Mass instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper, the Mass of my ordination. May the Blessed Mother Mary, St. Joseph, St. Anthony, my patron saint, St. Michael and my Guardian Angel assist me to remain faithful to the Catholic Church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of men. May I obtain the grace to remain and die in the bosom of the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church that adheres to the ancient traditions and be always a faithful priest and bishop of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Most respectfully, + Salvador L. Lazo, D.D. Bishop Emeritus San Fernando Diocese of La Union Philippines sspx.org © 2010 home contact