The Traditionalists Are Their Own Worst Enemy

As I have written before, Summorum Pontificum had basically gifted the Traditional Latin Mass to the Traditionalists, in effect giving the Trads authority over the bishops.  If someone wanted a Latin Mass, they merely had to go to the pastor of a church, who was obligated to accommodate them.  The only time a bishop got involved is if the pastor denied the request.  The bishop was then required to accommodate the Trads, and if he couldn't or wouldn't, the matter would go to Ecclesia Dei.  

From Summorum Pontificum:

Art. 5, §1 In parishes where a group of the faithful attached to the previous liturgical tradition stably exists, the parish priest should willingly accede to their requests to celebrate Holy Mass according to the rite of the 1962 Roman Missal. He should ensure that the good of these members of the faithful is harmonized with the ordinary pastoral care of the parish, under the governance of the bishop in accordance with Canon 392, avoiding discord and favouring the unity of the whole Church.

Art. 7. If a group of the lay faithful, as mentioned in Art. 5, §1, has not been granted its requests by the parish priest, it should inform the diocesan bishop. The bishop is earnestly requested to satisfy their desire. If he does not wish to provide for such celebration, the matter should be referred to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei.

Art. 8. A bishop who wishes to provide for such requests of the lay faithful, but is prevented by various reasons from doing so, can refer the matter to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which will offer him counsel and assistance.

Pope Benedict XVI's actions were really unprecedented.  I don't think you will ever find an instance in all the 2000 years of Church history where priests and bishops were so completely sidelined and stripped of their authority and the laity was allowed to make unilateral decisions apart from the rest of the Church.  Pope Benedict, in effect, turned the authority of the Church upside down.  The Traditionalists were put in charge with no supervision whatsoever.  

Instead of being grateful and humble, the Trads felt emboldened.  They felt invincible.  They believed that they are divinely entitled to the freedom given to them by Pope Benedict, and no one, not even a Pope, has the authority to deprive them of that right.  

Not only were the Trads given carte blanche with the Mass, they were allowed to use the older form of all seven sacraments.  Entire churches were taken over by traditional orders as they traveled back in time to the 1950's.  The post conciliar Catholic Church had no relevance in their world.  

Traditionalists Live In Their Own Reality

 

I have to say, I kinda feel sorry for the Traditionalists in the Catholic Church.  

They were going along so sure of themselves, secure in the belief that they were the only real Catholics in the world.  They were confident that they were going to get rid of heretical Pope Francis, confident that the dreaded Novus Ordo Mass would be stamped out of existence for the travesty it is and that the Traditional Latin Mass would reign supreme as the Mass of the Roman Rite.  They believed with all their hearts that Vatican II would be exposed for the sham Council it was, and that the Church would be returned to the glory days of the 1950's.  

And then came Traditionis Custodes.  They were traveling down the highway at 60 mph and with little warning, a wall popped up in front of them and slowed them down to a crawl.  Suddenly things didn't look so rosy anymore. This looked like it might be the end of the line for them.

The Traditionalists Destroy Themselves With Their Lies

Catholic Traditionalists live in a world of lies, and they hang on to these lies with all their strength.  These lies constitute the foundation on which they have built their spiritual lives.  That foundation, which has been cracked and falling apart for years, is finally giving out.  Like the horrible tragedy of the collapsed building in Surfside, Florida, the world of the Traditionalists is crumbling beneath their feet, and soon they will be surrounded only by a pile of rubble.

Roberto de Mattei, an outspoken critic who has unrelentingly condemned Pope Francis, has written an Op Ed for Rorate Caeli entitled, "Francis Has Unleashed a War: It Will End With the Full Triumph of Tradition." I choose this article because it contains some of the more blatant lies on which the Trads rely for their existence. It is so packed with lies and misrepresentations that I hardly know where to begin. So I will begin at the beginning.

Traditionalists: The Greatest Cafeteria Catholics of All Time

Traditionalists are always accusing the rest of the Catholic world of picking and choosing what they want to believe and throwing out the rest.  Certainly that is true for a certain number of Catholics.  Pope Francis himself has warned us of this trap, saying that such people have one foot out the door.  

But no "Novus Ordo" Catholic can hold a candle to the Traditionalists when it comes to picking and choosing what they will believe.  Traditionalists by nature reject everything that doesn't meet their own exacting standards, and that includes almost everything in the Church post-Vatican II.  

They reject the Second Vatican Council pretty much in its entirety, believing that even if there were good things from the Council, the good is far outweighed by the bad and therefore everything must be rejected. 

Traditionalists believe no one can be truly Catholic unless they love and attend the Traditional Latin Mass.  

They have rejected every post conciliar pope to one extent or another, and of course, they have completely rejected Pope Francis as a heretic who needs to be condemned and removed from the papacy.  

Pope Francis Takes Back The Church From Traditionalists

Pope Francis released a Motu Proprio entitled TRADITIONIS CUSTODES ("Guardians of Tradition") (and accompanying letter) on July 16, 2021 which has, for all intents and purposes, nuked the Traditionalist movement within the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has identified a cancer in the Church and he is taking drastic measures to excise it.

Pope Francis has completely abrogated Summorum Pontificum released by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, as can be seen in the above quote.  SP established two forms of the Mass:  Ordinary Form (the Mass promulgated by Pope St. Paul VI in 1970) and Extraordinary Form (given to the Church by Pope St. Pius X at the time of the Reformation and revised by Pope St. John XXIII in 1962).  Pope Francis has now decreed that there in only one form of the Mass.  The Traditional Latin Mass is no longer considered a form of the Roman Rite: 

Art. I. The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite.