Wednesday, October 14, 2026

How fragile is Rome?

I read a while ago that there are some 55 permitted places where the Latin Mass is being celebrated.  Imagine that.  There are Roman Catholic dioceses that are routinely closing more parishes than that.  Yet the mere existence of 55 or so parishes where the Latin Mass is being celebrated is apparently so dangerous that it is something which must be regulated from Rome, allowed under the most rigid of rules, and segregated away from the ordinary population of Roman Catholics overall.  Wow.  That makes the Latin Mass a ticking time bomb bigger than nearly everything else which is happening in Rome today.  More urgent and of greater threat than synodality, rogue bishops being ordained, China administering a Roman Catholic province according to its rules, the fading number of nuns and monks, priests in costume, dance and pop music used for sacred purpose, the declining numbers of those who believe the Eucharist is actually the body and blood of Christ, the diminishing numbers of children for baptism or confirmation, the scandal of priestly sexual abuse, the declining numbers of priests overall, the routine nature of merged parishes and closed churches, etc...  I could have added so many things to that number.  I am sure you could have added to that list as well.  The point is that Rome is so fragile, the worst of the problems it is facing are 55 permitted places where the Latin Mass is celebrated and the request for more.

The Vatican granted permission to a very small number of parishes to celebrate the traditional Mass-- just 55 parish churches across 33 dioceses last year-- according to the exemptions permitted by the Dicastery for Divine Worship to the restrictions outlined by Traditionis Custodes.  Yet look at the news.  Some bishops are sure that the very essence of Rome is threatened by such permissions and have attempted to restrict them further than had been.  Pope Francis repudiated Pope Benedict for his generous permission and clamped down on it like the whole of Roman Catholicism was at stake.  It does not matter which side of this issue you are on, Rome is weak and fragile if this kind of thing has become an existential threat to the largest formal community of Christians throughout the world.  And we think we have problems in the LCMS.  At least we are talking about doctrinal issues and about those who wish to jettison the forms of liturgical worship which have become the formal face of our Confessions on Sunday morning.  Rome is so fragile that those who want to restore a form of the Mass effectively the exclusive form used for 400+ years are a threat to its very existence.  Wow.  And I thought we had problems. No wonder Pope Leo seems to have no clue what to do about this despite advice being offered from every side.  Apparently if he gets this wrong, Rome will collapse.

1 comment:

John J. Flanagan said...

“How fragile is Rome? The Roman Catholic Church still has over a billion worldwide adherents, and while it is expanding in Africa and in other lands, it sees some declining numbers in the United States. Mainstream Protestant churches have also lost a significant part of the population. Numbers can be misleading, and are subject to change. And even with the crisis of unbelief, it seems that the trends in conversions are gaining among young people here in the U.S., Campus ministries are gaining, and some young people, dissatisfied with the culture of materialism, are seeking God. Many believers, young and old, came from a Catholic background, and after being exposed to the Gospel, and having read the word of God, discern the heresies of the RCC, and leave it for faithful churches. I know so many former Catholics who credit the church with their earlier conversion, but eventually left as the Lord opened their eyes to the false teachings about Marian worship, prayers of intervention to her and various saints, the idea of purgatory, miraculous relics, Papal infallibility, and all the things which the Vatican added to Christianity. We should take a pastoral approach to the RCC, that it has lost its way long ago, but for better or worse, millions have learned about the Gospel who were born and raised Catholic. The road to conversion is often bumpy. Soli Deo Gloria