In Scripture we are told to send the serpent after the dove (Mt 10:16). It's not carping or having bad spirit to maintain a sense of reality regarding the words and actions of Pope Francis, and to refrain from acting as if no destructive behavior has ever been displayed before.
So I agree with Peter Kwasniewski and do not fault him for "seeing the bad side" when on Facebook he wrote the following:
The news that Pope Francis has confirmed the charism of the FSSP affords temporary relief from our woes. We have been assured that their pastoral ministry will continue as before, and that they will continue to enjoy the use of the old Roman Pontifical. This is particularly good news for the seminarians.
Without wishing to sound like a giant wet blanket, however, we need to bear in mind several points.
1. Pope Francis's message could be rephrased: "I hereby condescend to grant you, as a privilege, and by my benign authority, that which you already possess by virtue of particular law and immemorial custom." In other words, he speaks as if the continuing use of the traditional Roman Rite is simply a matter of legal positivism. That is precisely the error we have been fighting all along (and the error that was set to rest by Benedict XVI). Those who live by papal privilege may die by it, too.
2. As Eric Sammons tweeted this morning: "We can (and should) be thankful that the Pope has confirmed the charism of the FSSP while still understanding that his long-term desire is to eliminate the traditional liturgy." 'Traditionis Custodes' itself manifestly seeks to confine traditionalists to ghettos and to dry up the use of the traditional liturgy outside those ghettos; so it makes sense that Ecclesia Dei communities would be strengthened, while the message is transmitted to bishops everywhere that they'd better tighten the screws on the poor diocesan clergy and the faithful who have supported their "turn to tradition." (And not to look like I'm nitpicking but can we be clear about this, please? Adherence to tradition is not a "charism"; it is part of the definition of being a Catholic.)
3. If there is one thing we have learned over the past decade, it is that we are dealing with Machiavellians. There is a steep price to pay for papal favors in the current regime. The pope is strategic enough to wish to "buy" the relative silence of the SSPX and the FSSP (and many others) by granting concessions or aids.
All that said, we should also be realistic: the restoration of tradition (in liturgy, in doctrine, in life) will be a long, long struggle, and time is in fact on our side, since mainstream Catholicism is on a suicidal course. So any time we can obtain a bit more land or a bit more time, we should rejoice about that, even if the immediate circumstances are dodgy. In short: we make the best of whatever situation we've got, taking the long view of things.
What kept so many of us in the Novus Ordo fold back in the day was the prospect of the "mutual enrichment" that would, we hoped, result in reform of the disastrous Mass of Paul VI and restoration of tradition to the Roman Rite. Let's soberly admit that Traditionis Custodes and its aftermath, including this letter to the FSSP, leaves those hopes in the dead past. In particular, while this "confirmation" certainly offers welcome relief to the FSSP (and by extension, one assumes, the other TLM institutes), it confines them and prevents them from being the fertile ground in which the seed corn would flourish in the wider fields of diocesan parish life.
Instead, if things go on as they are now, they will be more like "the remote hothouses where the rare plants are kept apart."
I'm not alone, I'm sure, in hearing rumors that young men in (diocesan) seminary are interested in the traditional form -- that some seminaries have altars at which to practice the TLM, chant classes, and other evidence of a return to ancient form -- or at least a desire for it.
I am sure the Pope has heard this as well. And I am sure he does not like it.
My mother makes vestments for a living, chiefly for traditional orders, but she often gets requests from priests and seminarians (often from seminaries!) for beautiful, traditional vestments. (There has been no dip in new orders!) Since starting her business about ten years ago, she’s been impressed by how many diocesan seminarians are interested in either saying the 1962 mass or in a more, shall we say, robust version of the Novus Ordo. All this to say that while it’s sobering to watch a pope attempt to dismantle all the good that Ratzinger did in his summorum pontificum, the seeds of beauty and tradition have taken root. I just hope we don’t lose those tender shoots!
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