BOMBSHELL: FLABELLUM RETURNS TO HONOR THE POPE, WELL, KIND OF…

A flabellum by any other type and style is still a flabellum, no?

WHOA! FATHER Z POSTS A POST ON MY POST, WHEREIN I AGREE AND DISAGREE WITH FATHER Z…

PRESS FR. Z’S TITLE FOR HIS COMMENTARY ON YOURS TRULY:

Wherein Fr. McDonald challenges Fr. Z

Posted on 7 November 2025 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

THE COMMON CHALICE: HAS IT RETURNED TO MANY PARISHES?

 I am not in principle opposed to the Common Chalice. But I don’t like it for personal reasons.

With that said, in every parish that I have served, up until the H1N1 flu around 2009 or so, I have had the common chalice at every Sunday and daily Mass. Yes, in every parish I served since 1980.

What happened in 2009 with the H1N1 epidemic in this country was eye-opening and confirmed what I had always believed about the Common Chalice. It spreads epidemics. 

My then bishop, Bishop Kevin Boland, asked that parishes stop with the practice of the Common Chalice during the epidemic. That was the first time that I had experienced as a priest no common chalice to the laity. 

It was the first time, too, that officials in the Church admitted that the common chalice could lead to the spread of a virus and yes to an epidemic and yes to a pandemic. The first time everrrr! Because up until that time, relying on faulty science and wishful thinking, liturgists told us that the alcohol content of the wine, the turning of the chalice and wiping the rim of it with a purificator would protect the communicant from a virus. Never mind telling communicants that if they are the 3rd or more person drinking from the same chalice, you not only put your mouth directly onto someone else’s saliva but you are also drinking saliva that is mixed with the Precious Blood, and perhaps more saliva than Precious Blood. 🩸 

The Covid Pandemic not only saw Masses being canceled but post-shut-down the common chalice was eliminated 

Not having a hoard of Communion Ministers approach the altar at the Rite of Holy Communion returned the Rite of Holy Communion to noble simplicity so desired by Vatican II. 

And an added bonus is that no one was or is needlessly exposed to something that could cause a pandemic or epidemic. 

However, in one parish that I assist, the common chalice has returned to two of their Sunday Masses. The Communion Rite is somewhat chaotic making sure the right people get the right chalice and ciborium. 

The scene at the altar is not attractive or choreographed. It is ugly actually. Liturgy should be eye-appealing not something that causes the laity to want to look away. 

Have you had the Common Chalice lately?

WHEN CLERGY AND LAITY ARE AT THE MERCY OF THE RAW AND POISONED CLERICALISM OF BISHOPS

 

I have already complained bitterly about the clericalism of the Mass of Pope Paul VI and by design, in terms of all the choices that can be made in the Modern Mass and that those choices all rest with the likes and dislikes, the desires and fancies of the priest—clericalism on steroids. 

And now we see bishops of various dioceses pursuing a poisoned clericalism overturning decisions of their predecessors as it concerns altar railings, ad orientem and the like. 

Although this is not applicable in my Diocese of Savannah, when I was pastor of St. Joseph Church in Macon, we completely restored and remodeled the entire historic church with major changes in the sanctuary, one of which was the removal of the altar railing. All we did, was sent to Bishop Kevin Boland at the time for his approval which he gave. This was in 2004.

In 2014, a parishioner offered me $100,000 to restore the altar railing. After a synodal discussion with the Pastoral and Finance Councils, we sent the request to restore the altar railing with drawings to show what we planned to the the Bishop of Savannah, Bishop Gregory Hartmayer, now the Archbishop of Atlanta. 

He gave his approval. He also stated that if the altar railing is used, communicants must be allowed to stand (as well as kneeling) to receive and still have the choice to receive Holy Communion by hand or tongue. 

That has worked out very well. As well, one of our five Modern Sunday Masses, the one at 12:10 PM, was offered ad orientem, with the monthly TLM once a month at that Mass time. 

After I departed St. Joseph in 2016, Holy Communion is still distributed at the railing to communicants either standing or kneeling, although now there is a new bishop, Bishop Stephen Parkes, who has not forbidden it. 

Bishop Parkes also gave permission to my successor as pastor of St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill to install a new altar railing in the new church there consecrated in 2016 by Bishop Hartmayer. Bishop Parkes allows Mass there to be ad orientem (although he asked one Sunday Mass to be facing the nave) and that people be allowed to stand at the altar railing, if they choose, to receive Holy Communion by mouth or hand, either kneeling or standing. It has worked out very well there, too.

But what if another bishop succeeding Bishop Parkes, rescinds all the proper permissions his two predecessors allowed? St. Joseph Church in Macon and St. Anne Church in Richmond Hill would be victims of the new bishop’s clericalism and lack of charity to previous processes of permission on the Synodal parish level and permissions granted by his bishop-predecessors.

That’s the tragedy of CLERICALISM ON STEROIDS with so many American bishops today! 

CO-REDEMPTRIX AND CO-MEDIATRIX~ OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! AND NOT FOR THE REASONS YOU THINK!

AS PAUL HARVY, OF HAPPY MEMORY, WOULD SAY: “AND NOW FOR THE REST OF THE STORY”:

Crux has a commentary on Cardinal Fernandez’s condemnation of the use of the titles of the BVM as Co-Redemptrix and Co-Mediatrix.

What I learned is that this document was completed during Pope Francis’ reign and Pope Leo has simply “rubber stamped” it with a less than full-throated approval. That’s very important to know and to understand.

Although linked in the moneybyte I post below, Delia Gallagher’s excellent and historic commentary on the press conference is a must read and I mean a must read!

Tucho's Travails
Thoughts from a Vatican Press Conference 
DELIA BUCKLEY GALLAGHER
NOV 06, 2025

You can read the full Crux commentary by pressing the title:

New document about ‘Co-redemptrix’ opens hornets’ nest in Church

But here’s the best money byte from that commentary:

Of course, many will question the timing of the document, which was actually completed while Pope Francis was still alive (although Pope Leo XIV was a member of the Dicastery – as Cardinal Robert Prevost – when it was approved).

As for the timing: Benedict became pope 20 years ago; in all honesty the “Co-redemptrix” debate has somewhat died down after two decades. Yes, there were still people calling for the title to be made the “Fifth Marian dogma” but this was not widely spoken about, and not on the radar of the vast majority of Catholics.

Fernandez also complained that the embargo for the document was broken – however, it was sent to everyone in the media 14 hours before it was officially released: There was no way he couldn’t have known the embargo wasn’t going to be broken.

The real question is why the hornets’ nest would be shaken so early in Leo’s tenure.

Journalist Delia Gallagher claimed it came due to internal Church fights that had become common during the pontificate of Pope Francis. (Delia Gallagher is not a far-right loony toon and is often a go-to-reporter on Catholic subjects at the Vatican for CNN.)

“In short, I think a large part of the reason for this document is that Cardinal Fernandez is inordinately bothered by traditional Catholics. That he readily and at length singled out ‘these people,’ in his talk and in the document, is testament to this likelihood,” she wrote on Substack.

“Pitting traditional faithful against the ‘ordinary’ faithful was also a lamentable mark of Pope Francis’ style, and it is clearly replicated here in Tucho’s categorization of Marian enthusiasts who are disturbing the faith of ordinary Catholics,” Gallagher added.

Several commenters have also noted – some of them rather archly – how the DDF document says an expression such as Co-redemptrix “requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful,” but its authors somehow fail to see how that observation may fairly apply to the way the term “synodality” has been met in the Church.

Other observers have noticed lack of approval by Pope Leo in forma specifica, meaning it wasn’t officially coming from the pontiff. That observation may strike outsiders as being of the hair-splitting variety. In many ways it is a matter of Vatican minutia, but it’s not wrong. It does make the position of the pope himself unclear.

And “unclear” is how the new pontificate will continue, until the projects begun by his predecessor come to a conclusion. Only then, will we be able to start to truly understand Pope Leo XIV.

BOMBSHELL OR NOT? THE APOSTLES CREED WILL BE CHANTED AT THE MASS CELEBRATED BY POPE LEO XIV AT THE PATRIARCHAL BASILICA OF SAINT JOHN LATERAN FOR THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE SAME BASILICA IN 324 AD…

I don’t know if this is the reason or not, but when the Basilica was dedicated in 324 AD., the Council of Nicaea that began the development of the Nicene Creed had not occurred, that would happen a few months later in 325 AD. 

However, the form of the Nicene Creed was not finalized until 381 AD at the Council of Constantinople. 

Also, I know that in the current Roman Missal, the option to use the Apostles’ Creed is prescribed. Who makes that choice????? Of course, the priest does. The plethora of choices in the Roman Missal all hinge on the priest’s likes and dislikes, whims and fancies. Whose whim or fancy was it to use the Apostles’ Creed at Sunday’s Papal Mass for the Dedication of Saint John the Lateran? Whoever makes these choices, normally a cleric, isn’t that clericalism on steroids?

I know that in Canada on Sundays, the norm is to recite the Apostles’ Creed not the Nicene Creed and that has been the case since Vatican II in the 1960’s. I presume that decision was made by Canada’s Conference of Bishops?

You can see the booklet for Pope Leo’s Sunday Mass at the Lateran HERE. 

POPE LEO MAKES CLEAR THAT THE PRIESTHOOD’S SPECIFIC ROLE IS DIRECTED TO THE ALTAR AND THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS; ALL ELSE FLOWS FROM THAT…

Priestly identity begins always with Christ and His One Sacrifice of the Cross!

After Vatican II, there was a great deal of confusion about the role and identity of the priest. 

Because of the ideology of social justice warriors in the Church, the priesthood was configured not to the Sacrifice of the Altar, Christ’s One Sacrifice on the Cross, but to doing social work, protesting, political involvement, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless and all the other corporal works of mercy. 

None of that, of course, is wrong and in fact has an important place in the Church, but those who are not priests are the ones called to be the “boots on the ground” in this regard of social justice and being warriors for it.  It is the domain of religious orders of men and women who are not priests, but also and specifically of the laity who live in the world. 

Social Justice Warriors applied to priests in the 1960’s and then recovered once again under Pope Francis’ nostalgia for the 1960’s and 70’s prior to the papacies of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, reduces the priest to a coordinator of social justice needs of the people of God, something that can and should be accomplished by others in the Church and certainly in an ecumenical and interfaith way.

For Pope Leo XIV, and quoting St. Pope John XXIII prior to the Second Vatican Council, recovers in continuity with the pre-Vatican II Church what the life, ministry and prayer of the priest should be and it is directed toward the Celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

This is the money quote from Pope Leo’s splendid letter to seminarians in Peru:

The spiritual and intellectual life are indispensable, but both are oriented towards the altar, the place where priestly identity is built and reveals itself in its fullness (cf. Saint John XXIII, Encyclical Letter (Pope John’s 1959 encyclical on the priesthood and St. John Vianney is great reading!)Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia, II). There, in the Holy Sacrifice, the priest learns how to offer his life, like Christ on the cross. By nourishing himself with the Eucharist, he discovers the unity between ministry and sacrifice (cf. Saint Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Mysterium Fidei, 4), and understands that his vocation consists in being a sacrifice together with Christ (cf. Rom 12:1). 

ALTHOUGH KIND OF WIZARD OF OZISH, I LIKE IT; I LIKE IT; I LIKE IT!

 Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Please note the interesting altar which one way faces the congregation and the other way faces ad orientem. Talk about both/and!!!!

With the life-size crucifix directly over the altar, it doesn’t seem to me that an additional one needs to be on the altar?

POPE LEO’S CHRISTO-CENTRIC MESSAGE TO SEMINARIANS IN PERU AND THROUGH THEM TO THE WORLD’S SEMINARIANS AND FORMATORS…

UPDATE, I HAVE REPLACED THE SILIRE NON POSSUM ARTICLE WITH THE ACTUAL ENGLISH DOCUMENT FROM POPE LEO--A MUST READ!

My seminary, St. Mary, Roland Park, Baltimore, Maryland, is where I attended major theology from 1976-1980. Way back then, Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament was not allowed and the tabernacle had been placed in a very nice side-chapel but not seen from the main body of the chapel. Prayer before the tabernacle was not encouraged or forbidden. The recitation of the Holy Rosary as a body of seminarians never occurred in my time there and it was clearly discouraged. 

Fortunately Saint Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, the oldest seminary in the country of any religion, has come a long way and recovered so must that was tossed in an inconoclastic way in the late 60’s and 70’s!

This never happened when I was there:

Pope Leo’s message to a Peruvian seminary hits the nail on the head and shows once again how Christ-centric Pope Leo is. I was glad that I did not hear about Vatican II, as though priests have a personal relationship with Church councils and documents or about synodality as though it can replace Christ as we walk together. 

Of course ecclesiology is important. Church Councils are important. Synodality, properly understood and expressed, is important. But none of these are as important as one’s personal relationship to Christ who initiates that relationship. Everything else is subordinated to Christ and cannot become a false god. The same with pastoral work, as important as it is, prayer and a sacramental life, especially that of the priest, comes first and all else, including pastoral work, ambitions properly ordered and liturgical nerdiness properly ordered too, flow from that prayer and sacramental life. 

LETTER OF THE HOLY FATHER 
TO THE ARCHDIOCESAN MAJOR SEMINARY 
“SAN CARLOS E SAN MARCELO” OF TRUJILLO, 
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 400th ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FOUNDATION

[4 November 2025]

_______________

Dear sons,

This year we give thanks to the Lord for the four centuries of history of the archdiocesan major seminary of “San Carlos y San Marcelo” in Trujillo, and we remember the countless young people from the archdiocese, from various jurisdictions in Peru and religious communities who, in those classrooms and chapels, have sought to respond to the voice of Christ, who called them “to be with Him, and to be sent out to preach” (Mk 3:14). My footprints are also part of that house, where I served as a teacher and director of studies.

Your first task remains the same: to be with the Lord, to let Him form you, to know and love Him, so that you may become like Him. That is why the Church has always wanted seminaries to exist, places to preserve this experience and prepare those who will be sent to serve the holy People of God. It is also a wellspring of the attitudes that I wish to share with you now, because they have always been the sure foundation of the ministry of priests.

For this reason, before anything else, it is necessary to allow the Lord to clarify one's motivations and purify one's intentions (cf. Rom 12:2). The priesthood cannot be reduced to “achieving ordination” as if it were an external goal or an easy way out of personal problems. It is not an escape from what one does not want to face, nor a refuge from emotional, family or social difficulties; nor is it a promotion or a shelter, but a total gift of one's existence. Only in freedom is it possible to give oneself: bound by interests or fears, no one gives themselves, for “the will is truly free when it is not [a] slave” (Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei, XIV, 11, 1). The decisive thing is not to be “ordained”, but truly to be priests.

When considered in worldly terms, the ministry is confused with a personal right, a distributable position; it becomes a mere prerogative or bureaucratic function. 

In reality, it arises from the choice of the Lord (cf. Mk 3:13), who with special predilection calls certain men to share in His saving ministry, so that they may reproduce His own image in themselves and give constant witness to fidelity and love (cf. Roman Missal, Preface I of Ordinations). Those who seek the priesthood for shallow reasons are mistaken in their foundation and build on sand (cf. Mt 7:26-27).

Seminary life is a journey of inner rectification. We must allow the Lord to examine our hearts and clearly show us what motivates our decisions. Rectitude of intention means being able to say every day, with simplicity and truth: “Lord, I want to be your priest, not for myself, but for your people”. 

This transparency is cultivated through frequent confession, sincere spiritual direction, and trusting obedience to those who accompany us in discernment. The Church asks for seminarians with pure hearts, who seek Christ without duplicity and do not allow themselves to be trapped by selfishness or vanity.

This requires continuous discernment. Sincerity before God and before formators protects from self-justification and helps to correct what is not coherent with the Gospel in a timely fashion. A seminarian who learns to live with this clarity becomes a mature man, free of ambition and human calculation, free to give himself without reserve. In this way, ordination will be the joyful confirmation of a life shaped by Christ since seminary, and the beginning of an authentic journey.

The heart of the seminarian is formed in a personal relationship with Jesus. Prayer is not an ancillary exercise; in it, one learns to recognize His voice and to let oneself be led by Him. Those who do not pray do not know the Master, and those who do not know Him cannot truly love Him or be configured to Him. Time spent in prayer is the most fruitful investment of one's life, because it is there that the Lord shapes our feelings, purifies our desires and strengthens our vocation. Those who do not speak enough with God cannot speak of God! 

Christ allows Himself to be encountered in a privileged way in Sacred Scripture. We must approach it with reverence, with a spirit of faith, seeking the Friend who reveals himself in its pages.

There, those who will become priests discover how Christ thinks, how He sees the world, how He is moved by the poor, and little by little they take on His same criteria and attitudes. “We need to look … to Jesus, to the compassion with which He sees our wounded humanity, to the gratuitousness with which He offered his life for us on the cross” (FRANCIS, Letter to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, 5 August 2023).

The Church has always recognized that the encounter with the Lord needs to be rooted in intelligence and to become doctrine. This is why study is an indispensable path for faith to become solid, reasoned and capable of enlightening others. Those who are trained to be priests do not devote time to academia for the sake of mere erudition, but out of fidelity to their vocation. Intellectual work, especially theological work, is a form of love and service, necessary for the mission, always in full communion with the Magisterium. Without serious study there is no true pastoral ministry, because the ministry consists in leading people to know and love Christ and, in Him, to find salvation (cf. Pius XI, Encyclical Letter Ad Catholici Sacerdotii, 44-46). 

It is said that a seminarian asked Saint Alberto Hurtado what he should specialize in, and the saint replied: “Specialize in Jesus Christ!”. That is the surest guidance: to make study a means of uniting oneself more closely to the Lord and of proclaiming Him clearly.

Prayer and the search for truth are not parallel journeys, but rather a single path that leads to the Master. A piety without doctrine becomes fragile sentimentality; doctrine without prayer becomes sterile and cold. Nurture both with balance and passion, knowing that only in this way can you authentically proclaim what you live and live coherently what you proclaim. When the mind is open to revealed truth and the heart is set ablaze in prayer, formation becomes fruitful and prepares you for a solid and luminous priesthood.

The spiritual and intellectual life are indispensable, but both are oriented towards the altar, the place where priestly identity is built and reveals itself in its fullness (cf. Saint John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia, II). There, in the Holy Sacrifice, the priest learns how to offer his life, like Christ on the cross. By nourishing himself with the Eucharist, he discovers the unity between ministry and sacrifice (cf. Saint Paul VI, Encyclical Letter Mysterium Fidei, 4), and understands that his vocation consists in being a sacrifice together with Christ (cf. Rom 12:1). 

Thus, when the cross is assumed as an inseparable part of life, the Eucharist ceases to be seen only as a rite and becomes the true centre of existence.

Union with Christ in the Eucharistic Sacrifice is prolonged in priestly fatherhood, which begets not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 4:14-15). 

Being a father is not something one does, but something one is. A true father does not live for himself, but for his family: he rejoices when his children grow up, suffers when they are lost, waits when they stray (cf. 1 Thess 2:11-12). 

In the same way, the priest carries the whole people in his heart, intercedes for them, accompanies them in their struggles and sustains them in the faith. Priestly fatherhood consists in making the face of the Father visible, so that those who encounter the priest may intuitively perceive God’s love. (MY COMMENT: THIS IS AN APOLOGETIC AS TO WHY WOMEN CANNOT BE ORDAINED PRIESTS—THEY CANNOT BE FATHERS!)

This fatherhood is expressed in attitudes of self-giving: celibacy as undivided love for Christ and His Church, obedience as trust in God's will, evangelical poverty as availability to all (cf. ECUM. VAT. II, Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, on the ministry and life of priests, 15-17), and mercy and strength that accompany wounds and sustain in pain. In these, the priest is recognized as a true father, capable of guiding His spiritual children towards Christ with firmness and love. There is no such thing as half-hearted fatherhood, nor half-hearted priesthood.

You, candidates to the priesthood, are called to shun mediocrity, in the midst of very real dangers: the worldliness that blurs the supernatural vision of reality, activism that wearies, digital distraction that robs one of inwardness, ideologies that divert from the Gospel and, no less serious, the loneliness of those who seek to live without the presbyterate and without their bishop. An isolated priest is vulnerable. Fraternity and priestly communion are intrinsic to the vocation. The Church needs holy pastors who give themselves together, not solitary functionaries; only in this way can they be credible witnesses to the communion they preach.

Dear sons, in conclusion, I want to assure you that you have a place in the heart of the Successor of Peter. The seminary is an immense and demanding gift, but you are never alone on this journey. God, the saints and the whole Church walk with you, and in a special way your bishop and your formators, who help you to grow “until Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19). Receive their guidance and correction as gestures of love. Remember also the wisdom of Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo, so beloved in Trujillo, who loved to say: “Time is not ours, it is very brief, and God will hold us strictly accountable for how we have used it” (cf. C. GARCÍA IRIGOYEN, Sto. Toribio, Lima 1908, 141). Take advantage, then, of each day as an unrepeatable treasure.

May the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, the first educators of the High and Eternal Priest, sustain you all in the joy of knowing that you are loved and called. With these sentiments, as a sign of closeness, I cordially impart the implored Apostolic Blessing upon the entire community of this beloved Seminary and your families.
Vatican, 17 September 2025, Memorial of Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
LEO PP. XIV

PREACHING THE GOSPEL FROM CASTEL GONDOLFO TO THE USA!

 Pope Leo XIV sends a message, loud and clear; I wonder if Pope Leo has a puppy-dog because its loud and clear too!

FOR A CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO HAVE A PARADE FLOAT LIKE THIS IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION BUT A SYMPTOM OF OUR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS BECOMING SECULAR AND WORLDLY AND, IN THIS CASE, DEMONIC!

I’m left scratching my head on this one. But not entirely. Recently I saw a simple procession in the hallway of a Catholic clementary school, where young children were encouraged to wear their Halloween customers and parade down the hallway with these. 

Some wore saintly costumes but others were in monster, demonic and other customers depicting the horrors of the underworld. 

Does a Catholic school need to throw in the towel as it concerns the secular celebration of Halloween when our tradition is about the Saints and the sufferings they endured. Halloween is our Catholic Tradition, celebrating the eve of All Saints! Why do something different????

But with that said, read this NcR article and weep. While this is extreme, it is symptomatic of what’s happening to particular Catholic schools in the sense of a loss of Catholic identity!

Bishop apologizes after Catholic school uses Nazi symbol in Halloween parade

THANK GOD THIS WASN’T A SYNODAL CHURCH DECISION OR CLARIFICATION OR A MAKING THINGS MURKEY!

                                       NO!

Mary as Co-Redemptrix is a theological concept never elevated to that of a doctrine much less a dogma. In this sense it is a theological concept similar to what “Limbo for unbaptized infants” is. Popes may have referred to these in the past and Catholics may have embraced these theological constructs, but eventually the Church clarifies if a theological construct is a doctrine or not, worthy of the Church to proclaim a doctrine. 

In both cases now, neither are doctrines and it appears neither will be elevated to such. 

But more importantly, the decision to clarify the titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a function of the papal magisterium. While the document comes from the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, it has the support of the pope, Pope Leo XIV and thus is a very important clarification. 

I have never taught that Mary is the Co-Redeemer (Redemptrix) for the reasons that I state above and now for the reason the DDF states below. I am grateful for the clarification. 

I am also grateful that the decision to clarify this was thought out and written by those who have a theological education and are capable of forwarding to the pope what their findings are, rather than group-think of clergy and faithful of all kinds of theological or no theological backgrounds talking the issue to death and then taking a popular vote in a synodal way to give their pious opinions to the pope, even if gnostic! 

Here’s Vatican News’ summary of the new documents comments on Mary as Co-Redemptrix:

Co-redemptrix

Regarding the title “Co-redemptrix,” the Note recalls that “some Popes have used the title “without elaborating much on its meaning.” Generally, it continues, “they have presented the title in two specific ways: in reference to Mary’s divine motherhood (insofar as she, as Mother, made possible the Redemption that Christ accomplished) or in reference to her union with Christ at the redemptive Cross. The Second Vatican Council refrained from using the title for dogmatic, pastoral, and ecumenical reasons. Saint John Paul II referred to Mary as ‘Co-redemptrix’ on at least seven occasions, particularly relating this title to the salvific value of our sufferings when they are offered together with the sufferings of Christ, to whom Mary is united especially at the Cross” (18).

The document cites an internal discussion within the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in February 1996 had discussed the request to proclaim a new dogma on Mary as “Co-redemptrix or Mediatrix of all graces.” Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was opposed to such a definition, arguing, “the precise meaning of these titles is not clear, and the doctrine contained in them is not mature. […] It is not clear how the doctrine expressed in these titles is present in Scripture and the apostolic tradition.”

Later, in 2002, the future Benedict XVI expressed himself publicly in the same way: “The formula ‘Co-redemptrix’ departs to too great an extent from the language of Scripture and of the Fathers and therefore gives rise to misunderstandings… Everything comes from Him [Christ], as the Letter to the Ephesians and the Letter to the Colossians, in particular, tell us; Mary, too, is everything that she is through Him. The word ‘Co-redemptrix’ would obscure this origin.”

The note clarifies that Cardinal Ratzinger did not deny the good intentions behind the proposal, nor the valuable aspects reflected in it, but nonetheless maintained that they were “being expressed in the wrong way” (19).

Pope Francis also expressed his clear opposition to the use of the title Co-Redemptrix on at least three occasions.

Tuesday’s Doctrinal Note concludes: “It would not be appropriate to use the title ‘Co-redemptrix’ to define Mary’s cooperation. This title risks obscuring Christ’s unique salvific mediation and can therefore create confusion and an imbalance in the harmony of the truths of the Christian faith. […] When an expression requires many, repeated explanations to prevent it from straying from a correct meaning, it does not serve the faith of the People of God and becomes unhelpful” (22).

Press title for entire document: 

DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH
Mater Populi Fidelis
Doctrinal Note on Some Marian Titles 
Regarding Mary’s Cooperation 
in the Work of Salvation

WHOA! NOW THAT’S A PASCHAL CANDLE!

 Holy Paschal Candle, Batman!

Good Shepherd  Church,  Garlan, Texas

POPE LEO’S SPLENDID REQUIEM FOR DECEASED CARDINALS ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3 AT THE ALTAR OF THE CHAIR AT. SAINT PETER’S BASILICA…

The dancing crucifix makes its way back to the center of the modern altar in this location! Who decided and why? Just leave that arrangement alone! And if you look at the main papal altar, six silver candlesticks and silver crucifix dead center are in place—who decides these things???

The Gregorian Chants for the Propers are splendidly done for this Requiem by the Sistine Choir.  Why in the name of God and all that is holy the pope does not issue a TC authoritarian type document to say that Funeral Masses must use the proper Gregorian chants. Why Lord? Why, oh why, Lord?????

I don’t dislike that modern altar as I believe it has artistic merit. I just dislike modern features in Romanesque structures like St. Peter’s. It is out of place there!

Here’s the booklet for this splendidly celebrated Requiem as Requiems should be celebrated in the Modern Form!

POPE LEO’S ALL SOULS’ MASS AT A CEMETARY OUTSIDE OF ROME

 The Sistine Choir chants the Propers for this Mass splendidly and the choice of the Kyrie is very beautiful. If only every parish in the world would aspire to have a sung Mass with the Propers chanted in Latin and with such a Catholic ethos when it comes to the chants of the Mass! If only!!!

His Holiness’ excellent homily:

COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED

HOLY MASS

HOMILY OF POPE LEO XIV

Verano Cemetery, Rome
Sunday, 2 November 2025

[Multimedia]

________________________________________

DE  - EN  - ES  - FR  - IT  - PL  - PT

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have gathered here to celebrate the Commemoration of all the faithful departed. We do so especially for those buried in this place, and with particular affection for our own loved ones. Although they left us on the day when they died, we continue to carry them with us in our hearts, and their memory remains always alive within us amid our daily lives. Often, something brings them to mind, and we recall experiences we once shared with them. Many places, even the fragrance of our homes, speak to us of those we have loved and who have gone before us, vividly maintaining their memory for us.

Today, however, we are not gathered merely to commemorate those who have departed from this world. Our Christian faith, founded upon Christ’s Paschal mystery, helps us to experience our memories as more than just a recollection of the past but also, and above all, as hope for the future. It is not so much about looking back, but instead looking forward towards the goal of our journey, towards the safe harbor that God has promised us, towards the unending feast that awaits us. There, around the Risen Lord and our loved ones, we hope to savor the joy of the eternal banquet. As we just heard from the prophet Isaiah: “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food… He will swallow up death forever” (25: 6,8).

This hope for the future brings to life our remembrance and prayer today. This is not an illusion for soothing the pain of our separation from loved ones, nor is it mere human optimism. Instead, it is the hope founded on the Resurrection of Jesus who has conquered death and opened for us the path to the fullness of life. As I said in a recent catechesis, the Lord is “the destination of our journey. Without his love, the voyage of life would become a wandering without a goal, a tragic mistake with a missed destination… The Risen One guarantees our arrival, leading us home, where we are awaited, loved and saved” (General Audience, 15 October 2025).

This final destination, this banquet around which the Lord will gather us, will be an encounter of love. For it was out of love that God created us, through the love of his Son that he saves us from death, and in the joy of that same love, he desires that we live forever with him and with our loved ones. For this reason, whenever we dwell in love and show charity to others, especially the weakest and most needy, then we can journey towards our goal, and even now anticipate it through an unbreakable bond with those who have gone before us. Moroever, Jesus encourages us in these words: “… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:35-36).

Love conquers death. In love, God will gather us together with our loved ones.  And, if we journey together in charity, our very lives become a prayer rising up to God, uniting us with the departed, drawing us closer to them as we await to meet them again in the joy of eternal life.

Dear brothers and sisters, even as our sorrow for those no longer among us remains etched in our hearts, let us entrust ourselves to the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Let us fix our gaze upon the Risen Christ and think of our departed loved ones as enfolded in his light. Let us allow the Lord’s promise of eternal life to resound in our hearts. He will destroy death forever. Indeed, he has already conquered it, opening for us the way to eternal life by passing through the valley of death during his Paschal mystery. Thus, united to him, we too may enter and pass through the valley of death.

The Lord awaits us, and when we finally meet him at the end of our earthly journey, we shall rejoice with him and with our loved ones who have gone before us. May this promise sustain us, dry our tears, and raise our gaze upwards toward the hope for the future that never fades.

SAINT JOSEPH CHURCH, MACON, GEORGIA, SOLEMN FAURE’S REQUIEM FOR ALL SOULS’ DAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015 IN THE EXTRAORDINARY FORM—YOURS TRULY, CELEBRANT

 Please note what I post below the video which I posted originally on the 2015 post about technical glitches in this video…

I thank Lovel Miguel who digitized this video for us. Unfortuately due to a technical glitch, the first 17 minutes of the video did not have sound!!!! Yes, you read that correctly, no sound for the first 17 minutes of the video. So Lovel in this technical brilliance spliced Faure's Introit from our last year's Faure's Requiem into this years.

Unfortunately, the subdeacon chanting the First Lesson is not heard as the splice from last year goes immediately from the Introit to the cantor's chanting of the Gradual! We were not able to dub the chanting of the first lesson. Last year's Dies Irae continues following the Gradual although I think somewhere along the way the Dies Irae picks up with this year's. The chanting of the Gospel by the deacon  is actually this year's plus all that follows.

MODERN MASS LITURGICAL SUBJECTIVITY REIGNS AND FOR THOSE WHO NOTICE, JUST A HANDFUL OF LITURGICAL NERDS, IT DRIVES US CRAZY!

From the dancing crucifix to the number and arrangement of candles, modern papal Masses are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. There are no rules, just subjectivity. This is the fatal flaw or wonderful gift, depending on your subjective evaluation, of the Modern Mass. 

My question has to do with whose subjectivity is it? The pope’s? The Master of Ceremonies? 

For the most part, under Pope Francis, the altar arrangement at St. Peter’s remained basically that of Pope Benedicts with the candles more angled and to the side and a smaller central crucifix.

During Pope Francis’ dying, the papal MC began to play around with the placement of the crucifix. Sometimes it was the Processional Cross placed to the side of the altar but not always and this continued into Pope Leo’s Masses, although the use of the processional Cross seems to have fallen  out of favor as the altar cross. 

It appears, at this point, that the most solemn arrangement is for high events, like canonizations where the huge candles are used, seven of them, and a huge crucifix. The crucifix is on the left side of the altar and the episcopal candles on the right. 

Last week’s Mass with university personnel (the last two photos below) saw the very short candlesticks with a short but odd central cross which seems to be the arrangement and choice of candles when no Mass is being celebrated there as the vandals have knocked off the nicer arrangement for tourism. 

At that Mass, when the pope approached the altar at the beginning of Mass to incense it, he looked toward his left for the tall crucifix and realized the one odd one dead center was what he should incense first. He’s done that a few times, looking for the crucifix as it has appeared in different locations. 

Here are some of the examples of the subjectivity of the Modern Mass and its altar arrangement and now on steroids at papal Masses: