The prefect of Divine Worship mocks the faithful of the traditional Mass — tradition turns his « unity » argument against him

Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, has stated that Pope Leo XIV does not intend to lift the restrictions on the traditional Mass: neither to reverse Traditionis custodes, nor to restore Summorum pontificum. Asked about the faithful who seek wider access to the older rite, he mocked their complaint: « But then they go away and say they are still being persecuted. Persecuted in what way? Why is the band still playing a tune that is discordant with the life of the Church? » He justifies the refusal in the name of the Eucharist, the « sacrament of unity » which, if it divides, would show that « something is seriously amiss ».

What the Church teaches

The Catechism of the Council of Trent calls the Eucharist precisely « the Sacrament of Peace and of Charity ». It teaches that this sacrament « unites us in Him, so as to make of us all but one body », and draws from it a moral conclusion without evasion: « unworthy of the name of Christians are those who entertain enmities one against another ». Eucharistic unity is wrought by charity and peace — « we wish above all to preserve Peace and Charity » — not by contempt. And the rite in question is no « discordant tune »: it is the Sacrifice the Church has received and offered down the centuries.

The measure

Measured against that rule, the argument turns back on itself. Unity is invoked to restrict; but tradition teaches that unity is born of charity, and gives the name of discord — « hatreds, dissensions, and discords » — to precisely what public contempt for the faithful produces. To mock as a discordant « band » those attached to the immemorial rite of the Roman Church is to confuse the unity of the faith with the uniformity of a reform, and to fix the name of discord upon those who asked only to pray as their fathers did. We pronounce nothing on the person or the office of the cardinal; we observe only that the act — the refusal joined to the mockery — accords ill with what the Sacrament of Peace requires of charity.

What it means for the faithful

The course to hold is simple and ancient: keep the faith and the worship as the Church has always handed them down, without bitterness and without schism. Attachment to the traditional Mass is not rebellion; it is fidelity to the Sacrifice received. One answers contempt with the charity that same sacrament commands, preserving « Peace and Charity » and praying for the shepherds. No sedevacantist conclusion, no theatrical « resistance »: only perseverance.

Sources. Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), On the Eucharist — the Eucharist « the Sacrament of Peace and of Charity », which « unites us in Him, so as to make of us all but one body »; and On the Sacrament of the Eucharist (continued) — on Communion and the Sacrifice of the Mass.