In the Name of Christian Unity

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In her bosom we behold how the Holy Spirit has “gathered all the nations from out of the babel of tongues into the unity of faith.” Being formed of “all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues,” she constitutes but one family of God, one kingdom of Christ, a kingdom not of this world, but exalted above every nation of the earth. Therefore, it is proper that the Church, when celebrating divine worship, when offering the divine Sacrifice, should make use not of the language of some one single country or nation, but of a language that is universal, consecrated and sanctified. Thus at the altar it is a figure of the heavenly Jerusalem, where all the angels and saints in unison (una voce) sing their “Holy, holy, holy” and Alleluia.

(Fr. Nicholas Ghir, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Dogmatically, Liturgically and Ascetically Explained)

Yesterday apparently Pope Leo offered Mass for the youth and prayed the Pater Noster in Latin. But this begs the question, why stop at the Pater Noster, why not offer the original Mass in the Latin Rite? These little acts of Tradition, what and who are they meant to impress? Is it supposed to make Traditional Catholics happy? Is it for the novus Catholics who don't know what's been stolen from them? Or is it just for aesthetics? Only Pope Leo and God know the answer to these questions.

What strikes one as surprising is the fact that such “Traditional “ actions require someone to point to them. Traditional Catholics won't notice them, because we are not going to attend an abridged childish version of the Holy Mass. Novus Ordo Catholics won't notice these “traditional” gestures either, because firstly, they have been made to suspect Latin and specifically its use in the Liturgy; and secondly because they are by and large clueless about Sacred Tradition.¹ Therefore some article writer or Vatican spokesperson has to point out that the pope prayed the Lord's Prayer in Latin. What a wonderful newsworthy thing for the Pope to offer the Latin Rite liturgy and to pray one prayer in Latin.

Another striking thing is the hierarchy’s constant call for unity with heretics. Yes, Our Lord prayed for unity, but this prayer was for His flock to remain faithfully united to His Church,; keeping His teachings and holding on to what He had handed to His Apostles. It was not a prayer, for us, to be united with the enemies of His Mystical Body a.k.a. the Catholic Church. Unity as Christ Himself explained was to be a sign to non believers of the Truth that Christ is God-incarnate and what He taught is true. Unfortunately, Christ's prayer for unity has been used, by modernists, to derail Catholic unity. By suggesting that Catholics leave what the Holy Spirit has worked (in the Catholic Church over the centuries) and be united to those who have left the Catholic Church, (that Christ built,) modernists have attacked our unity with Catholics of the past.

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What better visible sign of unity than Latin? Even a non believer can see that this is one group of people, since they pray in one tongue. Latin was a visible sign of Catholic unity across the globe. Imagine going on work or vacation to another country but feeling at home at the Latin Rite Mass. Isn't it wonderful that God the Holy Spirit gave the growth to this Church, planted in far off corners of the world, and yet visibly kept her children united through Her liturgy and prayers? Isn't the Church's use of Latin, the reversal of Babel and a reminder of Pentecost, where all nations understand the Word of God? But today, Latin is used as a tool to divide Latin Rite Catholics by the very hierarchy that calls for unity.

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As Fr. Ghir points out, the use of Latin has always been a problem for the enemies of the Catholic Church. They cry out unity, but break the very thread that unites Catholics.

Opponents of the Latin language of worship were, as a rule, heretics, schismatics and rationalistic Catholics; for example, the Albigensians, the so-called Reformers, the Jansenists, the Gallicans, the Josephites, the so-called German and the Old Catholics.

(Fr. Nicholas Ghir, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Dogmatically, Liturgically and Ascetically Explained)

Fr. Ghir’s book on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, gives a detailed explanation on the importance of Latin in the liturgy and prayers of the Church. He goes on to say,

The Church likewise, when introducing the Roman liturgy among newly converted nations, has for many centuries permitted the Latin language only.3 She excommunicates all those who presume to declare the vernacular to be the necessary or the only permissible language for the liturgy;4 she stigmatizes as impertinent effrontery for any one to censure or combat the retention of the Latin language for divine worship. 5 This is just; for, as St. Augustine remarks, “to question what the united Church practices as a rule is the most daring madness.”6 In all such general decrees and usages appertaining to divine worship, the Church is directed and preserved from injurious blunders by the Holy Spirit.7 Instead of censuring the Church on account of her practice, that has endured more than a thousand years, of conducting her liturgical worship in a dead language, we should rather acknowledge and admire her supernatural wisdom; she counts her experiences by centuries: ours we can enumerate only by days.

The arguments against Latin stem from ignorance, and this ignorance has become widespread in the novus Catholic world. With changes to the Catechism and a general forgetfulness of all things Catholic (saints, their writings, apparitions, Church documents, encyclicals, to name a few) novus Catholics lend their voices to the ones leading the arguments against the use of Latin in the liturgy (and to our Catholic identity in general). Fr. Ghir expresses this perfectly, when he writes:

The demand that the Mass should everywhere be celebrated in the vernacular, is based for the most part on ignorance, or on an entire misconception of the real nature and object of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice contains “much that is instructive” (magnam eruditionem — Trident.), but instruction is by no means its principal object. The altar is not a pulpit, the Holy Mass is not primarily a doctrinal lecture or an instruction to the people. The Sacrifice is essentially a liturgical action performed by the priest for propitiating and glorifying God, as well as for the salvation of the faithful. In this sacrifice the Christian people should take a lively part, full of profit to themselves, and they should in spiritual union with the celebrating priest — plus medullis cordis quam labiis vocis — more with the heart than with the lips join in prayer and sacrifice. And this is not possible for them to do without some understanding of the liturgical celebration; for “although devotion consists principally in an abundance of devout sentiments and, consequently, belongs more to the heart than to the understanding, there is, however, no perfect devotion without the enlightenment of the understanding. But in order to acquire the requisite knowledge to join in devout union with the priest celebrating the Mass, various means are at the disposal of Catholics; the celebration of the Church service in the vernacular is not at ail requisite therefore, and would oftentimes prove of little or no avail. By means of oral teaching, with the aid of books of instruction and devotion, every Christian may obtain a sufficient knowledge of the liturgy of the Holy Sacrifice, of the prayers which the priest recites at the altar. For this purpose the mere recital of formulas of prayer in the vernacular by the celebrant would not suffice: for in many cases, for example, in large churches, at High Mass, or when several priests celebrate at the same time, it would be impossible, or at least disedifying, to pray so loud at the altar that all present could distinctly hear and understand the words of the officiating priest. Even if they did understand the words which the priest sings or recites at the altar, but little would be attained for the real understanding of the sense; for the formulas of the Mass, taken principally from Holy Scripture, are often mystical and difficult to comprehend; the mere rendering of them into the vernacular would not always disclose the hidden meaning, and the translation might often be the occasion of misconceptions, of misunderstandings, it might arouse the desire for disputation and dangerous hypercriticism.

Fr. NicholasGhir, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Dogmatically, Liturgically and Ascetically Explained

Thus, when the pope prays in Latin or dresses as a pope should dress, there’s nothing extraordinary going on. Or perhaps there is. After years of modernists nonsense, perhaps they are trying something different. Maybe, they want to show (us) that they are not ashamed of being Catholic, as was the case in the past, when popes apologized for “wrongs” committed by the Church, while the real sins of prelates were swept under the rug. Or perhaps, this is all an act to get traditional Catholics to stay silent. Whatever they are up to in the Vatican, I hope that their use of Latin, their praying in the direction of God, has an impact on these prelates, themselves. I hope and pray that they receive a moment of grace and fall in love with the Church, because they will be judged by God more strictly than ignorant lay people. Let’s pray for those in authority to become faithful to Christ and His Church.

Footnotes:

1. ( Disclaimer: I was born and raised in the novus ordo church,, I had all the arguments against Latin, until one moment of grace on Christmas Day of 2019.)