The Pope, the Council, and the Mass: Answers to Questions the Traditionalists Have Asked Book

Abbreviations     ix
Introduction to the Revised Edition     1
Introduction to the Original Edition     7
Why were all the changes made when everything was going so well for the Church? Conversions were up, vocations were up, and we had a beautiful traditional Mass which communicated the sense of the sacred. Why was all that abruptly changed?     19
But wasn't Vatican II merely a "Pastoral Council"? Are the Faithful obliged to follow such a Council, especially when its "fruits" have proved to be so bitter?     31
Did Pope Paul VI have the authority to revise the Roman Missal and make the new order of the Mass normative for Catholics of the Roman Rite in place of the "Tridentine Mass"?     43
Didn't Pope Saint Pius V, in his Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum, issued in 1570, establish the Tridentine Mass for all time?     53
Even if we admit that Pope Paul VI had the authority to revise the Roman Missal to replace the Tridentine Mass by the New Order of the Mass, isn't it nevertheless true that the Pope did not follow proper canonical form in making this change? Isn't it therefore still licit to say the Tridentine Mass?     63
Doesn't the replacement of the Tridentine Mass involve the watering down or abandonment of the Catholic Tradition? Can Catholics really be faulted for following the injunctions of Saint Paul, "Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught"? (2 Thess. 2:15)     71
Isn't there abundant proof that the NewOrder of the Mass was really designed to please Protestants-to be a mere "memorial" of the Lord's Supper rather than the Holy Sacrifice the Church has always offered in the Mass?     83
Is the New Order of the Mass thus obligatory for Catholics of the Roman Rite? And does this mean I may not attend a Tridentine Mass celebrated by a validly ordained priest?     95
Excursus: A Further Note on Latin and Vernacular Masses     101
How can I have confidence in the Novus Ordo Mass in my own parish, considering that the Latin words "pro vobis et pro multis" in the formula of consecration are mistranslated as "for you and for all"? The Latin does not say "pro omnibus"! Doesn't this imply a heretical idea, namely, that all will necessarily be saved?     105
Apart from the translation question, isn't it true that the formula for consecration, fixed for all time by Christ, included "for many"? Wouldn't all consecrations without "for many," or with some different formula, therefore be invalid?     113
Doesn't the removal of the words "mysterium fidei" from the words of the consecration and their use instead for acclamations, three out of four of which concentrate on Christ's coming again rather than on His presence here and now on the altar-wasn't this rearrangement deliberately intended to downgrade or deny the Catholic belief in the Real Presence?     125
How can the Novus Ordo be held to offer a true sacrifice when the Te Igitur, the Memento Domine, the Hanc igitur and other elements which affirmed the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation have been eliminated?     131
Regardless of particular words, formulas, or parts in the text of the Mass itself, wasn't the definition of the Mass published in the "General Instruction on the New Roman Missal" proof enough that with the Novus Ordo we are surely confronted with a Protestantized version of the Mass?     137
Didn't Cardinal Ottaviani, former head of the "Holy Office," intervene to severely criticize the manner in which the Novus Ordo downplayed the idea of sacrifice?     143
If, as the Church has always believed, lex orandi, lex credendi, the rule of prayer determines the rule of faith, can we not attribute the drastic decline in Catholic faith and practice in the past few years to the ill-advised liturgical reforms decided upon by the Second Vatican Council and implemented by the Pope?     151
Hasn't it been demonstrated that some of the Vatican officials responsible for the New Order of the Mass were, in fact, Masons hoping to subvert the Faith?     163
Quite apart from the motives of those who produced the Novus Ordo, or the particular elements, words, or phrases in the New Rite, hasn't it caused an unprecedented desacralization of the Church? Shouldn't we judge it as a mistake by its already evident "fruits"?     169
Why cannot the Pope allow the Latin Tridentine Mass for those who prefer it, alongside the New Order of the Mass?     183
Why has there been such tolerance in the Church for modernist and liberal dissenters and such severity towards Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and others who prefer the Tridentine Mass?     191
Everything you have said would be more plausible if it had not been shown that Vatican II contradicted the Tradition of the Church in its Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae. What about that?     217
Why didn't Vatican Council II condemn communism?     235
Didn't a Pope, as well as a General Council, once condemn the acts of another Pope, Honorius I? Is it not at least possible that Pope Paul VI might someday be censured in a similar way for daring to change the Mass?     243
Our Faith is clearly under attack today. Must we not fight back against all the heresy and infidelity? Didn't Saint Robert Bellarmine teach that it was licit to resist even a pontiff who attacked souls?     251
What, then, can we do in the middle of this "crisis in the Church"?     269
Hasn't the post-conciliar experience with the reform of the Liturgy shown that the Tridentine Mass is much superior to the New Order of the Mass?     277
Afterword     293
Apostolic Constitution Missale Romanum of Pope Paul VI     327
Two General Audiences of Pope Paul VI on the Mass     333
Apostolic Constitution Quo Primum of Pope Saint Pius V     341
Pope Paul VI's Letter to Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre     345
Letter Quattuor Abhinc Annas from the Congregation for Divine Worship     357
Apostolic Letter Ecclessia Dei of Pope John Paul II Given Motu Proprio, and Decree of the Congregation for Bishops     359
Pope John Paul II on Liturgical Abuses     365
Vatican II and Post-Conciliar Texts on the Mass as a Sacrifice     369
About the Authors     373