I wish you DID get it. The fact is a number of Bishops defied Summorum Pontificum, forbade priests from publicly celebrating the Latin Mass and nothing happened to them. That's the way their diocese worked during Benedict XVI's papacy after Summorum Pontificum and continued to work under Francis.

Francis decree legitimizes the status quo. It's like his changing Canon Law to allow female altar servers. Novus Ordo parishes have had them for years already? Francis legitimized the practice but he hasn't changed the fact you won't find one at a TLM parish.

The Novus Ordo Bishops who hate the Latin Mass will continue to forbid it as they always have. The bishops who tolerate or even approve of it for one reason or another will continue to do so.

If you wish to argue otherwise, you'd better start showing some hard examples. Otherwise your argument just took a flying jump over the railing of your bridge.

In many ways, time will tell, particularly with public Masses, but I expect things to get much worse. In the time before Benedict XVI fled for fear of the wolves, in my liberal archdiocese, if a pastor of a parish authorized a traditional Mass, he did so without fear of official reprisal. No one told him to stop, even if many of his brother priests would talk behind his back. This will not be tolerated anymore, and I suspect that the few regular Latin Masses will be reduced. Summorum Pontificum allowed for priests to say the Old Rite in private, which means that if you offered a private Mass, at a side altar, no one could stop you. Also, any member of the faithful who happened to be in church could come to the Mass. Now, any priest who has said the Old Rite of Mass has to petition to be able to keep “enjoying this faculty.”Summorum Pontificum granted rights to priests, and this act of cruelty takes them away. It would appear that FSSP and ICKSP seminarians are going to, individually, need to get permission to even be able to celebrate the Mass that was the whole reason they even considered becoming priests. There are a lot of unanswered questions, to be sure, as this document is very sloppy, but, before yesterday, the de iure situation of Trads in the Church was pretty good, even if the de facto situation was murkier. Now, all rights are gone in this respect, and everyone has to rely on the benevolence of bishops, and that is not encouraging at all.

I'm a pessimist as well, but also a realist. @John A Cassani The TLM is a money-maker and many bishops owe their allegience to the quarterly financial report before the Word of God.

True, the hard-core Novus Ordo ideologues would gladly see every church in their diocese close for lack of attendance before they'd allow the TLM, and many of them will see just that.

But that puts them at odds with their own superiors who also owe their allegiance to the accountant's balance sheets before Scripture. Good and bad are defined in terms of profit, not ideology.

"if a pastor of a parish authorized a traditional Mass, he did so without fear of official reprisal. No one told him to stop, even if many of his brother priests would talk behind his back."

I wonder about that. Bishops have a wide range of "unofficial" reprisals they can use against a recalcitrant priest and that goes well beyond just his fellow priests gossipping about him.

"This will not be tolerated anymore, and I suspect that the few regular Latin Masses will be reduced."

...only in diocese where the Bishop puts his hatred of the TLM before his love of money. Ironically enough, in this case Mammon is The Church's best friend. The Creed is Greed.

"which means that if you offered a private Mass, at a side altar, no one could stop you."

I suspect "private Masses" will return as they already did during the Covid lockdowns. Pssst.... John Cassani sent me. ;-)

"Now, any priest who has said the Old Rite of Mass has to petition to be able to keep “enjoying this faculty.”

True, but the priests who've been saying the traditional Mass in public have already been doing so with their Bishop's approval, not in spite of his disapproval. Those guys wield a lot of clout and much of it isn't "legal" or even set down on paper.

"It would appear that FSSP and ICKSP seminarians are going to, individually, need to get permission to even be able to celebrate the Mass that was the whole reason they even considered becoming priests."

Very true. However... the FSSP at least are invited by Bishops to celebrate the Mass in this parish or that one. Soooo... guess what happens? Father FSSP writes to His Excellency for approval and it's granted. Or His Excellency, if he's been following developments, has already contacted the priest and granted his approval. Seminarians "celebrate the Mass"? Without being ordained? You sure about that, amigo? ;-)

Why am I so confident Francis' decree is a non-issue?

Because in about twelve hours I'm going to a Mass celebrated by an FSSP priest and it's on, my man! :D

I checked the parish website, I checked with a few of the Knights Of Columbus who are the ushers, I even checked with the parish secretary (who's been gettting BOMBED with calls).

El Francesco's nasty Motu Proprio hasn't changed a thing because in this diocese, the Bishop is a staunch supporter of the TLM.

He isn't the only one. There's a network of bishops like this and they're the ones who ordain FSSP priests. ;-)

Basically, the fiction and hypocrisy resulting from SP is ending.

PS I do not mean here these real & sincere lunatics who firmly and genuinely believe that the traditional Roman Rite and NOM are two forms of the same rite, lex orandi & credendi and who want to be enriched by sermons using all the new theology starting from Unitatis redintegratio, Lumen gentium and Nostra aetate and ending with Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Laetitia or Fratelli Tutti.

So basically, the diocesan TLM people who have been lied to so they wouldn't look at the SSPX for what it is--Catholic and currently holding an irregular canonical status within the Church--are finally receiving the fruits of said deception.

Irregularity is not schism.

Irregularity is what we're experiencing because those who hold Rome hostage have given entree to the world. This is why +Lefebvfe knew he'd need bishops. And THIS is precisely why Rome never gave the FSSP the bishop that was promised to them.

The oft perpetuated excuse that the FSSP didn't really need their own bishop because they were small or fill-in-the-blank was precisely that. An excuse. With corral the sheep and extinguish them TLM at the end of the line.

Welcome to reality.

"Irregularity is not schism."

John Paul II said differently and he used the word schism. SSPX fans love pretending a legitimacy their own history and continued contempt for Papal authority refutes.

"This is why +Lefebvfe knew he'd need bishops."
...and when he broke Church Law by appointing them without approval, he placed himself outside The Church. John Paul II affirmed that as well.

This is the Catholic Church. There's a chain of command and rules to follow.

"And THIS is precisely why Rome never gave the FSSP the bishop that was promised to them... "

...and THIS hasn't prevented the FSSP from finding sympathetic bishops aplenty who travel from all over the country to lawfully ordain their priests.

"With corral the sheep and extinguish them TLM at the end of the line."

Cool story, bro. Needs more of Saint Lefebvre riding Swiftwind, the magical unicorn at the head of the Heavenly Host. Pic related...

Of course he's a saint. Who needs an official canonization process anymore? Surely not the SSPX. ;-)

JPII can "say" all he likes that a certain action will be viewed as schism. But not even the Holy Father can create out of nothing. That's reserved to God alone unless you're convinced that JPII could turn water into wine or call wine into an empty goblet on his own steam.

Cool fantasy, Bro, that would be you hugging up to rainbow unicorns and your own disconnect with reality. And THIS, whatever this is, seems to be where the rubber is meeting the road for the FSSP regardless of "sympathetic" bishops.

Point is, your emotional state, Ultraviolet, or fearing schism doesn't create schism. But JP II was absolutely correct in that +Lefebvre's actions would be 'viewed' as schismatic. Why? Because nutters like yourself refuse to use a dictionary and prefer to invent My Little Pony spinoffs in your mom's basement.

Fact: Rome promised the FSSP a bishop, their own bishop, which never came. It was a false promise intended to placate those like yourself who, thumb stuck in mouth, were convinced that doing nothing was the only way to fly.

At least the charade of false sympathy is out the door now. About time.

"But not even the Holy Father can create out of nothing."

He didn't, dummy. Abp. Lefebvre gave him miles of rope for the hanging. Nice to see you carefully crept back months afterwards, without notice. I've noticed this is a tactic of yours, like any other little rat leaving its spoor.

"Cool fantasy, Bro, that would be you hugging up to rainbow unicorns and your own disconnect with reality."

Get back to me when you're done reading "Ecclesia Dei," Bro. Wait another two months before replying so maybe I won't notice, next time.

"Point is, your emotional state, Ultraviolet, or fearing schism doesn't create schism."

Schism isn't for me to decide, It's for The Church and The Church, in this case, explicitly referred to Abp. Lefebvre's movement as such. As for our respective emotional states, you can go right on snuffling those hot, snotty tears of frustration because JP II slammed the proverbial door on your line of argument decades ago.

"But JP II was absolutely correct in that +Lefebvre's actions would be 'viewed' as schismatic." Why? Because nutters like yourself refuse to use a dictionary..."

JP II was absolutely correct in describing Abp. Lefebvre's actions as disobedience, a violation of Canon Law, and a "schismatic act". Why? Because that's what Abp. Lefebvre did and insisted on doing even after repeated warnings.

A dictionary isn't needed here. Only a quick review of the Apostolic Letter confirming the excommunication resulting from that disobedience and schismatic act. You're going to have to do better than "mom's basement," too. Ad Hominem shots don't work on me.

In your case, I find it reassuring you're just this dull-witted and unimaginative. It means that was the best you've got and your best just wasn't good enough.

Here's another fact, one I'm certain you'd rather ignore. The FSSP has an extensive network of traditionalist bishops who lawfully ordain their clergy. So your fact, while factual, is irrelevant.

Protip: That isn't a My Little Pony spin-off either. How fitting. You began with error and you ended with it, even on something trivial. Well done.