Tag Archives: The Untouchables

My messy translation on the fly:

• “Concerning the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes the Pope insisted [with the French bishops on their ad limina visit some days ago] on the fact that it must not be that the celebration of the Ancient Rite be a pretext for refusing Vatican II. “A limit must be established and ENOUGH!” he insisted with the Bishops of France to the end that a liturgical attraction must not be cover for an ideological posture. With that, the Successor of Peter incited them to adopt a “paternal attitude” toward the faithful.”

The word “basta” in any latinesque language connotes real anger, voiced sotto voce by the mafia hit-man before a kill, or in the loud shouting of one who is frustrated, cornered, at the end of his rope: “BASTA!” In English such a proclamation of exasperation is likely to be followed by theological methodologies of localities: “ENOUGH! DAMN IT!” The message for the bishops is clear: either they smack priests down or they will be smacked down.

The superlative, if you will, of “basta” is “bastone”, a cane, stick, that with which you would club someone to death, as in the verb bastonare. The image is that of a mafioso smashing someone’s brains out with a baseball bat. You know the famous scene in The Untouchables. It’s the “We’re-the-‘men-of-consensus’-or-else!” baseball-bat-scene”. BTW, this is very violent, but, I think, a poignant analogy regarding the “paternal attitude” (godfather attitude) that is desired from bishops who do not smack down any non-team players among their priests, any priest who’s not a “man of consensus”:

The frustration and resulting anger comes from the weird insistence that the Ancient Rite is somehow itself an ipso facto structuring of the faith of adherents such that, Pope Francis presumes, the Ancient Rite adherent will have such a non-team player reject the spirit of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council (whatever that is).

FUN FACT: The Ancient Rite was the Mass of the Council. It was the only Latin Rite of Mass offered at the Council. Every single Latin Roman Rite Mass was the Traditional Latin Mass. So, I mean, like, um…

For myself, being born before “Vatican II”, I can attest to the fact of the celebration of Second Vatican Council. I accept that. It happened. Yep. Is that enough? Or must I say more. I can say a lot more.

If I did say more, I’m sure that I would be held to be a non-team player, not a man of consensus, a traitor to the spirit of the Council, a betrayer who needs to be bastonato by paternal ecclesiastics somewhere in Rome.

FUN FACT: The bishops at the Council, the “Fathers” of the Council, were allowed to disagree with sentences, paragraphs, articles, or even entire documents, even all of them. No one made a fuss about that. THAT’s the purpose of having a Council. Francis: EVERYONE MUST THINK LIKE I DO OR ELSE, DAMN IT!

Um… just… wow… That’s not the spirit of the Council, is it? If it is, it’s not Catholic in the least.

The spirit of the Council is all about the sycophantry of the non-thinking fear driven “yes men” with whom Francis surrounds himself.

• Francis: “BASTA!”
• Bishops: “We obey you! We worship you! You are god!”

Question: Why do I say these things? Answer: Galatians 2:11.