Your Tatler has been burned in the past, and the website this report comes from, Facebook, is hardly the last word in credibility–which by no means is to impune the chap reporting it.

All caveats duly given, here we go.

BREAKING: Multiple sources confirm that Pope Leo XIV has privately celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass for years, including within the Vatican, with special permission from Pope Francis.

Reports indicate that his Latin is “fluent,” and photographs show him donning traditional vestments.

Additionally, it has been revealed that he offered the Traditional Latin Mass at the USCCB in the 1990s and again in Rome.

Could this signify a liturgical turning point?

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Or could it signify mere wishful thinking? Your Tatler would love to know the unnamed “multiple sources” cited. Enthusiastic as this blogger is to see Usus Antiquior returned to its proper place in the Mass, he will acknowledge some of his fellow TLMers are, shall we say, not all there.

There is, however, always room for hope, prayer, and optimism. In time, Holy Church’s true language of the Mass shall return to where it belongs. Oremus.

Priestly formation must not be shaped by cultural trends, political correctness, or the spirit of permissiveness. It must be formed in the fire of truth, chastity, self-sacrifice, and Eucharistic love.

—Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost (Now Pope Leo XIV) Excerpt from the Speech: “Formation of Priests in the Truth”,March 12, 2022,Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome,Conference on Priestly Formation

–h/t Peter West

Photo: USA Today

Your Tatler is having second thoughts about Pope Leo XIV, which does not mean he is thrilled by the conclave’s decision; hardly, and the rather catty screed posted yesterday shall remain up, for now.

Extended claws retracted  though, our new pope hardly seems the villain, and the general reaction among your Tatler’s colleagues is, although admitedly we have little evidence to go on, Leo XIV is a decent, honorable man.

Regarding that, a friend posted on social media recently the following.

They chose a nonentity, someone who has spent his entire career as an obscure bureaucrat. The broadcasters were stupefied yesterday, no one knew anything about him, and there was a long patch of dead air after the announcement was made. The cardinals are obviously hoping for someone who will keep a low profile and not make much noise. That’s not a bad thing. Neither is his relative youth. He was chosen for the long haul, and for a long haul, you want to pace yourself and keep to a steady course. That’s not a bad thing, either. I think we could have done FAR worse.

Agreed.

An example of Leo’s improved disposition over his predecessor, he has no history of uttering  inflammatory anti-Americanisms, unlike his forebear, who issued them with tiresome regularity, which will come as welcome relief to most Catholics everywhere, but especially in the US, of course.

Leo XIV’s reputedly easy-going nature will  welcome. One issue of importance to your Tatler and watched closely will be Leo’s attitude toward celebrations and celebrants of Usus Antiquior, that is, the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite; or in short, the Latin Mass or TLM. Pope Francis had a particularly low regard for it bordering on contempt, ordering restrictions that made it nearly impossible for the Latin Mass to be celebrated. If Pope Leo makes it even somewhat easier for TLM, enthusiasts will be most grateful to His Holiness.

The positive signs beginning to emerge from this, let’s face it, fairly unknown pontiff, are hopeful indeed. However, even if they come to naught, Pope Leo XIV deserves our fervent prayers. He has a tough job in front of him, undoing the major damage suffered by Holy Church over the past years. He will need those prayers of ours.

Note: this post was published only a day after Robert Prevost was elected pope. It is sarcastic and wrong. It will remain posted however to remind this blogger not to be so hasty.

Sizing Him up.

So what is the best thing about our new pope? Without question, his new name, Leo XIV.

And the second best thing? His origin, Cardinal Robert Prevost is from Chicago, and is the first American pope.

And the third? Oh, c’mon, enough; okay, the third best thing about our new pope is . . . er . . .  hmm . . . um . . . gee . . . let’s see now . . . Ah, he’s the first pope younger–barely–than your Tatler.

One more, the fourth best thing? Stop this pestering! There is no more. The well’s run dry. Run away and pray for Holy Church.

The power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.

h/t Fr Christopher Stainbrook

From Life Site News.

The Trump DOJ has launched a federal civil rights investigation into a new Washington law that would jail priests unless they break the Seal of Confession, an excommunicable offense.

As well they should, and this preposterous law quickly overturned.

Here, the law’s supporters reveal their underlying motive, hatred of the Catholic Church.

“Worse, the law appears to single out clergy as not entitled to assert applicable privileges, as compared to other reporting professionals. We take this matter very seriously and look forward to Washington State’s cooperation with our investigation,” Dhillon stated.

The qualification claimed by the bill’s supporters: they kinda-sorta used to be Catholic. An example:

Democrat Governor Bob Ferguson [said] . . . “My uncle was a Jesuit priest for many years, (I’ve) been to Confession myself – and so I’m very familiar with that,”

Wow, you’ve been to confession, sir!? What did you think? Did you go again?

h/t WJT

President Trump recently pulled the plug on PBS and NPR, ending their government welfare checks.

From the New York Sun.

President Trump  foretold plan to ax federal funding to PBS and National Public Radio with a sweeping executive order announced Thursday night.

PBS was founded by Congress in 1970 and created out of an assemblage of so-called educational television stations funded by state and local governments, as well donations from well-to-do, left-leaning charities. Its kissin’ cousin, National Public Radio, was created the same year, and in that year, the Holy of Holies of the left-leaning radio news, All Things Considered, first aired. As your Tatler recalls, the putative reason for those two institutions’s founding was to provide a non-biased source of news and to offer quality programming not available on commercial stations.

The joke about non-biased news is, were we ever supposed to believe the three networks’s news programs were somehow canted to the right? Regarding the claim of quality programming, your Tatler will concede that PBS had a lock on it, compared with the mostly wretched stuff aired by CBS, NBC, and ABC. But where did most of that quality programming come from? Answer, Britain. And who comprised most of the viewers of that quality programming? Answer, the upper-middle and upper classes, who hardly needed the government to pay for their entertainment. That is especially true in these satellite and Internet times, when there is a wealth of low-brow, middle-brow, and high-brow entertainment available for the asking. The only hitch is that the viewers must pay for it, not the government. The same holds true for PBS and NPR. Let those who are sure to be screaming their heads off at Villain Trump for taking away their government-paid entertainment: pay for it yourself.

Both mainstream parties, Labour and Conservative, are enervated, worn out wrecks, and have been for some time. Unfortunately,  there hasn’t been a viable alternative to fill the void. Recent local elections, however, suggest things may be changing in Britain. Maybe. From the BBC.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has made big gains in English local elections, cementing it as a prime challenger to Britain’s traditional main parties.

It won 677 of around 1,600 seats contested on Thursday across a clutch of mainly Tory-held councils last contested in 2021.

Reform seized control of eight authorities from the Conservatives, including former strongholds Kent and Staffordshire.

As that clever Greek put it, one swallow does not a summer make. However, there’s certainly cause to be hopeful. With the two moribund major parties as his only competition, Nigel Farage stands at least half a chance of becoming the PM of Britain. The Brits could certainly do worse. And he, “Trump with a pint,” and our president ought to get along famously.

From Life Site News:

Rome’s cardinal fears Church ‘reform’ in jeopardy, urges continuation of Francis’ legacy.

Ahead of the conclave start on May 7 there is much work for the cardinals to do and already talk that a struggle will emerge between Francis’ legacy and a reversal in style.

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This should not come as a great surprise as the majority of the cardinals are appointees of Francis. Presumably, most of them, at least, share the late pope’s Jesuitical views on modernization of the Catholic Church, even when they fly in the face of church teachings. On the other hand, some liberal Cardinals have come to realize that the continued drifting away from ancient teachings, most going back to the early days of the church, could do colossal and even irreversible damage, worse than already occurred during the reign of Francis. Those cardinals may be open to a papal candidate holding more traditional views.

Still, there is no doubting the liberals have the upper hand and will campaign hard for continued liberalization. Consider this quote from Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, and a key player in the days to come.

Our duty should be to discern and organise what has been started, in the light of what our mission requires, in the direction of a new heaven and a new earth, adorning the Bride for her husband, whereas we might seek to clothe the Bride according to worldly conveniences, guided by ideological pretensions that tear apart the unity of Christ’s garments.

Your Tatler can’t help noticing in that statement, liberals in the Vatican share a trait with their counterparts in our Congress, which is to speak in generlizations and platitudes, rather speak plainly just which liberaliztions they favor. Presumably, that is for the fear many Catholics might think twice about further liberalization in Holy Church if they knew it meant women priests, communion for non-Catholics, gay marriages, and a plethora if other matters that are the darlings of the Left.

But the likelihood is that traditional Catholics will be disappointed when the white smoke rises from the Sistine Chapel, and they best hunker down for what is to come.

h/t William Teague

It’s hard to believe, but it looks as if anti-abortion protesters now have the same First Amendment rights as those enjoyed for decades by so-called abortion rights “activists.”

There’s a new sheriff in town, the Justice Department’s hief of civil rights enforcement, Harmeet Dhillon, who holds the quaint notion of equal protection under the law. Dhillon has ordered the considerable number of lawyers in that department not to look the other way when pro-abortionists beat up or worse, peaceful protesters in front of abortion mills.

A welcome consequence is the enormous number of left-wing attorneys who refuse to do their jobs and are accepting buyouts from Justice; money well spent in your Tatler’s opinion.

h/t For What it’s Worth.