[Catholic Caucus] Total Confusion: Francis' Order and Counter-Order

On 16 November, the Holy See Press Office published a letter from Francis "for the commemoration in the particular Churches of their own Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God".

In the letter, Francis says it is "important to him" that all dioceses commemorate on a single date the Saints and Blesseds , as well as the Venerables and Servants of God, of their respective territories.

He wishes to promote them "with appropriate initiatives outside the liturgy" or by recalling them in the liturgy, "for example in the homily or at any other time deemed appropriate".

"I urge the particular Churches, beginning with the next Jubilee in 2025, to remember and honour these figures of holiness every year on 9 November, the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica".

Apart from the fact that this letter will be largely ignored on the ground, and that regular weekday Eucharists are becoming increasingly rare, there is another problem.

MessaInLatino.it (18 November) stresses that this instruction contradicts Francis' Motu Proprio Maiorem hac dilectionem (2017), which states in Article 36:

"Celebrations of any kind or panegyrics to the Servants of God, whose holiness of life is still subject to legitimate examination, are forbidden in churches. Even outside the Church, however, it is necessary to abstain from any action which might lead the faithful to believe falsely that the investigation carried out by the Bishop into the life and virtues of a Servant of God, his martyrdom or the sacrifice of his life, entails the certainty of his future canonisation".

In other words: If the Vatican cannot remember today what it wrote yesterday, why should it expect priests and the faithful to pay attention to what comes from Rome?