(LifeSiteNews) — Vatican journalist Diane Montagna confirmed that a document further restricting the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), backed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has been “presented to Pope Francis.”

According to “well-informed sources,” if published, the document would ban the offering of the TLM by all priests except those belonging to “approved ex-Ecclesia Dei institutes” including the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP).

Montagna noted, however, that it is “unclear” whether and to what extent these priests would be allowed to administer the traditional form of the sacraments, including Baptism and marriage, as well as whether traditional priestly ordinations would be permitted. 

The document would “prohibit bishops from themselves celebrating or authorizing” the TLM, and “suspend existing permissions” for the Traditional Mass apart from those offered by ex-Ecclesia Dei communities.

Montagna’s sources say that a date of publication has not been decided, but that its “risk” is “serious, real, and potentially imminent.” It will come as a heavy and even devastating blow to the faithful who rely on their diocese for the TLM, many of whom have moved across the country with their families primarily in order to attend the Traditional Mass.

The Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), the “parent” of these ex-Ecclesia Dei institutes, will remain unaffected, since it has always recognized that Vatican prelates do not have the authority to restrict the Mass of the Ages, which was codified in 1570, with the Roman Canon traced to the Apostles themselves.

Pope Benedict XVI himself clarified through his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum that the Latin Mass was never abolished and that no priest needs his bishop’s permission to offer it, stating, “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.”

Following Pope Francis’ original motu proprio restricting the TLM, Traditionis Custodes, Cardinal Raymond Burke affirmed that the traditional liturgy is not something that can be disregarded as a “valid expression of the lex orandi,” even by the pope himself. 

“It is a question of an objective reality of divine grace which cannot be changed by a mere act of the will of even the highest ecclesiastical authority,” the cardinal wrote in 2021.

In accordance with this idea, liturgical scholar Dr. Peter Kwasniewski has written that priests must resist attempts to restrict the Latin Mass, including through Traditionis Custodes and its accompanying Responsa ad dubia “regardless of threats or penalties,” since obedience to these documents would undermine the very mission of the holy Catholic Church.

‘The traditional Mass belongs to the most intimate part of the common good in the Church. Restricting it, pushing it into ghettos, and ultimately planning its demise can have no legitimacy. This law is not a law of the Church because, as St. Thomas (Aquinas) says, a law against the common good is no valid law,’” he said in a speech during the 2021 Catholic Identity Conference.

Kwasniewski made the point that “the traditional liturgical worship of the Church, her lex orandi (law of prayer),” is a “fundamental” “expression of her lex credendi, (law of belief), one that cannot be contradicted or abolished or heavily rewritten without rejecting the Spirit-led continuity of the Catholic Church as a whole.”

He quoted the solemn words of St. Pius V’s bull Quo Primum, which authorized the Traditional Mass in “perpetuity.” Quo Primum states:

In virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We grant and concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain … that this present document cannot be revoked or modified, but remains always valid and retains its full force… Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act [i.e., altering Quo Primum], he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Kwasniewski pointed out that Quo Primum “is not ‘just a disciplinary document’ that can be readily set aside or contradicted by his successors. It is a document de rebus fidei et morum, concerning matters of faith and morals, and therefore not susceptible to being set aside by a later pontiff.”

Montagna noted that Cardinal Parolin, who is the “architect” of the secret Vatican-China agreement and is said to support the forthcoming suppression of the TLM, had recommended during a January 2020 meeting at the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the CDF “require traditional priestly groups to provide a concrete sign of communion that would acknowledge the validity of the Novus Ordo and demonstrate clearly that they are ‘in the Church.’”