VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis has made a number of appointments to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, including certain prominently anti-Traditional cardinals such as Blaise Cupich and Kevin Farrell.
In the day bulletin June 1, the Holy See announced Pope Francis had made a total of 22 nominations to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW). The nominees comprised of cardinals and bishops – including prelates already in the Vatican curia and others in sees around the world.
First, and most prominent among the Pope’s nominees, are a number of cardinals notable for their attachment to heterodox views on the Catholic faith. The cardinals include:
- Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle: Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, hailed as a possible future Pope and known for his promotion of LGBT ideology.
- Cardinal Blase Cupich: Archbishop of Chicago and member of the Vatican’s Congregation of Bishops, known for his widespread deviation from Church teaching on a variety of issues and opposition to the Traditional Latin Mass.
- Cardinal Kevin Farrell: Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life, who opposed the Vatican’s ban on same-sex blessings and current papal Camerlengo. Farrell was a close colleague of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
- Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero: Archbishop of Rabat (Morocco) and member of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, who was praised by dissident Jesuit Father Thomas Reese for his ecumenical dialogue with Muslims in Morocco.
- Cardinal Mario Grech: Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, responsible for the Synod on Synodality, and who has praised the German Synodal Way.
- Cardinal-elect Lazarus You Heung-sik: Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.
Meanwhile among the non-cardinal nominees were Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Bishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and Vice Camerlengo of the Roman Church.
The members of the CDW normally serve for a five-year term and signal Pope Francis’s intention for the direction he wishes the Catholic Church’s liturgy and worship to take.
The amount of high-ranking prelates appointed to the CDW, including a large number of those who already hold significant positions is the curia, is notable particularly in light of the recent restrictions on the traditional liturgy.
Among other duties, the CDW, soon to be renamed as a Dicastery on June 5, is responsible for overseeing the fate of the Traditional Mass, in light of the sweeping restrictions imposed by Pope Francis in Traditionis Custodes last July.
Staunch anti-traditionalist Cardinal-elect Arthur Roche – who succeeded Cardinal Robert Sarah as CDW head last year – then issued his December 2021 Responsa ad dubia, enacting even more restrictions upon the Latin Mass and the sacraments. Some Vatican observers had suggested Roche had fallen out of favor with Francis, due to the harshness of his Responsa. However, such an outcome appears unlikely with Roche now set to receive the red hat in August.
Cardinal Cupich has become one of the more prominent supporters of the Pope’s motu proprio, enacting his own harsh restrictions on the Latin Mass while allowing LGBT “Masses” and endorsing Communion and funeral rites for unrepentant homosexuals. Cupich has also gone so far as to declare that priests may not deny the Eucharist to anyone in a state of homosexual sin. He has made similar comments about divorced and “remarried” Catholics and pro-abortion lawmakers.
Cupich is not alone in his support for the LGBT movement, however. Fellow cardinal members of the CDW Tagle, Farrell, Grech have made headlines due to their public, supportive stance both of LGBT ideology and even of “blessings” of same-sex unions.
Indeed, such is the common support for LGBT ideology among the recent nominees to the CDW and the recently announced new-cardinals, that some have pointed to adherence to LGBT ideology as a key factor for promotion within the Vatican.
If you’re heretical, LGBT, pro-contraception/abortion/ female ordination then you’ll be accorded preferment & protection by pope, cardinals, bishops
If you’re faithful, uphold God’s commandments & Church discipline you’ll be persecuted & punished
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) May 31, 2022
In light of the new nominees to the CDW, Augustinian Brother Martin Navarro suggested that “the belief that the TLM will continue only by priests and Religious that are in an irregular canonical standing is further proven true. To believe anything else is denial.”
Cardinal Cupich’s appointment in particular has been met with outrage from faithful Catholics online, with one Twitter user asking “Can things get any worse?”
More papal politicking from Mad Frank. Who would you think would be the best person to put in charge of liturgy? I know, how about someone who hates it?https://t.co/HXajcBfPj9
— Mark 🇺🇦 (@sitsio) June 1, 2022
For people who thought the apparent hierarchy could not get any more anti-Catholic, “Cardinal” Cupich has just been nominated to the Congregation for Divine Worship
— Alberto (@FlatCath) June 1, 2022
– (pope) Bergoglio’s latest appointments to the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship transform it into the equivalent of the French Revolution’s Committee of Public Safety
Cupich, Farrell, Tagle, Grech join Roche in conducting the Reign of Terror against traditional Catholics pic.twitter.com/guwygjYwrf
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) June 1, 2022
Meanwhile, already on the ranks of the CDW is the pro-globalist former prefect for the Dicastery for Promoting of Integral Human Development, Cardinal Peter Turkson; and the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.