The liturgy and Vatican II: Pope Leo’s response to traditionalism

 

The liturgy and Vatican II: Pope Leo’s response to traditionalism

Massimo Faggioli

The SSPX schism following July 2026's unauthorized ordinations has become an opening for traditionalist circles in communion with Rome to push for scrapping Traditionis Custodes and expanding access to the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. The Vatican isn't ignoring the pressure — Cardinal Arthur Roche has confirmed Pope Leo has no intention of reversing Francis's decisions on the Latin Mass, even as Leo's own letters call for "concrete solutions" to include those "sincerely" attached to the older rite. Leo's approach leans toward depolarization rather than confrontation — a shift from Francis's pontificate, whose doctrinal and institutional policies "expressed a vision with the potential of creating tension," to Leo's emphasis on restoring unity wherever it's at risk. Since January, Leo has built a catechesis series on Vatican II itself, working now through Sacrosanctum Concilium — affirming the liturgical reform's legitimacy while calling for the same fidelity and humility the Council asked of the whole Church. The strategy: respond to traditionalism not by rejecting Vatican II, but by recovering it — returning to its documents and original theologians so the Council can be received again, stripped of the hostile assumptions now often attached to its name. Read the full analysis of how Pope Leo is responding to liturgical traditionalism in the Catholic Church.

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Naming Our Idolatry

 

 

 

Hebrew Prophets

Naming Our Idolatry

Sunday, August 16, 2026

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Father Richard Rohr describes why the example and message of the Hebrew prophets continue to be important for us today: 

My favorite thing about the prophetic books of the Bible is that they show a whole series of people in evolution of their understanding of God. Like most of us, the prophets start not only with judgmentalism and anger but also with a superiority complex of placing themselves above others. Then, in various ways, that outlook falls apart over the course of their writings. They move from that anger and judgmentalism to a reordered awareness in which they become more like God: more patient like God, more forgiving like God, more loving like God.

Remaining in Love

 

 

 

The Mysticism of Francis and Clare

Remaining in Love

Friday, August 14, 2026

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Francis’s love for God deepens his love for life. Mirabai Starr illuminates: 

Now that he has fallen in love with God, Francis recognizes his relatedness to all life. If the creator is his father, then all living things are his sisters and brothers. This connectedness fills him with wild joy, a joy that spills over every vessel of the human experience and flows back into the earth, giving birth to the endless unfolding of creation. Francis invites everyone to his table, which is God’s table….

The medieval understanding of intelligence is exactly what we need in the age of A.I.

The medieval understanding of intelligence is exactly what we need in the age of A.I.

by Boyd Taylor Coolman August 17, 2026

Credit: Illustration: America Media

In a recent essay in America, Terence Sweeney drew attention to Pope Leo XIV’s consistent concern with education in his writings, including in “Magnifica Humanitas.” Mr. Sweeney noted the pope’s attention to a new reality: that in an age of artificial intelligence, especially in light of what the pope labels a “technocratic paradigm,” we are experiencing “certain currents of thought that interpret progress as surpassing the human condition, and which are often grouped under the labels of transhumanism and posthumanism.” 

Posted inFeatures

Meet the Catholic schools serving students with special needs

by J.D. Long García August 13, 2026

Parker Baudo (center), a student in the Mount Sion program at Brother Rice High School in Chicago, interacts with peer mentors. Credit: J.D. Long García

The fluorescent lights in Room 110 at Brother Rice Catholic High School in Chicago are dimmed by fabric imprinted with images of the sky. The white-and-blue design softens the light, making it more comfortable for the students who study there. Chairs have elastic bands stretched across their front legs so students can push against them to relieve tension. 

The room is home to Mount Sion, the all-boys-school’s special education inclusion program, which is entering its third year this fall. Brother Rice is among a small but growing number of Catholic schools across the country working to serve students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

 

Politics and the Limits of Language

The Obama era revived liberal faith in the power of words, but are words enough?

Drew Calvert

August 17, 2026

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org.

Former President Barack Obama campaigns on behalf of Joe Biden in Philadelphia (CNS photo/Kevin Lamarque, Reuters).

In 2008, Barack Obama’s opponents in the Democratic primaries sniffed at his rhetoric. He was talking more about hope than his policy preferences, they complained. In response, he quoted famous lines from monumental speeches in a tone of passionate disbelief. “‘I have a dream.’ Just words?” “‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words? Just speeches?” At a rally in Wisconsin, he ignited the crowd with a new refrain: “Don’t tell me words don’t matter.”

In Orlando, LCWR seeks a new harmony for the church

 

August 18, 2026

In Orlando, LCWR seeks a new harmony for the church

Helga Leija  ncr

Posted inFaith and Reason

The future of Catholicism in Africa: Looking beyond the numbers

by Ludovic Lado, S.J. August 13, 2026

Pope Leo XIV greets a family as he celebrates the final Mass of his apostolic journey to Africa at Malabo Stadium in Equatorial Guinea on April 23, 2026. Credit: OSV News photo/Matteo Pernaselci, Vatican Media.

What is the future of the church in Africa?

Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey to Africa from April 13 to 23 provided a timely occasion to reflect on Africa’s contribution to global Catholicism and on the continent’s place in the future of the church. The choice of Algeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Angola as countries to visit was particularly significant. Taken together, these four countries offered a symbolic journey through the major historical stages of Catholicism in Africa. Algeria evoked the church of Late Antiquity, the land of St. Augustine and one of the great centers of early African Christianity. Angola represented the medieval and early modern encounter between Africa and Catholicism, dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, meanwhile, embodied the contemporary African church, characterized by rapid growth, vibrant local communities and the challenges of evangelization in an increasingly pluralistic and globalized world.