The Pastoral Lie: How Pope Francis Buried the Truth About Traditionis Custodes

A Vatican document proves the bishops didn’t want to suppress the Latin Mass. Francis did it anyway and now his defenders are gaslighting the public to protect the narrative.

On July 1, 2025, Diane Montagna published one of the most devastating exposés to date on Traditionis Custodes. Her Substack revealed the Vatican’s internal report summarizing the 2020 global survey of bishops that allegedly “forced” Pope Francis to restrict the Traditional Latin Mass. The key takeaway? The majority of bishops did not want what he did. In fact, they warned it would make things worse.

A Minority Complaint Masquerading as a Majority Mandate

Let’s recall how the narrative was framed back in July 2021. Pope Francis claimed he was “constrained” by the results of the bishops’ consultation, implying they collectively urged him to revoke Summorum Pontificum. He wrote that the bishops’ feedback “persuaded me of the need to intervene” because the traditional liturgy had allegedly “widened the gaps, reinforced divergences, and encouraged disagreements.”

Thanks to Montagna’s reporting, we now know this was a distortion; some might say a fabrication. The actual Vatican report, prepared by the Fourth Section of the CDF, says the majority of bishops expressed satisfaction with the implementation of Summorum Pontificum. Even more damning, it concludes that suppressing it would “cause more harm than good.”

So who, exactly, was Francis “constrained” by?

The answer is clear: a minority of bishops who were liturgically hostile, pastorally indifferent, and ideologically allergic to tradition.

“Pope Respecter” Disrespects the Facts

Enter the Twitter clericalist @poperespecter1, who weighed in on July 1 with a verbose and defensive take that reads like a Vatican press office intern trying to spin a scandal. In response to Montagna’s scoop, he insisted that since “the results have never been released to the public,” we have to trust that she “actually has the survey.” He goes on to argue that even if most bishops were content with the TLM, the minority might have expressed just enough concern to warrant the nuclear option of Traditionis Custodes.

This argument would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical.

First, Montagna didn’t just “say” she had the documents. She published them: translated, sourced, verified, and contextualized. Screenshots, quotes, and references abound. To doubt her report at this stage is to doubt your own eyes.

Second, this is not merely a matter of interpretation. The Vatican’s own synthesis, the “Overall Assessment” of the survey, states that suppressing Summorum Pontificum would:

– Reignite liturgical tensions

– Push the faithful toward schismatic groups

– Undermine the trust of clergy

– Jeopardize vocations

– Discredit Benedict XVI and John Paul II

What part of that sounds like a good reason to bulldoze the Latin Mass?

“Not a Vote”? That’s the Point

Pope Respecter then pivots: “The survey was not a vote on should we keep TLM. The survey was an opportunity for the pope to get information so that he could make a pastoral decision.”

This is meant to sound mature and balanced, but it’s actually the heart of the problem.

If the pope sought information for a “pastoral” decision, then he lied about the very information that prompted it. He claimed the bishops’ feedback compelled him to act; in truth, their feedback warned him not to. A decision made under the guise of listening becomes a betrayal when it deliberately misrepresents what was heard.

Francis didn’t merely ignore the bishops. He exploited their voices to do what he had already resolved to do: suffocate the traditional liturgy, reassert Vatican II as the inerrant super-council, and reprogram the Church’s memory.

The Problem Isn’t That He Didn’t Take a Vote, It’s That He Pretended He Did

No one’s claiming that the pope is bound by polling data. But Francis built the moral and ecclesial justification for Traditionis Custodes on the illusion of episcopal consensus. He weaponized the myth of majority support to portray traditionalists as divisive, disobedient, and schismatic.

The newly uncovered report demolishes that myth.

Even bishops critical of the TLM expressed appreciation for its fruits: young converts, reverent vocations, liturgical beauty, and sacramental renewal. The report shows that where Summorum was implemented with basic goodwill, peace prevailed.

Francis didn’t inherit chaos. He created it.

“Let the People Choose,” But Not If They Choose Tradition

Perhaps the most poignant moment in the report is its conclusion: a simple quote from a Filipino bishop, “Let the people be free to choose.”

But that, of course, is what the architects of the modern Church cannot tolerate. When tradition is allowed to compete on equal footing, it wins. When reverence and silence and beauty are permitted to flourish, they attract. When the old Mass is celebrated without shame, it awakens something in the soul; a memory older than the Council.

Francis knew this. That’s why he pulled the plug.

From Pastoral to Punitive

Let’s be honest: Traditionis Custodes was never about abuse, unity, or peace. It was about power. It was about reasserting the postconciliar project at the precise moment when its credibility was collapsing. It was about reminding the faithful that “reform” means rupture, and obedience means forgetfulness.

It was not a pastoral decision. It was a pastoral lie.

And Pope Respecter, along with others defending it, is now left arguing that the pope acted nobly by ignoring the data, disregarding the bishops, deceiving the public, and dismissing the faithful.

We are witnessing a slow-motion collapse of the credibility of the entire post-2021 liturgical regime. The question is whether anyone in Rome still cares.

If “guardians of tradition” can lie about the bishops, suppress the Mass of the saints, and call it pastoral care, what exactly are they guarding and from whom?

Because it’s starting to look like the only thing they’re protecting is the revolution.

And the only thing they fear is tradition.