By David Martin
If the engineers of the Neo-Reformation
were able to advance their plans and bring forth a new Mass for the Church in
defiance of centuries of divine guidance, it means they weren’t being watched
too carefully. While John XXIII and his men were busy at work preparing for the Second Vatican Council in the years
preceding the Council, there lay hidden in the Vatican a secret cabal of
liturgical planners whose work would bring discredit to the Church and to the
one appointed to lead it, Pope Paul VI.
At the helm was the infamous Msgr.
Annibale Bugnini who had long been suspected of conspiracy. He and his clique
formed the eye of this ecclesial hurricane that would later uproot the Faith
and blow the Bark of Peter off its course.
Bugnini’s work as a liturgist goes back to
1947 when he began a twenty year period as the director of Ephemerides
liturgicae, one
of Italy’s best known liturgical publications. He contributed to numerous
scholarly publications, wrote articles on the liturgy for various encyclopedias
and dictionaries and had a number of books published on the subject. But there was a hidden agenda at work from the
beginning that slowly began to reveal his perfidious tracks.
Every indication is that Bugnini was
Masonic, but Pope John XXIII obviously wasn’t aware of this he made him Secretary of the Preparatory
Commission on the Liturgy for the Second Vatican Council that was formed in June
1960. Cardinal Heenan of Westminster even said in his autobiography that “Pope
John did not suspect what was being planned by the liturgical experts.”
Pope
Paul’s Interview with Fr. Bouyer
As a little example of Bugnini’s
deceptive workings in the Vatican, we cite you this little anecdote from 1974.
The Consilium for the Reform of the Liturgy had in its ranks a number of
liturgists including a Father Louis Bouyer who was opposed to the changes in
the Mass. Bugnini argued his cause with Father Bouyer by telling him that Pope
Paul VI wanted new changes in the Mass, and then Bugnini told Pope Paul that Bouyer
and the ‘Consilium experts’ had decided in favor of these changes. Obviously,
it was Bugnini who wanted the changes and Pope Paul later acknowledged to Fr.
Bouyer that Bugnini had deceived both of them. The following is an interview
that took place between Pope Paul and Fr. Bouyer in 1974.
(Father
Louis Bouyer)—I wrote to the Holy
Father, Pope Paul VI, to tender my resignation as member of the Commission
charged with the Liturgical Reform. The Holy Father sent for me at once and the
following conversation ensued:
Paul
VI: Father, you are an unquestionable and
unquestioned authority by your deep knowledge of the Church’s liturgy and
Tradition, and a specialist in this field. I do not understand why you have
sent me your resignation, whilst your presence, is more than precious, it is
indispensable!
Father
Bouyer: Most Holy Father,
if I am a specialist in this field, I tell you very simply that I resign
because I do not agree with the reforms you are imposing! Why do you take no
notice of the remarks we send you, and why do you do the opposite?
Paul
VI: But I don’t understand. I’m not
imposing anything. I have never imposed anything in this field. I have complete
trust in your competence and your propositions. It is you who are sending me
proposals. When Fr. Bugnini comes to see me, he says: “Here is what the experts
are asking for.” And as you are an expert in this matter, I accept your
judgment.
Father
Bouyer: When we have
studied a question, and have chosen what we can propose to you, in conscience,
Father Bugnini took our text, and, then said to us that, having consulted you:
“The Holy Father wants you to introduce these changes into the liturgy.” And
since I don’t agree with your propositions, because they break with the
Tradition of the Church, then I tender my resignation.
Paul
VI: But not at all, Father, believe me,
Father Bugnini tells me exactly the contrary: I have never refused a single one
of your proposals. Father Bugnini came to find me and said: “The experts of the
Commission charged with the Liturgical Reform asked for this and that.” And
since I am not a liturgical specialist, I tell you again, I have always
accepted your judgment. I never said that to Monsignor Bugnini. I was deceived.
Father Bugnini deceived me and deceived you.
Father
Bouyer: That is, my dear
friends, how the liturgical reform was done! (translated from the original
French by Fr. Anthony Chadwick.) http://www.leforumcatholique.org/message.
What is noteworthy is that Pope Paul
reposed complete confidence in Fr. Bouyer’s judgment on liturgical matters and
was happy to let him exert his influence on the Consilium for the retention of
tradition in the Mass. Unfortunately, Fr. Bouyer yielded to pressure from other
liturgists and eventually dropped out of the Consilium.