𝐍𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐮𝐬 𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐨 𝐈𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬

Let’s get one thing straight: just because the Novus Ordo includes prayers and elements that are ancient (like the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Sanctus, the Roman Canon, etc.), that doesn’t make the Novus Ordo itself ancient. That’s like saying a new house is medieval because you used a few bricks from a 13th-century castle. The Mass is not a grab-bag of ancient phrases; it’s a living, organic act of worship developed over centuries in continuity with the Church’s tradition.

And here’s the problem: the Novus Ordo wasn’t a product of that organic development. It was created by committee in the 1960s—assembled, not inherited. Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) put it bluntly:

“𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑦… 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑛-𝑡ℎ𝑒-𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡.”

That’s not traditional liturgy. That’s something made in a meeting room.

And who was in that room? Annibale Bugnini, the architect of the new liturgy, who himself admitted:

“𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑜𝑣𝑢𝑠 𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑜 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒.”

A New Rite. Not a reworking. Not a minor revision. A new product.

Louis Bouyer, who actually worked on the reform, was even more scathing. He said:

“𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑔𝑦.”

He called out the deception involved too—how reforms were pushed through by misleading bishops and even the pope about what other bishops wanted. So no, this wasn’t a case of the Holy Spirit gradually unfolding a deeper reverence in the Mass. It was a bureaucratic product rushed into being under false pretenses.

And then you get people saying: “𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑇𝐿𝑀 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑.”

Come on. That argument is weak and juvenile. By that logic, we should ban the Novus Ordo because of the liturgical clowns, the rainbow stoles, the pride flags in sanctuaries, the illicit Eucharistic prayers, and the puppet Masses. Don’t pretend there isn’t widespread liturgical abuse in the Novus Ordo world.

You can’t ban or sideline a liturgy because of the bad behavior of some of its adherents. That would be absurd. If you applied that logic fairly, the Novus Ordo would be in big trouble.

And yet, despite all this, the Traditional Latin Mass communities are the ones flourishing in vocations, large families, and reverent liturgy. They preserve what the Church handed down for centuries. If that makes them critical of the rupture caused by a manufactured liturgy, maybe it’s because they love the Mass too much to pretend that this rupture wasn’t real.

So no, the Novus Ordo isn’t ancient just because it quotes ancient things. And no, TLM Catholics aren’t the problem. The problem is pretending that what happened in the ’60s was just a minor touch-up when in fact, it was a revolution. And revolutions come with casualties.