The Bishops, Traditionis Custodes & the TLM
On 16 July 2021 Pope Francis issued Traditionis Custodes, handing each bishop the power to permit — or end — the Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese. The decisions that followed were not uniform. Some shepherds preserved and even expanded the old rite; others suppressed it outright or moved it to a less convenient church or hour. This is a sourced, growing ledger of what actually happened, diocese by diocese — measured in deeds, not intentions.
Where the Mass Was Cut
Every state shaded by the intensity of Traditional Latin Mass suppression among its dioceses on the board — 44 of 51 jurisdictions (the 50 states plus the District of Columbia) documented so far. Tap a state to filter the table; grey squares have no diocese logged here yet.
| Diocese | State | Bishop | Suppressed | Restricted | Verdict |
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Restrictions Beyond the Old Mass
In a growing number of dioceses the crackdown did not stop at the Latin Mass. The same decrees reached into the wider life of worship — curbing ad orientem even at the new Mass, banning altar rails and kneelers, forbidding the traditional sacraments, ordering vernacular readings onto the old rite itself. It is a distinct, revealing pattern — 17 dioceses so far, each entry individually sourced — tracked here as it emerges. Filter the table by Beyond the TLM to see them all.
Counts are of diocesan / parish celebrations, which Traditionis Custodes governs; FSSP and ICKSP personal parishes hold their own faculties and are noted where a bishop preserved them. Each entry is sourced (↗) with a confidence marker (● green = firm, amber = reported, oxblood = thin). This is a curated, verified ledger of documented actions — not a claim of exhaustive completeness; quiet closures leave no record. Diocesan records were re-verified current through July 2026. Click a bishop to open his full dossier. Sources include diocesan decrees, traditioniscustodes.info, and Catholic press.