Why Does the Church Attack Its Own Tradition? A Simple Explanation for a Complex Crisis
To the average Catholic in the pew—especially those discovering the beauty of traditional liturgy, reverent worship, and the richness of the Church’s centuries-old customs—it feels like a betrayal. Since Vatican II, and especially under Pope Francis with Cardinal Roche’s enforcement of Traditionis Custodes, it seems as if the Church is actively attacking the very parts of itself that are most vibrant, faithful, and growing. Why?
1. A Misunderstood Vision of “Unity”
One of the central goals of the post-Vatican II Church has been unity—but not the kind that cherishes the Church’s many ancient traditions. Instead, a new idea of unity emerged: that all Catholics should be united in one form of the Mass, the Novus Ordo (New Order), even if that meant suppressing the older form. The Traditional Latin Mass (TLM), though never abrogated, was seen by some as a “threat” to this new model of unity because it was different—and because it was growing.
Ironically, this logic has caused division, not unity. Catholics who found a deep spiritual home in the TLM are now being treated as second-class citizens in the Church.
2. Fear of the “Old Church”
Many of the Church leaders who came of age in the 1960s and 70s saw the pre-Vatican II Church as rigid, overly clerical, and disconnected from modern life. To them, the Traditional Latin Mass represents a return to that era. Whether fair or not, their personal biases color their leadership. They see tradition not as a treasure, but as a threat to their vision of a more modern, egalitarian Church.
3. Power and Control
The post-Vatican II Church centralized liturgical authority more than ever before. The old Latin Mass was something that emerged organically over centuries. The new liturgy, however, was crafted by committees—many with ideological agendas—and it was pushed into every parish with little input from the faithful. When people began rediscovering the TLM, especially after Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum, they weren’t just attending a different liturgy—they were bypassing the “approved” narrative. That independence threatened the control of bishops and Vatican officials, especially those who had built careers on the new liturgy.
4. The Embarrassment of Contrast
Here’s the hard truth: the TLM exposes the spiritual poverty of many ordinary parishes. Compare a reverent Latin Mass—chant, incense, silence, kneeling—to a typical Novus Ordo Mass with guitars, casual speech, and often irreverent behavior. The contrast is striking. And many bishops and liturgical experts know it. Instead of raising the quality of the new Mass, some have chosen to eliminate the “competition.” This isn’t about unity—it’s about avoiding embarrassment.
5. The Fruit Speaks for Itself—and that’s the Problem
Traditional communities are growing. They’re young. They produce vocations. They have large families. Their belief in the teachings of the Church is strong. And their defection rate is remarkably low. In short, they are the success story of modern Catholicism. But instead of being celebrated, they are punished—because they don’t fit the narrative that says “modernizing” the Church is what brings renewal. The traditional movement exposes the failure of many post-conciliar experiments. And rather than rethinking those failures, Church leaders attack the evidence that they were wrong.
6. Orthodoxy of the Traditionalists
Perhaps the biggest reason of all is orthodoxy. The Traditional Latin Mass doesn’t just preserve old rituals—it preserves old beliefs. There was, unfortunately, a very heterodox element that influenced the Church during and after the Council, and that error has been passed down to many of today’s clergy and theologians. The Novus Ordo world, for all its openness, has seen a normalization of ideas and practices that contradict Catholic teaching: widespread support for contraception, tolerance for divorce and remarriage without annulment, and, in some dioceses, full embrace of the LGBT agenda. Liturgical abuses—like Communion in the hand, standing reception, the absence of altar rails, and the routine use of lay “extraordinary ministers”—are not just tolerated, they are mainstream.
The Traditional Latin Mass stands in contradiction to all of this. It is not merely a different aesthetic—it is a different worldview. It upholds the hard truths of the faith with clarity and conviction. And for some in power, that is terrifying. Because if traditional Catholicism continues to grow, so does its influence. And with that influence comes the potential to call the Church back to fidelity, to reverence, and to orthodoxy. For those who have spent decades trying to reshape the Church in their own image, that is the real threat.
