TRADITIONIS CUSTODES: New Book Supports Authenticity of Official Vatican Report

The just-released Italian book contains not only the sections of the Vatican report I published on July 1, but also important additional findings on the CDF's survey of bishops.

VATICAN CITY, July 4, 2025 — A new book has just been released following my publication of key Vatican documents contesting the stated rationale for Pope Francis’ 2021 decree restricting the traditional Roman rite, Traditionis Custodes.

The book, titled The Liturgy Is Not a Show: The Questionnaire to Bishops on the Old Rite—A Weapon of Mass Destruction? [La liturgia non è uno spettacolo: Il questionario ai vescovi sul rito antico – arma distruzione di Messa?] contains not only the sections of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s official report on its 2020 survey of bishops that I published on July 1, but also an additional key section.

Released on July 2 for pre-order and on Kindle, it is co-authored by Italian liturgist and former consultor to the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith and Divine Worship, don Nicola Bux, and former editor at the Vatican’s L’Osservatore Romano, Italian journalist Saverio Gaeta.

Originally planned for an October 2025 release, the publisher confirmed to me in written correspondence on July 4 that the decision was made to make the book available online once they saw my July 1 report with the sections of the CDF report.

The book contains what I’ve already published, namely the overall assessment of the CDF survey results, and a collection of quotes received from the diocese that were intended to give Pope Francis a representative sampling of the bishops’ responses. But it also contains a previously undisclosed section of the report, namely, the CDF’s summary of the implementation of Summorum Pontificum by continent and country.

One chapter of the book, titled “The Sealed Consultation,” contains what it calls “the most interesting part of the dossier, that is, the Overall Assessment [Giudizio Complessivo].” The text matches the original Italian version that I published July 1.

Another chapter of the book, titled “The Florilegium from the Dossier,” includes the collection of quotations taken from the responses received from the dioceses. It matches the collection of quotations that I published in the original Italian on July 1, although it indicates only the country of origin whereas I disclosed the diocese.

A third chapter of the book, titled “The Questionnaire in Detail,” presents what has not been disclosed until now: selected excerpts from the summaries of each continent, and of the countries within those continents.

I noted on July 1 that these summaries, which I had not seen, formed part of the Second Part of the CDF report. The First Part, I wrote, offers a detailed analysis of the survey results and findings continent by continent, and country by country, and includes charts and graphs illustrating data and trends. The Second Part, titled “Summary” [Sintesi], contains a summary on each continent, an Overall Assessment [Giudizio Complessivo] of the survey results, and a collection of quotations drawn from the responses received from the dioceses and arranged thematically.

What Father Bux and Gaeta have uncovered are summaries containing detailed and valuable data and insight on how Summorum Pontificum was being implemented, or at times ignored, country by country. For instance, they note that “of the 178 Latin dioceses in the United States, a full 65% responded, submitting 115 reports” and that “62% of the bishops report that the EF [Extraordinary Form] responds to a pastoral need expressed by people who, thanks to it, lead a rich, deep, and fruitful life of faith.”

By contrast, they note “the extremely low participation of South American dioceses” which “led the officials of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to suggest that this might be due to ‘the presence of the SSPX, since the fraternity is present in every country in South America, with a total of one major seminary, 10 priories, 61 chapels, and 8 schools.’ In fact, no response was received from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, the Falkland Islands, Peru, or Venezuela,” it said.

Similarly, but “presumably due to the absence of celebrations of the Mass in the EF,” no response was received from numerous countries in Africa. The summary on the African continent notes, however, that “in the three regions where it was celebrated, the responses expressed full support: Benin (“There are only positive aspects; it contributes to enrichment and to peace”), Gabon (“Positive aspects: silence, meditation, the solemnity of the rite; the form is conducive to deepening the faith, it transports one to heavenly realms; and negative aspects: limited variety of texts, the Latin language may create a barrier or lead to mental distraction”), Mauritius (“General satisfaction after a period of misunderstanding”).

Meanwhile, the summary on France notes that, “of the ninety-five Latin jurisdictions in France, as many as eighty-seven submitted a report.” He responses revealed that “in 80% of them the Mass in the EF was celebrated in at least one location, meeting a specific pastoral need.”

Noting both positive and negative aspects highlighted by the French bishops and their recommendations, the summary states that: “42% of the bishops request that, in one way or another, mutual enrichment of the two forms be encouraged; 17% emphasize the need to ensure that the faithful attached to the Extraordinary Form do not live too isolated from the rest of the diocese, always fostering a spirit of openness and mutual respect; [while] 13% suggest that nothing should be changed in the peaceful balance that Summorum Pontificum has brought about.”

This is just a sampling of the summaries of continents and countries. Other hitherto undisclosed data and analysis is also covered in the book.

With the July 2 release of the new book, almost all of the Second Part of the CDF’s official report on its survey of bishops concerning Summorum Pontificum has now been made public.