One of the duties and privileges of the canons of St. Peter's Basilica is to show the people during Holy Week various relics associated with the suffering of Jesus Christ, here the Holy Face.
(Rome) Since Sunday, November 5th, the Canons of St. Peter's Basilica have had to perform choral prayers in street clothes. The “humble” Archpriest of Saint Peter, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti OFM Conv., issued a corresponding decree that corresponds entirely to his own customs. The suppression of liturgy and prayer and the museumization of Christianity's most symbolic church continues.
The Instruction of Chapter Vicar Archbishop Calogero La Piana
Shortly before the aforementioned date, the Canons received a letter from Chapter Vicar Calogero La Piana. La Piana let his fellow brothers in the chapter know that from the Sunday after All Saints' Day they should no longer appear for choir prayers in choir clothes, but in clerics.
Calogero La Piana was Archbishop of Messina until 2015, when Pope Francis retired him early for health reasons. In 2018, Francis appointed him as a Canon in the Chapter of Saint Peter. Before his retirement as Archbishop of Messina, La Piana was appointed by a man as the universal heir to a fortune worth millions. The testator had drawn up the will shortly before his death and stated in it that he was thanking his sole heir, Archbishop La Piana, for years of homosexual sexual intercourse.
The Millennial Chapter of Saint Peter
The Chapter of Saint Peter was founded in 1053 by Pope Leo IX. Until then, four nearby monasteries had performed the liturgical services at the papal basilica. It particularly promoted Eucharistic adoration and
Marian devotion. It was therefore reserved for the Chapter to crown particularly significant representations of the Virgin Mary in the world.
The chapter is composed of the archpriest, his vicar and 34 canons. This office was so respected and prestigious that laymen were also honored with it, for example several Roman-German kings, i.e. future emperors, before their election and imperial coronation. Since then, various reforms have been implemented.
Upon their appointment, Canons of Saint Peter automatically become Apostolic Prothonotaries and thus prelates of the Roman Curia. Their choir clothing is also corresponding. It consists of a purple cassock, the rochet (surplice), a purple mantelletta and a black biretta with a purple tassel.
But now the canons of Saint Peter come to the choir prayer in street clothes, because that's exactly what Msgr. Mauro Gambetti, the archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, did before.
“While the founder of his order sold everything to wear a wool habit, Mauro Gambetti likes to wear fine threads. The habit of the order was only privileged when he had to act as 'humble curator of Assisi' at meetings with politicians and clerical dinners. When Pope Francis traveled to Assisi, he did everything to show himself as a simple lesser brother who loves the poor Church, but we have seen over the years how good Gambetti is with money,” said Silere Non Possum .
From Minorite to Archbishop, Cardinal and Archpriest of Saint Peter
Before his appointment to Rome, Gambetti had been Custodian of the Holy Convent of the Minorite Order in Assisi since 2013. His Franciscan religious habit seemed to be pulled on. You could see that he was wearing normal street clothes underneath. As custodian of the most important monastery in the Franciscan order, he played a role under Pope Francis in the controversial Assisi meetings and the “Forecourt of the Peoples,” two initiatives that were well received in Santa Marta. The “Forecourt of the Peoples” was an initiative by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, which was intended to serve the new evangelization and was specifically aimed at atheists, but which became a cultural end in itself and aimless wandering. Gambetti also appeared to be on the same wavelength as Pope Francis when it came to co-opting St. Francis of Assisi to bring the Church into step with the UN and the globalist establishment on issues such as climate change, migration and the “fraternity of all men.”
In the fall of 2020, Pope Francis rewarded the diligent Custodian of Assisi with the dignity of cardinal and the appointment of titular archbishop. A few months later he called him to Rome and appointed him vicar general for the Vatican City, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica and head of the Cathedral Construction Works of Saint Peter. Since November 2021, Cardinal Gambetti is also part of the Government of the State of Vatican City and is a member of the Roman Communications Dicastery .
The Reorganization of St. Peter's Basilica
The appointment of Gambetti as the new archpriest of Saint Peter's was accompanied by far-reaching changes. The previous archpriest Angelo Cardinal Comastri was retired and, in the short time until Gambetti took office, the Vatican State Secretariat illegally introduced a new mass order in St. Peter's Basilica. Since March 22, 2021, individual celebrations in St. Peter's Basilica have been prohibited. There are only four masses left in the Novus Ordo , which may last a maximum of half an hour and must be celebrated between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., two in the choir chapel and two at the cathedral altar. At the same time, celebrations in the Immermorial Rite in St. Peter's Basilica were prohibited. This ban is consistently implemented, as the international pilgrimage of the Ad Petri Sedem tradition at the end of October showed. The new order is intended to force priests, especially those who work in the Roman Curia, but also the many prelates and priests who come to Rome from all over the world, to concelebrate if possible. The traditional rite may be celebrated, but only by authorized priests, in the Capella Clementina in the Vatican Grottoes at the same time as the Novus Ordo is celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica. The symbolism is unmistakable: the traditional rite was banished to the catacombs, as the Motu proprio Traditionis Custodes issued by Francis implemented for the universal Church a few months later.
The interventions here and there are carried out under the keyword of wanting to “order” something, as if there had previously been disorder. One of many forms of suggestion and discrediting.
When he took office, Gambetti did not lift a finger to reverse or even criticize the Secretariat of State's unlawful interference in the affairs of St. Peter's Basilica. The reasons are obvious: the new regulation was desired by Pope Francis and did not meet with any reservations from Gambetti. Therefore, in June 2021, he issued a statement specifically to reiterate why he and all priests were forced to concelebrate, citing the Second Vatican Council. Until then, through the centuries, whenever one entered St. Peter's Basilica, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass had been celebrated at some altar by some priest.
St. Peter's Basilica is becoming "like a museum" and there is a "grave-like silence," is how Edward Pentin, Vaticanist for the National Catholic Register, described the gradual implementation of the reduction in liturgy and prayer. The silence of the grave refers to the silence of the liturgy, the holy words are replaced by the noise of the tourists who often enough do not know how to behave in the holy house.
The new regulations and Gambetti's behavior earned him criticism for pushing ahead with the museumization of St. Peter's Basilica . As a reminder: At that time, the celebrations were still subject to the Corona restrictions. In his Corona radicalism, Pope Francis went so far as to close St. Peter's Basilica completely for almost 90 days. During this time it was not allowed to celebrate a service or even enter St. Peter's Basilica. Before reopening, the church with the grave of the Apostle Peter was disinfected at great expense and in a completely useless manner. The sacred was visualized as a threat, as demonstrated by the ban on holy water and grotesque methods of giving Communion.
In spring 2023, further new regulations were implemented, this time directly by Gambetti. Since then there have been two courses in St. Peter's Basilica, one for tourists and one for worshipers. The latter are allowed into the chapel for Eucharistic adoration.
Choir prayer in street clothes
Now the next prank followed, in which the canons were supposed to perform the choir prayers in street clothes. It all began in May 2020, when the Canons (even though St. Peter's Basilica is not an episcopal church) were released from choir prayer under the pretext of Corona and the chapter celebrations were prohibited. This ban preceded the general ban on individual celebrations that followed in 2021 by almost a year. In May 2021, the Canons were banned from entering a chapel in their own church when they wanted to pray the rosary there with Francis. An incident that has not yet been clarified and was linked to the fact that Francis had kept an eye on the chapter's generous real estate holdings. Its administration was then transferred to the Cathedral Building Works of Saint Peter, an institution separate from the chapter, but which, like the chapter, is managed by Gambetti. Since then, the Canons have found themselves in the humiliating position that their livelihood is no longer supported by the chapter itself, but by the cathedral building works.
Soon after taking office, Cardinal Gambetti, probably out of “humility”, decided not to appear at choir prayers in choir clothes, but in the street robe of a secular priest - not the habit of the Order of the Minorites. Now the other Canons also feel compelled to do the same. His behavior was prescribed for the entire chapter.
Gambetti, who always shows up punctually for meetings with the financially strong and influential sponsors of the Pontifical Fratelli Tutti Foundation, is notoriously late for prayer times and, even though he is an archpriest, ends up in the back of the choir pew. The foundation was established by Pope Francis in December 2021 as part of the cathedral construction works. Since then, Gambetti has also been President of the foundation.
“Everything that has to do with God and prayer no longer has a place in the Papal Basilica; Financiers and powerful people (and even criminals), on the other hand, have free use of the rooms,” says Silere Non Possum .
Gambetti explained to the media:
“We will do everything we can to make St. Peter’s Basilica more and more a place of prayer.”
However, the reality is different.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Facebook/MiL/La Voce (screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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