Cardinal Cupich is shutting down ICKSP in Chicago?

[Stone]

From gloria.tv (July 16, 2022):

Chicago: Is the Synodalist Attacking The Roman Mass Again?

Twitter’s ACatholicLife (July 16) has received two reports that the Roman Rite Institute of Christ the King is being expelled from the Chicago Archdiocese by Cardinal Cupich who is a rigid fighter against the Catholic Faith and Catholic Mass.

The shrine, a historic Catholic church built by the Carmelites, is in Woodlawn/Chicago where 98% of the population are black. It declined once the Carmelites started with social activism. The parish was closed in 2002. Two years later, Christ the King revived it with the Roman Rite. It is now the National Headquarters of the Institute’s American Province.

The church has been the site of protests against Cupich's measures against the Mass.[Emphasis mine.]

✠ ✠ ✠

From The Gray Report (July 15, 2022):

DEVELOPING:

• Blase Cardinal Cupich is Stripping the Institute of Christ the King of their Ability to Celebrate the Holy Mass in his Little Fiefdom, where their US Base is Headquartered – Effective August 1, 2022
  
• Full Details to be Announced at Sunday Mass at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest on Woodlawn Ave., in Chicago [Emphasis mine.]
  

✠ ✠ ✠

The Institute's website notes that Chicago is indeed their headquarters:

Shrine of Christ the King, US Provincial Headquarters
The Institute of Christ the King's United States headquarters are located at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in Chicago, where funds are being sought for its restoration.

[Stone]

From the sedevacantist site Novus Ordo Watch (July 16, 2022) [adapted to removed sedevacantist notations and references and not all original hyperlinks included]:

BREAKING: ‘Cardinal’ Cupich to shut down Institute of Christ the King in Chicago

Although this has not yet been announced officially, the news has already been leaked: Tomorrow, July 17, the Archlayman of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, will announce that the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) will be shut down in Chicago effective August 1.

The ICKSP is a Traditional Latin Mass community founded in 1990 that uses only the Roman Missal of 1962. It is one of the so-called “Ecclesia Dei communities”, meaning they have always been in full communion with the Vatican II Church and are operating on the basis of the indult granted by Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei issued on July 2, 1988. Their provincial headquarters for the United States are in Chicago, under the watchful Modernist eye of Blase Cupich.

On July 14, the well-known blogging Rev. John Zuhlsdorf (aka ‘Father Z’) had already released a cryptic prayer request “to avert a serious act of persecution”, but he did not provide any specifics.

On July 15, David L. Gray was apparently the first one to reveal details, as follows:

• Blase Cardinal Cupich is Stripping the Institute of Christ the King of their Ability to Celebrate the Holy Mass in his Little Fiefdom, where their US Base is Headquartered – Effective August 1, 2022
  
• Will be Announced at Sunday Mass at the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest on Woodlawn Ave., in Chicago
  
• Fr. John Lovell of the Coalition for Canceled Priest to Appear on The David L. Gray Show Monday Morning [July 18] to Discuss
  

Since then, ‘Father Z’ has updated his original prayer request post with details:

Cupich of Chicago has told the members of the Institute of Christ the King in Chicago, that he is effectively shutting them down as of 1 August.  This will be formally announced on Sunday [July 17] at the Institute’s church on the South Side of Chicago.

No Masses.  Nothing.  31 July is their last day to function.

I’m sorry that the Institute itself was not able to break the news.

(John Zuhlsdorf, “ACTION ITEM: Prayer to avert a serious act of persecution – UPDATED”, Fr. Z’s Blog, July 15, 2022; bold print given.)

Read the rest of the NOW article here.

[Stone]

Archbishop Lefebvre wrote the following letter in 1989 on the dangers of the Indult:

From the Dominicans of Avrillé:

A Letter from Archbishop Lefebvre, regarding Indult Masses

Let us put this document in context: It was written several months after “Operation Survival,” the consecration of the four bishops on 30 June 1988, which was accomplished not only without the approval of Pope John Paul II, but also against his will. The Fraternity of St. Peter was created the day following the consecrations, and conciliar Rome was busy trying to ‘pull in’ the more or less traditional Catholics.

It is always good to reread Archbishop Lefebvre, particularly in order to understand that beyond some conciliatory steps and words towards the supreme authority (of the Church), he was not fooled. He was well aware of the Fight for the Faith that (unfortunately) it was necessary to lead against this authority. [emphasis - The Catacombs]



Here is the text of his letter [bold emphasis is added by us -the Dominicans of Avrillé]:

Saint-Michel en Brenne, 18 March 1989

I am responding immediately to your kind letter which I received yesterday at Saint-Michel1, to tell you what I think about those priests who have received a “celebret” from the Roman Commission2 charged with dividing and destroying us.

It is evident that by putting themselves in the hands of the current conciliar authorities, they are implicitly accepting the Council and the ensuing reforms, even if they have received some privileges which remain exceptional and provisory.

Their speech is paralyzed because of this acceptance. The bishops are watching them! It is very regrettable that these priests are not aware of this reality. But we cannot fool the faithful.

The same may be said regarding these “traditional Masses” organized by the dioceses. They are celebrated between two conciliar masses. The celebrating priest says the new as well as the old. How, and by whom is Holy Communion distributed? What will the sermon be? etc.

These masses are scams which lead the faithful to compromise their principles! Many have already abandoned them.

What must change is their liberal and modernist doctrine. We must arm ourselves with patience and pray. God’s hour will come.

God’s blessings to you on this holy feast of Easter.

Best regards to you in Christ and Mary.

Abp. Lefebvre

1 Saint-Michel en-Brenne is the Mother House of the sisters of the Society.

2 Ecclesia Dei Commission

[Stone]

Nothing new for Cupich: 

Conservative Illinois bishop has to restrict some Latin Masses ‘in line with Cardinal Cupich’
Cardinal Cupich under fire for banning Latin Mass, allowing ‘blasphemous’ liturgies
Catholic group protests Cardinal Cupich’s Latin Mass restrictions in Chicago
300 Catholics attend rosary rally in Chicago to protest Cdl. Cupich’s crackdown on Latin Mass


See also here, where the SSPX may or may not be undergoing the same direction from Cupich?: Yet another example of how the SSPX is rightly called the 'Conciliar-SSPX'?

[Stone]

The tyranny that the Indult makes possible on full display, despite great efforts at compromise by the ICKSP ...

Cardinal Cupich strongly rumored to be planning to remove community of Latin Mass priests from Chicago
A prominent Chicago Catholic has gone on record to address the story that has created so much concern in the past few days.

Maike Hickson
Jul 18, 2022
(LifeSiteNews [adapted, emphasis mine] ) — A prominent Chicago Catholic has told LifeSiteNews that, in a further move to destroy the traditional rite in his diocese, Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, has instructed the traditional Institute of Christ the King to close down all public Masses by the end of July of this year. He will remove their other faculties by August 1, that is to say, the Institute’s priests will not be permitted to hear confessions anymore.

LifeSiteNews has learned from Keith Armato, a leading Catholic layman close to the situation, that the archbishop of Chicago had demanded for months now that the Institute signs a document with five or six points. Among the points they had to sign – each priest individually – was that the Novus Ordo rite is the only true expression of the Roman rite. This formulation stems directly from Pope Francis’ own document Traditionis Custodes, an explanation that makes it clear that the traditional Roman rite has to disappear altogether. Moreover, the Institute was also asked to accept a procedure, according to which the priests of the Institute have to ask Cardinal Cupich for permission to celebrate the traditional Latin Mass and that he might grant it for two years, but that he also could revoke that permission at any given time.

Armato further told LifeSite that the Institute could not sign this document because it goes “against their charism.” Therefore, the cardinal is now punishing the Institute because they have not signed the document presented by him.  For someone like Canon Matthew Talarico, the rector of the Shrine who often travels to the Institute’s other 18 U.S. apostolates, the penalties mean that he cannot hear confessions of the faithful, except when traveling to the Institute’s other apostolates in the U.S. The Shrine is the headquarters of the Institute of Christ the King for the U.S. and serves some 400-500 faithful each Sunday who will now be deprived of the traditional Mass and sacraments.

Armato, the president of a venerable family business in Chicago, is a Knight of Malta and of St. George. He has served on the Legatus Board of Governors as well as on the boards of other Catholic foundations. He told LifeSite that he had seen “the letter by Cupich.”

In light of the prominence of the ICKSP’s shrine, many believe that Pope Francis himself is informed about this development in Chicago and approves of it.

Unlike the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) – another traditional priestly order – the Institute has not received a papal assurance that they may continue to live out their traditional charism for which they have been founded. In February of 2022, Pope Francis had given explicit permission to the FSSP to continue their work as they have done in the past.

As Armato pointed out to LifeSite, when the Institute bought the church from the archdiocese – which now serves as their Shrine – the archdiocese sold it to them with the explicit reference to their charism and dedication to the traditional Roman rite. This seems forgotten now, however.

Armato assured LifeSite that the leaders of the Institute, in their correspondence with Cardinal Cupich, did their utmost to find solutions and compromises. They even offered Cardinal Cupich their Shrine so that other priests could celebrate the Novus Ordo Mass there, since several churches in the area had closed and with it access to the Novus Ordo Mass was diminished. But for Cupich, the discussions are over.

The Institute of Christ the King is currently in the middle of a building and restoration project for their Shrine in Chicago which is to give the Institute a “stable home for the Institute in the United States,” as their website states. The church had been damaged by fire and is now under reconstruction.

Cardinal Cupich, a close collaborator of Pope Francis and a promoter of the liberal agenda within the Church, has already issued restrictions regarding the traditional Latin rite within his diocese at the end of last year. Two days after Christmas, the prelate published instructions and strictly banned celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass on the first Sunday of each month, as well as on Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday, and prohibits saying Mass ad orientem without permission, in spite of this being contrary to the rubrics and to Vatican clarifications over the years. All traditional liturgies permitted under the directive must include Scripture readings proclaimed in the vernacular using the official translation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. With this document, in which Cupich applies Pope Francis’ July 16, 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, he requires all priests, deacons, and instituted ministers to request permission to celebrate the Latin Mass either publicly or privately after January 25. (It should be noted that canonically priests who are otherwise in good standing do not need to request permission to say a private Mass.)

Cupich made it especially difficult for Latin Masses to be held at parish churches. The rules he has put in force now require the approval of both the Archbishop of Chicago and the Vatican and can take place only for members of traditional groups and when “it is impossible to use another church, oratory, or chapel.”

The first rumors of Cupich’s shutting down of the public Masses of the Institute of Christ the King surfaced at the end of last week, on July 15, with Father John Zuhlsdorf confirming them on the same day.

Significantly, the Institute’s congregation that attends its public Masses is “very diverse, with African Americans, Hispanics, and whites,” as LifeSite was told. “That’s how Cupich treats multi-racial parishes which are in the heart of dangerous Woodlawn – one of the high crime areas in the South Side,” a source who wishes to remain anonymous continued. For this source, this new Cupich decision “is another example of the archdiocese’s abandoning the inner city of Chicago.” It shows “how liberals like Cupich treat the poor and disadvantaged who are pitifully underserved by the Catholic Church.”

And in fact, Keith Armato informed LifeSite that the Shrine of the Institute of Christ the King had a very active outreach to the surrounding community, offering health support, nutrition, education, warm clothes in the winter, and this to all people of different backgrounds. The Shrine’s three resident priests also visited regularly numerous hospitals. He described the Shrine as a “real cornerstone” in the community. The suppression of the Institute, according to Armato, will “affect the whole community.”

The Shrine is a “self-funded” church, in Armato’s words, and is thriving, while at the same time three churches had to be closed by the archdiocese in the same area of Chicago.

Since the Shrine of the Institute of Christ the King in Chicago is a prominent part of the Institute, one observer speculated that this is only the beginning of a “step by step” attempt at dismembering the Institute nationwide and that there lies behind Cupich’s conduct “some design and plan.”

Pope Francis, in a new document published nearly a year after the release of Traditionis Custodes, has recently doubled down on his attack on the traditional Latin rite, insisting that the goal is to eliminate the centuries-old rite for good. In his  apostolic letter Desiderio Desideravi, promulgated June 29, 2022, the Pope stated that it is his “duty to affirm that ‘The liturgical books promulgated by Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite’,” thereby reiterating his decree from the document Traditionis custodes.

Cardinal Cupich’s crackdown on the Institute of Christ the King in Chicago comes at the same time as the Diocese of Savannah, Georgia, is announcing that, after receiving orders from Rome, all traditional Masses will have to cease by May of next year. In response, Catholic commentator Deacon Nick Donnelly asked on Twitter: “Does this mean there will be no TLMs anywhere in the world after 20th May 2023?”

Another Twitter user commented on Cupich’s decision to shut down the Institute of Christ the King’s public Masses and pointed to the scandalous Novus Ordo Masses that are taking place in Chicago: “But you are always welcome to attend the Novus Ordo where your final blessing is ‘Rock with us while we roll with you,’” the Twitter user wrote.

LifeSite reached out to Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, author of numerous books on the traditional Roman rite, but also of True Obedience in the Catholic Church, and he sent us his comments.

“Cardinal Cupich has long been perceived as the pope’s major enforcer of the new anti-traditional disciplinary code, the one who is meant to ‘set the tone,’” Kwasniewski wrote in a July 16 e-mail. “Yet he does not make friends for himself, even in the hierarchy, by his heartless and heavy-handed actions.”

The liturgy expert told LifeSite that he “had lunch with a bishop who admitted openly that Cupich is perceived as an extremist, an outlier, a nuisance. Certainly the Catholic faithful by this time perceive him as a serpent and a wolf, one who is not outspokenly pro-life, pro-family, pro-tradition. He does nothing to clean up the outrageous mess in the Novus Ordo communities under his authority, but targets youths, families, priests, and religious who love to worship God through the immemorial liturgy of the vast majority of our saints. I think all this speaks for itself and requires no laborious interpretation.”

Dr. Kwasniewski continued: “We must recognize, in fairness to the Institute, that any former Ecclesia Dei community is in a very vulnerable position at the moment, dependent solely on the good pleasure of prelates wherever their apostolates are located. They therefore strive to preserve the best possible relations and do not wish to turn ‘Robin Hood’ or ‘Rambo’ in one place, lest they threaten their standing everywhere else.” ...

LifeSite has reached out to the Institute of Christ the King, asking for comment, and shall update the report should we receive an answer. The Institute so far has not yet commented publicly on these developments.

[Stone]

Abp. Viganò: Catholics have ‘sacred and urgent duty’ to resist Cdl. Cupich’s Latin Mass crackdown
Indeed, every baptized person has the right to attend Holy Mass and to be administered the Sacraments in the form that 

Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum acknowledged may never be abrogated.

Jul 20, 2022
(LifeSiteNews) – Cardinal Blase Cupich, with the bureaucratic authoritarianism that distinguishes the officials of the Bergoglian church, has ordered the Canons of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest who carry out their ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago to suspend all public functions in the ancient rite beginning at the end of the month of July, revoking the faculties granted to them in accordance with the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.

It is obvious to anyone that this decision is intended to prevent the exercise of a right that no ecclesiastical authority can deny, a fortiori conditioning it on the acceptance of doctrinal and liturgical principles that are in blatant conflict with the immutable Magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Indeed, every baptized person has the right to attend Holy Mass and to be administered the Sacraments in the form that Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum acknowledged may never be abrogated. Depriving the faithful of Chicago of their right is a very grave abuse, and the fact that Cupich’s decision is tacitly approved by the Roman Sanhedrin adds to the embezzlements of the Ordinary the confirmation of a broader plan intended to cancel throughout the entire Catholic world the sign of contradiction that is the Apostolic Mass. A sign of contradiction because its very existence is a silent condemnation of decades of doctrinal, moral, and disciplinary deviations.

It is no secret that Bergoglio has a hatred of Tradition, and that he does not miss any occasion to deride and discredit those who want to remain Catholic and are not willing to apostatize from the Faith. Just as well known are his predilections for his collaborators and confidants: they are all united by sodomy, lust for power, and corruption in financial matters. It should therefore be no surprise that one of his pupils – an intrinsic friend of the serial molester McCarrick along with other no less controversial Prelates like Donald Wuerl and Joseph Tobin – returned the favor of his undeserved promotion to the See of Chicago by showing himself to be a loyal executor of his benefactor’s orders. A promotion that – permit me to remind you – I strenuously opposed when I was serving the Holy See as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, and that today appears even more scandalous after the disturbing revelations made by Church Militant (here and here) regarding Cupich’s involvement in the cover up of evidence related to the sexual crimes of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. And we have also learned that, while Cupich would like to see Bernardin the champion of progressivism canonized (here), there are actually very serious accusations hanging over Bernardin made by one of his abuse victims, accusations which the Congregation of Bishops, the Secretariat of State, and the Archdiocese of Chicago have never followed up on, despite the fact that these accusations mention the profanation of the Blessed Sacrament during a Satanic ritual with minors carried out in 1957 by the young priest Father Joseph Bernardin and his brother priest Father John J. Russell, who was later consecrated as a Bishop and is now deceased.

It is truly difficult, if not completely impossible, to find any justification for the decision of Cupich, who considers the celebration of the Mass of all time to be a sin of injuring the Council, but who strangely enough knows how to be indulgent and understanding towards sodomites, child molesters, abortionists, and profaners of the Eucharistic Species. Cupich pro domo sua. It is Cupich, of course, who, when he was instructed by Bergoglio to preside over the Commission on Sexual Crimes of the American Clergy and was asked about the Memorandum I issued in August 2018, commented with scandalous impudence:

“The Pope has a bigger agenda: he’s got to get on with other things, talking about the environment and protecting migrants, and carrying on the work of the Church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this. . . . Years ago, if a Cardinal had allowed himself to respond like this, the whole world would have come down; but today obviously times have changed. . . . Here we can also allow ourselves a bit of insolence. So much is known that the media will not tear their garments for so little.” (here and here).

You read that correctly: “For so little.” In the secular world, if a manager prevented his subordinates from doing their job and encouraged dishonest and corrupt employees by promoting them and covering up their crimes, he would be fired on the spot and asked to pay millions in compensation for the damage caused to the company’s image. Instead, on the multicolored bandwagon of the lavender mafia protected by Bergoglio, these forms of sordid complicity with evil and ferocious aversion to the Good have become the norm, confirming that moral corruption is the necessary corollary of doctrinal deviation and liturgical license. The crisis of ecclesiastical Authority – beginning from the very top – is undeniable, as confirmed by the creation of Cupich as Cardinal as well as the names of those to be given the red hat at the upcoming Consistory.

If in temporal matters civic rulers who are obedient to the deep state make use of corrupt officials to carry out the silent coup of the “Great Reset,” at the same time on the ecclesial front we see that cardinals and prelates who are no less corrupt and who are obedient to the deep church. With Bergoglio’s placet they are bringing the subversive plan of Vatican II to completion, which is destined to lead to the Religion of Humanity yearned for by Freemasonry.

But if on the one hand it is a duty to denounce and condemn the intolerable abuses of these renegades who have as their goal the destruction of the Church of Christ and the cancellation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, on the other hand it seems to me that it is necessary to reconsider how certain forms of carefree acceptance of Vatican II on the part of the Institute of Christ the King may have wrongly allowed its members to believe that Rome would have looked the other way regarding buckles and capes as long as they did not criticize the Council or the Novus Ordo.

This shows us that – beyond the impromptu ceremonial connotations that are bit too ancien régime (which however are very moderate in Chicago and in general throughout the United States) – it is the Tridentine Mass in itself that is a formidable profession of Faith and an unflinching refutation of the patched-together reformed liturgy, whether it is celebrated by an old parish pastor or a newly ordained priest, regardless of whether he wears a Roman fiddleback or a medieval chasuble. It is that Mass, and the Mass par excellence, celebrated in the one Rite that is truly extraordinary, not because it is occasional but because it is incomparably superior to the Protestantized imitation that is the Montinian rite, which a Curé of Ars would have looked upon with horror.

This Mass, the Mass of the Holy Church, the Mass of the Apostles and Martyrs of all times, our Mass – this is the Mass that truly causes them scandal. It is not Roman birettas and bows that scandalize them; it is not the mozzettas and rochets that scandalize them. The real thing that scandalizes them is the Catholic Mass, and this is what they rail against, with the rage of heretics – the same people who preach “welcoming” and “inclusivity,” which applies to everyone without condition except for good priests and faithful laity. In reality, this ought to be enough to convince us to totally ignore the last dying wheezes of a Hierarchy that is blinded in both intellect and will because it is alien to Grace.

This umpteenth show of strength by Cupich, who is cynical and ruthless towards the faithful even before the Canons of the Institute of Christ the King, can constitute a healthy moment of reflection on the many omissions and equivocations that need to be clarified, especially in the matter of acceptance of the Conciliar mens and the Bergoglian “magisterium.” I trust that the Canons of Christ the King and all of the Ecclesia Dei institutes will be able to see in these days of trial a precious opportunity for purification, courageously witnessing to the necessary coherence between the profession of Faith and its cultic expression in the Mass, and the consequent irreconcilability between these and the doctrinal and liturgical deviations of Vatican II. Because it is not possible to celebrate the Mass of Saint Pius V and at the same time to accept the errors of its enemies.

Cupich knows this very well, and this is why he wants to prevent the celebration of that Mass. He knows how much that Mass is a very powerful exorcism against the servants of the devil, both those who wear miters and those who do not. He knows how immediately that Mass is understandable to anyone for its supernatural sense of the sacred and divine – the mysterium tremendum of Moses before the burning bush – and how that Mass opens the eyes of the faithful, warms their hearts, and enlightens their minds. After decades of unspeakable torments, the faithful are finally able to approach the Majesty of God, to be converted, to change their lives, to educate their children in holiness, and to spread the Faith by their example. What could be more desirable for a Bishop who is truly a Shepherd of the Sheep entrusted to him by the Lord? And what could be more detestable for those who want to see the Sheep be torn to pieces by wolves or fall into the abyss?

The lay faithful, priests, and Bishops have the sacred and urgent duty to rise up against the decisions of these completely discredited characters and to demand, without yielding an inch, that the venerable Tridentine Liturgy remain an inviolable bulwark of doctrine, morality, and spirituality. We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29), especially when these men have demonstrated by their reprehensible conduct, that they do not love either God or their brothers in the Faith.

+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
20 July 2022

[Stone]

Archdiocese of Chicago claims Institute of Christ the King ‘chose’ to stop offering sacraments
‘Cupich knew’ he was forcing the TLM-only Institute into a ‘deal breaker’ situation, explained Father John Zuhlsdorf, 

and the Archdiocese of Chicago's statement about the matter is 'parallel' to saying that ‘Thomas More chose to be beheaded.’



Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago

Aug 8, 2022
(LifeSiteNews) – An Archdiocese of Chicago spokeswoman has clarified that the traditional Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) was given the option to continue its work if it followed Cardinal Blase Cupich’s new liturgical guidelines and that the Institute declined to do so. At the same time, the archdiocese claims that the Institute itself chose to close down Masses. Blogger Father John Zuhlsdorf characterized the diocesan attempt at blaming the Institute for its own shutdown as “hilarious.”

As LifeSite reported, the Archdiocese of Chicago forced the Institute of Christ to shut down Masses and confessions as of August 1. In Chicago, three ICKSP priests serve some 400 to 500 faithful. The faculties of these priests has been removed. The shrine of the Institute, which is within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Chicago, is also the Institute’s U.S. headquarters.

In an August 3 local news report, the archdiocese was quoted as saying: “On July 31, the Shrine of Christ the King communicated to the archdiocese that they would stop offering Mass and other sacraments at the Shrine. It was their choice to do so.”

Father Zuhlsdorf explained in his commentary on this report that “the Institute was being forced by Cupich into a situation that Cupich knew was a deal breaker.”

An August 2 statement by the Archdiocese of Chicago clarified the conditions that had been given to the Institute of Christ the King, which is exclusively dedicated to celebrating the Sacraments in the traditional Roman rite. Matt Gaspers, the editor of Catholic Family News, posted the statement on Twitter, saying “Confirmation from an @archchicago spokeswoman that @ICKSP was given the ‘option’ of saying the Novus Ordo periodically per @CardinalBCupich ‘s ‘guidelines.’”

Gaspers linked up to a local newspaper report which quoted on August 2 the archdiocesan spokeswoman:

“They chose to discontinue the Masses and sent the archdiocese a letter [on July 31] stating that they would stop offering Mass and other sacraments at the Shrine,” said Susan Thomas, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese. “They were not denied. We did not ban them. They chose to discontinue altogether.” “The Shrine had the option to continue Latin Mass under the guidelines and decided not to,” Thomas added.

Gaspers showed on his tweet that the guidelines referred to were published two days after Christmas 2021 by Cardinal Blase Cupich, and were to take effect on January 25. They are aimed at restricting the use of the traditional Roman rite in the archdiocese, in accordance with Pope Francis’s instructions in his motu proprio Traditionis Custodes. Cupich quoted as part of the new papal instructions “the full acceptance that ‘the liturgical books promulgated by St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of Vatican Council II, are the unique expression of the ‘lex orandi’ of the Roman Rite.’”

That is to say, the Novus Ordo Mass, which has only been around for 50 years, is to be accepted as the “unique expression” of the Roman rite, essentially abolishing the traditional Latin rite of the ages.

Cupich’s stipulations follow this new rule. He wrote in January:

Priests and those groups that receive permission from the Archbishop of Chicago to celebrate the Mass using the Missal of 1962, are bound on the first Sunday of the month to celebrate Mass only using the Missal of Paul VI. If Latin is used, then the faithful should be provided the means to participate in the responses. Mass is also ordinarily to be celebrated “versus populum,” unless permission is granted otherwise by the archbishop. Additionally, all celebrations of the church’s liturgies on Christmas, the Triduum, Easter Sunday, and Pentecost Sunday are to use exclusively the liturgical books promulgated by St. Pope Paul VI and St. Pope John Paul II, either in the vernacular or in Latin, and ordinarily “versus populum,” unless permission is granted otherwise by the archbishop.

As LifeSite learned earlier from Keith Armato, a prominent local Catholic layman, the Institute of Christ the King had been put under pressure by Cupich to sign a document with about five points, which they could not in good conscience sign. Among other things, they were asked to sign a statement that the Novus Ordo Mass is “the only true expression of the Roman rite,” Armato, who read the document, revealed.

Such a claim, he added, would go “against their charism.”

With these clarifications – as skewed as they may be – the Archdiocese of Chicago merely confirmed what LifeSite had reported earlier, in the middle of July, namely: Cupich wanted to force the Institute of Christ the King to abandon their charism for which they had been founded with papal approval – the preservation of the traditional Roman rite in all of its liturgical and sacramental expressions.

Father Zuhlsdorf commented on the way the archdiocese described the situation of the Institute, saying that they left out “an important fact,” namely “that the Institute was being forced, in order to stay functioning, to agree to something that the Archbishop knew they could not agree to.”

And he compared the Institute’s plight with that of St. Thomas More: “Similarly, St. Thomas More would have taken the Oath of Supremacy depending on the wording.”

However, the priest went on to say, “the wording was such that More could not have even a mental reservation about it. Hence, he had to either lie to himself and to God and sign and thus save his earthly life while committing a mortal sin, or refuse and be imprisoned and killed.”

Zuhlsdorf concluded: “The statement, ‘Thomas More chose to be beheaded’ is the parallel here,” referring back to the words of the archdiocese that the Institute chose to close down.

The Institute of Christ the King so far has not made any public statements regarding this shutdown of their apostolate in Chicago. LifeSite has reached out to them repeatedly, asking for a commentary. We shall update this report should we hear from them. LifeSiteNews also reached out to the Archdiocese of Chicago for comment and has not received a response.