Bishop Ordains Priest with Pre-Conciliar Pontifical Despite Traditionis Custodes
A recent priestly ordination in western France has once again exposed the unresolved tensions surrounding the implementation of Traditionis custodes and the post-2021 restrictions placed upon the traditional Roman liturgy.
On 17 January 2026, Alain Castet, Bishop Emeritus of Roman Catholic Diocese of Luçon, ordained Brother Thomas-Marie Warmuz to the sacred priesthood at Chémeré-le-Roi. During the same ceremony, Brother André-Marie Mwanza was ordained subdeacon. The ordination was conducted according to the pre-conciliar Pontificale Romanum—that is, the form in use prior to the reforms following the Second Vatican Council.¹
The ceremony took place within the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican-inspired clerical institute founded in 1979 and known for its exclusive attachment to traditional liturgical rites, including the Dominican Rite for Mass and Office.²
The decision to employ the older pontifical is noteworthy. In December 2021, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued Responsa ad dubia clarifying that bishops are not authorised to confer Holy Orders using the pre-conciliar pontifical.³ That clarification followed the promulgation of Pope Francis’s motu proprio Traditionis custodes (16 July 2021), which declared the liturgical books promulgated after Vatican II to be the “unique expression” of the Roman Rite and placed significant new restrictions on the celebration of the older rites.⁴
The December Responsa extended the scope of the legislation beyond the celebration of Mass, explicitly addressing sacramental rites and stating that the use of the former Pontificale Romanum was not permitted—even in communities authorised to celebrate the traditional Mass.³ Enforcement of these norms was entrusted to diocesan bishops acting under the authority of the Holy See.⁴
Against this juridical background, the ordination at Chémeré-le-Roi raises practical and ecclesiological questions. How binding, in concrete terms, are the clarifications? What degree of discretion remains available to bishops and institutes of pontifical right? And how uniformly are the norms of Traditionis custodes being applied?
Bishop Castet, who governed the Diocese of Luçon from 2008 until his retirement in 2017, has made no public statement explaining the decision to use the older pontifical.⁵
The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer
The Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer was founded in France in 1979 by Fr Louis-Marie de Blignières in the aftermath of post-conciliar upheaval.⁶ Inspired by Dominican spirituality and the preaching tradition of St Vincent Ferrer, the fraternity sought from its inception to preserve pre-conciliar theological formation, liturgical customs, and sacramental practice.
Following theological clarification and dialogue with Rome, the fraternity was erected in 1988 as a clerical religious institute of pontifical right under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established by Pope John Paul II after the apostolic letter Ecclesia Dei adflicta.⁷ Unlike the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter or the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, it does not formally belong to the cluster of societies often grouped together as “Ecclesia Dei communities,” though it shares a similar historical trajectory.
Its principal house remains the Couvent Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin in Chémeré-le-Roi, where its apostolate centres on preaching, catechesis, and Thomistic formation.²
A Wider Pattern of Uneven Application
The ordination illustrates a broader reality: more than four years after Traditionis custodes came into force, its practical consequences remain unevenly applied across dioceses and institutes.
While the motu proprio was presented as a decisive clarification of liturgical discipline—reversing the broader permissions granted under Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum (2007)⁸—its implementation has not produced a uniform legal settlement. Certain traditional communities have reportedly received reassurances permitting continuation of established sacramental practices, while others operate under stricter constraints.
The result has been described in Catholic commentary as a condition of juridical uncertainty: neither a full restoration of pre-2021 freedom nor an entirely consolidated new regime.
Decisiveness and Ambiguity
The underlying tension is structural. Traditionis custodes states that the reformed liturgical books are the unique expression of the Roman Rite, that bishops lack authority to permit use of the older pontifical, and that priests ordained after July 2021 must seek explicit authorisation from Rome to celebrate the older Mass.⁴ Yet its enforcement relies heavily upon episcopal governance and case-by-case determinations, even while simultaneously restricting episcopal latitude.
Since the Second Vatican Council, liturgical reform has been presented both as irreversible and pastorally flexible. Traditionis custodes represents an attempt to resolve that tension juridically. The ordination at Chémeré-le-Roi suggests that the attempt remains incomplete.
What was framed as a definitive settlement continues, in practice, to function as a patchwork—shaped less by abstract clarity than by the lived complexities of ecclesial governance.
¹ Pontificale Romanum, editio typica prior to the postconciliar reform; cf. Pontificale Romanum, 1962 edition (Rome: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1962).
² Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer, official history and charism statement, Couvent Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin, Chémeré-le-Roi (founding 1979; Dominican Rite usage).
³ Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Responsa ad dubia on certain provisions of the Apostolic Letter Traditionis custodes, 4 December 2021, response to dubium concerning use of the pre-conciliar Pontificale Romanum.
⁴ Pope Francis, Apostolic Letter issued motu proprio Traditionis custodes, 16 July 2021, Arts. 1, 4; accompanying letter to bishops.
⁵ Diocese of Luçon, episcopal biography of Bishop Alain Castet (bishop 2008–2017; emeritus thereafter).
⁶ Fr Louis-Marie de Blignières, founding of the Fraternity of Saint Vincent Ferrer (1979), historical account in official fraternity documentation.
⁷ Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter Ecclesia Dei adflicta, 2 July 1988; erection of Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei and subsequent recognition of institutes attached to the older liturgical books.
⁸ Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter issued motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, 7 July 2007.
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