The cited article from EWTN News reports that “Pope Leo XIV” celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday 2026 at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, washing the feet of 12 priests of the Diocese of Rome. It notes this “revived” a practice last observed there in 2012 under Benedict XVI, departing from Pope Francis’s custom of celebrating in prisons or migrant centers. The article presents this as a return to tradition, framing it as a restoration of a proper “papal practice.” This act, however, is not a restoration but a profound manifestation of the post-conciliar apostasy, a sacrilegious theater that mocks the immutable Catholic liturgy and the very meaning of the Holy Eucharist.
Factical and Historical Deconstruction: Superficial Reformism, Not Tradition
The article presents Leo XIV’s action as a “revival” of a pre-2015 papal custom. This is a deliberate misrepresentation. The “custom” of the pope celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. John Lateran is a post-Vatican II innovation, not an ancient tradition. Prior to the 1960s, the pope’s Holy Thursday Mass was celebrated in the Sistine Chapel or St. Peter’s, with the foot-washing of *subdeacons* or *clergy*, but the entire rite was governed by the unaltered Roman Missal of Pope St. Pius V (*Quo Primum*, 1570). The 1955 Holy Week reform of Pope Pius XII, while introducing some changes, still maintained the essential structure and theology of the Traditional Rite. The “return” to St. John Lateran is merely a change of venue within the post-conciliar, Protestantized Novus Ordo Missae. It is a cosmetic adjustment, a piece of liturgical stagecraft designed to give the illusion of “tradition” while the underlying rite remains the same destructive product of the Second Vatican Council’s revolution. The true, unchanging Tradition—the Mass of All Ages—was definitively and solemnly prohibited for universal use by the conciliar “reform.” Any celebration in the “ordinary form” is, by definition, an act of schism from the Roman Catholic Church of all time.
Linguistic Analysis: The Language of Naturalism and Revolution
The article’s language is dripping with the naturalistic, human-centered rhetoric of the conciliar sect. Phrases like “returned the Mass… to the Basilica of St. John Lateran,” “reviving a papal practice,” and “departing from Pope Francis’ custom” treat the liturgy as a malleable human tradition subject to papal whims and sociological preferences. There is not a single word about God, sacrifice, propitiation, or the supernatural. The focus is entirely on the actor (“Pope Leo XIV”) and his actions (“celebrated,” “washed the feet”). This is the language of *homo-centric* religion, where the liturgy is a “celebration of community” rather than the re-presentation of Calvary. The omission of any reference to the sacrificial nature of the Mass, the Real Presence, or the propitiatory value of the Holy Eucharist is not accidental; it is the necessary silence of a religion that has exchanged the *sacrificium* for a *convivium*.
Theological Confrontation: A Study in Apostasy and Sacrilege
Every element of the reported rite is an affront to Catholic dogma and liturgical law as defined before the night of the Council.
1. The Novus Ordo Missae Itself is Heretical. The “Mass of the Lord’s Supper” celebrated is, by necessity, the post-1969 Missale Romanum. This rite was crafted by a committee including six known Protestants (Annabella Botti, etc.) and was explicitly designed to be “more open” to Protestant sensibilities. Its theology was condemned by Pope Pius XII in *Mediator Dei* (1947) as a “sterile and deceptive liturgical reform” that would “weaken the Church’s faith.” The very definition of the Mass as a “memorial of the Lord” (memoriale Domini) rather than an unbloody sacrifice (*sacrificium*) is a denial of the Catholic faith defined at the Council of Trent (Session XXII, Canon 1: “If anyone says that in the Mass a true and proper sacrifice is not offered to God… let him be anathema”). The silent Canon of the Novus Ordo, the ambiguous Offertory prayers, the reduction of the Canon to a “narrative” (*Hoc est enim Corpus Meum*), all constitute a systematic dismantling of the sacrificial dogma. To participate in or promote this rite is to participate in apostasy.
2. The Mandatum (Washing of Feet) is a Profanation. The article states Leo XIV “washed the feet of 12 priests of the Diocese of Rome.” This act, in the context of the post-conciliar rite, is a deliberate and calculated revolution against the Sacred Scripture and Tradition.
* **Scriptural Context:** John 13:1-15 records Christ washing the feet of the *Apostles*—the first bishops—at the Last Supper. This was an extraordinary act of humility *from the Master to His chosen successors*, instituting the priesthood. It was not a general “service” ritual.
* **Pre-1958 Rubrics:** The 1955 Holy Week reform of Pope Pius XII, while allowing the Mandatum to be performed after the homily, still specified it was to be done for *subdeacons* or *clergy* of the cathedral chapter, in direct reference to the apostolic origin. It was never a “community service” event.
* **Post-Conciliar Revolution:** The 1967 *Instruction *Tres abhinc annos* and the 1969 Missal made the Mandatum optional and opened it to *anyone*—men, women, children, the poor, prisoners. This explicitly democratizes the priesthood and destroys its hierarchical, sacramental character. The choice to wash the feet of *priests* is a cynical, two-faced maneuver: on one hand, it pretends to honor the clergy (unlike Francis’s focus on the marginalized), but on the other, it places priests on the same level as the apostles in a *ritual of service*, implying a horizontal, “collegial” model of the Church condemned by Pope Pius IX in the *Syllabus of Errors* (Error #24: “The Church has not the power of using force, nor has she any temporal power, direct or indirect” – here applied to the internal hierarchy). The act now signifies the “service” of the “president” to the “community,” a direct import from Protestantism. It is a liturgical parody.
3. The Venue: St. John Lateran as a Symbol of Conciliar Captivity. The Basilica of St. John Lateran is the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. Its use for this rite is not a restoration but a desecration. The article’s framing (“returned… to the Basilica of St. John Lateran”) implies it was wrongfully taken away. In truth, the Lateran has been occupied by the conciliar sect since 1963. The “return” is merely the sect using one of its occupied buildings for one of its revolutionary rites. There is no “return” to Tradition because the conciliar “popes” have never validly occupied the See of Peter. The entire event takes place in a building that, while consecrated, is under the control of an ecumenical, modernist sect that has broken with the Catholic Faith.
Symptomatic Analysis: The Fruit of the Conciliar Tree
This event is not an anomaly; it is the logical fruit of the Second Vatican Council’s apostasy, which Pope St. Pius X prophesied in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis* (1907) and which was condemned by Pope Pius IX’s *Syllabus of Errors*.
* **Hermeneutics of Continuity in Action:** The attempt to portray this as “restoring tradition” while changing its fundamental meaning is the core of the “hermeneutics of continuity” condemned by Benedict XVI (himself a heretic). It is a lie that seeks to reconcile the irreconcilable: the Catholic Church and the conciliar revolution.
* **Democratization of the Church:** Washing the feet of priests in a ritualized “service” context directly implements the conciliar error of “collegiality” and the “People of God” model, where the hierarchical distinction between the sacramental priesthood and the common priesthood of the faithful is blurred. This is the “democratization” of the Church, a Protestant principle.
* **The Cult of Man and Subjectivism:** The entire spectacle—the focus on the “pope’s” actions, the photographic opportunities, the emphasis on “community” (the priests of Rome)—is a manifestation of the “cult of man” condemned by Pius XI in *Quadragesimo Anno* (1931) and Pius IX in the *Syllabus* (Errors #58-60). It is religion reduced to human sentiment and social action.
* **Silence on the Supernatural:** The article, mirroring the rite itself, is utterly silent on the *raison d’être* of Holy Thursday: the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Cross made present, the Real Presence, the necessity of sacramental confession to receive worthily. This silence is the loudest testimony to its apostasy. As Pope Pius IX stated in the *Syllabus* (Error #57): “Moral laws do not stand in need of the divine sanction…” This is precisely the principle operative here: the liturgy is a human, moral, social act, not a divine, supernatural sacrifice requiring divine sanction and faith.
Confrontation with Unchanging Catholic Doctrine
The unchanging Catholic Faith, as defined by the Roman Pontiffs and Ecumenical Councils before the modern apostasy, stands in absolute, irreconcilable opposition to this spectacle.
* **On the Mass:** The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is “a true propitiatory sacrifice” (Trent, Sess. XXII, Can. 1). It is offered “to God” by the priest acting *in persona Christi*. The Novus Ordo, by its prayers and structure, explicitly denies this. The very phrase “Mass of the Lord’s Supper” in the Novus Ordo context reduces the mystery to a memorial meal.
* **On the Priesthood:** The Catholic priesthood is *in persona Christi Capitis* (in the person of Christ the Head). It is hierarchical, sacramental, and distinct from the common priesthood of the faithful. The Mandatum, when performed as a general “service” ritual, destroys this distinction, promoting the Lutheran error of the “priesthood of all believers.”
* **On the Church’s Liberty:** The Church has an innate, divine right to freedom from secular control (Pius IX, *Syllabus*, Error #19: “The Church is not a true and perfect society… it appertains to the civil power to define what are the rights of the Church”). The conciliar sect, however, has embraced the errors of religious liberty and separation of Church and state (Dignitatis Humanae, 1965), making it a willing collaborator with the secular world. The choice of a cathedral over a prison is not a return to Catholic principle; it is a negotiation between two forms of secularism.
* **On Authority:** The pope’s authority is to “feed” (pasce) the sheep and goats (John 21:15-17), not to “wash their feet” in a ritual of egalitarian service. The authority of the Roman Pontiff is monarchical, paternal, and judicial (Pius XI, *Quas Primas*: “Christ… is the Lawgiver, to whom men owe obedience”). The foot-washing as a liturgical act subverts this into a model of “presidential” humility, a democratic tool.
The Grave Omission: The Eucharist as Sacrifice
The most damning omission in both the article and the rite it describes is any mention of the *sacrifice*. The Holy Thursday Mass is, in the Traditional Rite, the solemn commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood *at the Last Supper*, which is the application of the one sacrifice of Calvary to the altar. The Offertory prayers of the Traditional Mass thunder with the language of sacrifice: “*Suscipe, sancte Pater, omnipotens aeterne Deus, hanc immaculatam hostiam…*” (Accept, O holy Father, almighty eternal God, this immaculate host…). The Canon of the Mass is a continuous prayer of oblation. In the Novus Ordo, this is gutted. The article’s complete silence on this central, non-negotiable dogma of the Faith is proof positive that the authors and the celebrant operate from a completely different religious framework—one that has consciously, deliberately, and apostatically rejected the sacrifice of the Mass as defined by Trent.
Conclusion: The Neo-Church’s Theater of Apostasy
The event described is not a “return to tradition.” It is a masterful piece of psychological and liturgical operation, designed to seduce those who cling to external forms while emptying them of their supernatural content. Leo XIV, the antipope of the conciliar sect, has performed a sacrilegious parody of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in a stolen cathedral. The washing of priests’ feet is a theatrical enactment of the sect’s core errors: collegiality, democratization, and the reduction of the sacred to the human. It is the logical outcome of the “spirit of Vatican II,” which Pope St. Pius X in *Lamentabili Sane Exitu* (1907) condemned as Modernism: “the evolution of dogmas… in the sense that they are a development of the primitive Christian fact” (Proposition #54). Here, the “development” is the transformation of the hierarchical, sacrificial Mass into a horizontal, service-oriented community meal.
The only “tradition” being revived is the tradition of the *abomination of desolation* standing in the holy place (Matt. 24:15). The true Catholic, adhering to the faith of all time, must have absolutely nothing to do with this sacrilege. He must flee the conciliar sect and its pseudo-liturgies, and hold fast to the unadulterated Roman Rite, the true sacrifice offered by true priests in communion with the hidden, suffering Church of this apostate age. The article from EWTN News is not news; it is propaganda for the Antichrist’s synagogue, and its presentation of this event as positive is the final proof of its utter theological and spiritual bankruptcy.
Source:
PHOTOS: Pope Leo XIV celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Vatican (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 02.04.2026