Traditional Catholic

Traditional Catholic is a term used to describe the small minority of Roman Catholics who reject (for instance as modernistic) the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, especially what is sometimes called the Novus Ordo, that is new (or revised) rite of Mass. They are to be distinguished from conservative Catholics who merely prefer the older Tridentine rite of Mass (established following the Council of Trent), without actually rejecting the Second Vatican Council and the reform of the order of Mass undertaken by Pope Paul VI and contained in a new edition of the Roman Missal. (This definition - used in the rest of the article - is a narrow one: About half of people who call themselves "traditional catholics" are people who are described here as "conservative Catholics", who prefer the old liturgy for primarily aesthetic reasons and consider it the main issue.)

Traditional Catholics can be generally divided into two groups. The majority of traditional Catholics, while opposing recent Vatican decisions, still claim union with Pope of Rome. The second group believe in the papacy but reject Pope Paul VI and his successors Pope John Paul I and Pope John Paul II as antipopes owing to their belief that these popes are heretics due to many of the Vatican II decrees and subsequent papal promulgations. As a result of their heresy, they claim, they have lost or never validly acquired their office. Some of these sedevacantist groups have elected popes of their own.

One other group which falls under the definition of traditional Catholic would be the official government-sponsored Catholic Church of the People's Republic of China. Because the official Catholic church does not recognize the validity of papal pronouncements since the Communist revolution of 1949, it does not use the new Roman Missal. The underground Catholic Church in China does recognize the authority of the the Pope, and hence celebrating Mass using the new Roman Missal rather than the Tridentine Missal in China has political implications. The relationship between the official church and the underground church (about 70% of whose members overlap) has greatly complicated relations between the PRC and the Holy See as well as been the focus of attention by human rights groups. It is because of this conflict that Holy See is the only European state which still recognizes the Republic of China on Taiwan as a legitimate state.

Tradional Catholic groups include:

• Society of St Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre
• Society of St Pius V[?] - Sedevacantist Group
• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen - Sedevacantist Group

See also:

• Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus
• Father Leonard Feeney