Cardinals say Church's problems stem from "progressives" undermining core Catholic beliefs

Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Archbishop Emeritus of Hong Kong,  has published a scathing rebuke to Jorge "Pope Francis" Bergoglio for ongoing attack on the traditional Latin Mass and other sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.

In July, as reported here, the man who claims to be pope issued an apostolic letter, Traditionis Custodes (Guardians of Tradition - NOT!), restricting the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass in Catholic parishes and eliminating many existing accommodations for priests who wanted to use the traditional Tridentine form (called "the Extraordinary Form" by Benedict XVI) of the Catholic liturgy. 

In his post (link to English and Chinese versions at bottom), Cardinal Zen says Francis' letter contains "many tendentious generalizations" which "hurt more than expected the hearts of many good people."

The prelate goes on to say that the papal text "considers the very existence of a parallel rite [alongside the Novus Ordo or "new mass"] to be an evil," and clearly wishes "for the death of the [traditional] groups."

Traditionis Custodes was supposed to have been the result of a consultation with the bishops of the Church, but His Eminence claims it came "as a bitter surprise to me personally that the 'widespread' consultation did not reach me, a cardinal and once a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments." He writes, "Not having known either the questionnaire or the responses to the questionnaire, I cannot judge, but only suspect that there was much misunderstanding (or perhaps even manipulation) in the process."

Then comes the real sting. The real problem is not "which rite do people prefer," but rather "why don’t they go to Mass anymore?" 

Thus Cardinal Zen echoes the reflections of fellow Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former chief of the Congregation for the Defence of the Faith, who in an article published in July chided Francis for trying to suppress the traditional Latin Mass while at the same time allowing progressives to reject with impunity basic tenets of the True Faith.

Francis has "drastically restricted" the celebration of the Latin Mass (the prelate wrote) with the clear intent to "condemn the Extraordinary Form to extinction in the long run."

Worse, the Cardinal observed, by punishing the conservative peripheries, Francis "ignores the religious feelings of the (often young) participants in the Masses according to the Missal John XXIII" without the "slightest empathy.... Instead of appreciating the smell of the sheep, the shepherd here hits them hard with his crook!"

In summary, both Cardinal Zen and Cardinal Müller are saying unequivocally that the very real problems of today's Catholic Church do not come from traditionalists, but from progressives who undermine the core of Catholic belief.

Further reading: "Why do they see problem where there is none and close their eyes to the problem, for which they are also responsible?" - complete text of Cardinal Zen's blog post. And here's the Chinese version: "為什麼他們見到不存在的問題，卻見不到實在的問題，且也是他們有份造成的?"