From the official SSPX French District website: https://laportelatine.org/docuмents/crise-eglise/ecclesiadeisme/le-pape-francois-restreint-lusage-de-la-messe-traditionnelle
"[We are] No longer to speak of "Mass according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite".
With his Motu Proprio entitled Traditionis Custodes[1] of July 16, 2021, to which is attached an accompanying letter to the bishops, Pope Francis has just decided that this distinction invented by Benedict XVI was obsolete: only the new Mass of Paul VI has the right to be cited in the conciliar Church, the traditional Mass is only tolerated.
Unity behind the new Mass
What is the status of the Tridentine Mass now? The answer is not given in these docuмents, but it doesn't matter because the clearly stated objective is its disappearance. It is now permitted under drastic conditions for "those who need time to return to the Roman Rite promulgated by Saints Paul VI and John Paul II," i.e., the New Mass.
The means used to stifle the traditional Mass are clearly indicated in the Motu Proprio: severe limitations on the times and places for the celebration of the traditional Mass; firm control by the bishops of diocesan priests wishing to celebrate according to the old rite; suppression of all protective supervision of the Institutes under the jurisdiction of the former Ecclesia Dei Commission.
Unity behind the Second Vatican Council
The pope intends to eradicate all pockets of resistance to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. This was, he admits, the goal of the motu proprio of 1988 and 2007; since their implementation has instead strengthened positions that lead to "doubting the Council,"[3] Pope Francis is putting an end to the experiment. The groups that will still be allowed to celebrate according to the old rite will have to certify that they "do not exclude the validity and legitimacy of the liturgical reform, of the precepts of the Second Vatican Council and of the Magisterium of the Supreme Pontiffs,"[4] thus adhering to the Council and to the post-conciliar Magisterium.
The clarification is brutal for those who thought they could put their trust in authorities still imbued with liberal values, when the Society of St. Pius X can faithfully rely on the wisdom of its founder, who warned about the 1984 indult granting the traditional Mass a conditional freedom: "We cannot place ourselves under an authority whose ideas are liberal and which would condemn us little by little, by force of circuмstance, to accept these ideas and their consequences, first of all the new Mass."
If I were a betting man, I'd bet that it goes something like this:
* "Lower the boom" on faithful who are now assisting at the Traditional Latin Mass outside the SSPX
* Note that he didn't mention the SSPX (or if he did, I may have missed something, someone please correct me if I'm wrong)
* Drive as many traditionalists as possible into the SSPX, and if they are allowed to continue, similar groups such as the FSSP and ICKSP
* Bring all of these together under a kind of "super-SSPX"
* Offer Fellay
et al a deal by which they, in some fashion, admit the licitness of both the Novus Ordo and Vatican II, and they are possibly called upon to celebrate the Novus Ordo, at least from time to time, or as
ad hoc "supply" priests
* They take the deal, then the TLM is "quarantined" into this one group, and this one group only, while the rest of the Roman Rite goes full-bore Novus Ordo
* They
don't take the deal, and then they're declared schismatic, and portrayed as bad actors in bad faith
* Those who continue any "resistance" are likewise marginalized, possibly declared schismatic, possibly just ignored
I know that some of these points have been raised elsewhere, but to my mind, it all makes sense.
Papa Francisco can't suppress the TLM, keep people from attending it by hook or by crook, and he knows it.
As I told my dear mother this morning, he's running scared, he's afraid that traditionalists will take over the mind and heart of the Church. I would certainly expect any pope or bishop to understand the concept of "damage control". Does he?