Terms common in traditionalist Catholic media and coverage of it, defined descriptively; contested or pejorative terms are flagged, with who uses them.
A
Ad orientem. "Toward the east": the priest faces the same way as the people. It remains permitted in the reformed Mass; in 2016 the Holy See said Cardinal Robert Sarah's call for it was not a new directive (Aleteia; The Pillar).
Amoris Laetitia footnote 351. Footnote to §305 of Francis's 2016 exhortation (vatican.va) saying that help for people in "irregular" unions can "in certain cases" include "the help of the sacraments." Critics read it as admitting some divorced and civilly remarried Catholics to Communion, contrary to earlier teaching. See explainer.
B
Based. Online slang of approval, popularised by the rapper Lil B and later common on the political right for opinions voiced regardless of disapproval (Dictionary.com; Wikipedia). See online culture.
Benevacantism. The claim that Benedict XVI's 2013 resignation was invalid, so that he remained pope until his death in 2022 and Francis was an antipope.
C
Cassiciacum thesis. See Sedeprivationism.
Chapel veil (mantilla). A head covering, often lace, worn by some women in church; required by the 1917 Code of Canon Law but not the 1983 Code, so now a personal devotion (Jimmy Akin). See explainer.
Communion on the tongue. The traditional manner of receiving. In 1969 Paul VI kept it as the norm while letting bishops' conferences permit Communion in the hand under conditions (EWTN Library). The 2004 instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum (§92) says each of the faithful "always has the right" to receive on the tongue (BC Catholic).
"Conciliar Church." From a 25 June 1976 letter by Giovanni Benelli, then substitute of the Secretariat of State, asking that Archbishop Lefebvre's seminarians be faithful to the "conciliar Church." Lefebvre and later traditionalists adopted it to distinguish the post-conciliar establishment from what they regard as the Catholic Church (Le Sel de la Terre; The Remnant).
D
Dubia. Latin for "doubts": formal yes-or-no questions put to the Holy See; in trad media, usually the four cardinals' 2016 questions on Amoris Laetitia, which went unanswered, or the five cardinals' 2023 questions on blessings, women's ordination, synodality and other topics, which Francis answered (L'Osservatore Romano). See Synodality.
E
Ecclesia Dei communities. Societies in full communion with Rome, erected under the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei (1988–2019), that use the 1962 liturgical books, chiefly the FSSP, ICKSP and IBP. See explainer.
Ecclesia supplet (supplied jurisdiction). "The Church supplies": under canon 144 the Church supplies missing power, including faculties for confession and marriage, in common error or positive and probable doubt. The SSPX argues this validates its priests' confessions and marriages (SSPX); the Holy See has not accepted that reading (CNA), and Francis granted faculties directly in 2015–2017. The DDF's 2026 note treats SSPX confessions and marriages as invalid for lack of faculties; some canonists dispute this (OSV News; InfoVaticana).
Extraordinary Form. See TLM.
F
Fatima consecration. The request, reported by the seer Lucia dos Santos, that a pope consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Lucia later accepted in writing John Paul II's consecration of the world on 25 March 1984; The Fatima Center and others argue it failed because Russia was not named (CNA; The Catholic Thing). Francis consecrated Russia and Ukraine by name on 25 March 2022 (NCR).
Feeneyism. A strict reading of "no salvation outside the Church" associated with Fr. Leonard Feeney (d. 1978) and addressed by a 1949 Holy Office letter. See Feeneyism.
Fiducia Supplicans. The DDF's December 2023 declaration (vatican.va) permitting brief, non-ritual blessings of couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples, without approving their unions. See explainer.
FSSP. The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, founded on 18 July 1988 by priests who broke with Archbishop Lefebvre over his consecrations; it uses the pre-1970 rites in full communion with Rome.
FSSPX. See SSPX.
H
Hermeneutic of continuity / rupture. From Benedict XVI's address of 22 December 2005 (vatican.va), which rejected a "hermeneutic of discontinuity and rupture" in reading Vatican II in favour of a "hermeneutic of reform." Trad writers dispute continuity on points such as religious liberty. See explainer and Religious liberty.
High Mass. See Low Mass.
I
IBP. The Institute of the Good Shepherd, founded in 2006 by former SSPX priests led by Fr. Philippe Laguérie; based in Bordeaux and in full communion with Rome.
ICKSP. The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a society of priests ("canons") founded in 1990, with its seminary at Gricigliano near Florence, using only the pre-1970 books.
Indult. A permission from the Holy See to depart from general law; in trad media, chiefly the 1984 indult Quattuor abhinc annos, under which bishops could allow the 1962 Missal on conditions. See Liturgy law.
Integralism. The view that temporal power should be ordered to the Church's spiritual ends, revived recently by some Catholic political writers. See explainer.
L
Latae sententiae. A penalty incurred automatically on committing an offence, without a judge's sentence (CIC can. 1314). On 2 July 2026 the DDF declared that the six bishops involved in the SSPX's Écône consecrations had incurred excommunication (Vatican News). See explainer.
Low Mass, High Mass, Missa cantata. Forms of the traditional Mass: spoken (Low Mass, with one or two servers); sung without deacon and subdeacon (Missa cantata, sometimes called a High Mass); and sung with them (Solemn High Mass) (New Liturgical Movement; Wikipedia).
M
Mantilla. See Chapel veil.
Modernism. The movement Pius X condemned in 1907 in the decree Lamentabili and the encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis, which called it "the synthesis of all heresies." From 1910 clergy swore an Oath against Modernism, replaced in 1967 by a new profession of faith (National Catholic Register; Catholic Culture). Trad writers often apply it to post-conciliar theology, as in a 2026 headline on Bishop Athanasius Schneider's remarks (Diane Montagna).
Motu proprio. "On his own initiative": a papal document issued on the pope's own authority, e.g. Ecclesia Dei (1988), Summorum Pontificum (2007), Traditionis custodes (2021).
N
Neo-Catholic. A label some traditionalist writers apply to conservative Catholics who defend post-conciliar changes. Christopher Ferrara and Thomas Woods popularised it in The Great Façade (2002); Ferrara says it was proposed defensively, in reply to talk of "radical traditionalists" (The Remnant). The apologist Dave Armstrong calls it insulting (Dave Armstrong).
Novus Ordo (Ordinary Form). The Mass of Paul VI, in use since 1970, which Benedict XVI called the "ordinary form" in 2007. See explainer.
Novus Ordo Watch. A sedevacantist website and podcast (TRADCAST) publicly associated with the writer Mario Derksen.
O
Ottaviani Intervention. The "Short Critical Study" of the new Order of Mass that Cardinals Alfredo Ottaviani and Antonio Bacci sent to Paul VI on 25 September 1969. A 1970 letter over Ottaviani's signature said his doubts had been put to rest. See explainer.
P
Papal Posse. A recurring panel on EWTN's The World Over with Raymond Arroyo, Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal. America described it as a forum for criticism of Francis; EWTN has denied any anti-Francis bias (America; Slate).
Pius X, Saint. Pope 1903–1914, author of Pascendi, canonised by Pius XII on 29 May 1954; the SSPX is named after him (EBSCO).
R
Rad trad. Short for "radical traditionalist," usually a pejorative for traditionalists seen as angry or extreme (National Catholic Register). Jimmy Akin distinguishes traditionalism, a spirituality the Church permits, from what he calls "RadTradism"; The Remnant calls the label an insult meant to divide Catholics (Jimmy Akin; The Remnant). The FBI's withdrawn 2023 Richmond memo used "radical-traditionalist Catholic" (online culture).
Recognize and resist. Accepting a pope as legitimate while refusing what one judges contrary to Tradition; associated with the SSPX and much papal-critique media. See Papal authority.
The Remnant. A U.S. traditionalist newspaper founded in 1967 by Walter Matt and edited by Michael J. Matt, with a video arm, Remnant TV.
RETVRN. Online slang, spelled with a Roman "V," for a return to an earlier era's aesthetics or traditions, used sincerely or satirically, often on the right (Wiktionary; The Federalist).
S
Sedeprivationism (Cassiciacum thesis). The thesis of Michel-Louis Guérard des Lauriers, first set out in 1979, that post-conciliar popes hold office only "materially," not "formally." See Sedevacantism.
Sedevacantism. The view that the papal see has been vacant since Pius XII or John XXIII. See Sedevacantism.
SSPX / FSSPX. The Society (Fraternitas) of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970. After it consecrated four bishops without papal mandate on 1 July 2026, the Holy See declared the bishops involved excommunicated and the society in schism; the society rejects both. See explainer.
State of necessity. The SSPX's argument, citing canon 1323 4°, that a crisis in the Church justifies otherwise forbidden acts such as consecrating bishops without papal mandate. The Holy See rejected it before and after the 2026 consecrations. See Papal authority.
Summorum Pontificum. Benedict XVI's 2007 motu proprio (vatican.va) allowing wide use of the 1962 Missal as the "extraordinary form" of the Roman Rite; superseded in 2021. See Liturgy law.
Synodality. The theme and method of the 2021–2024 Synod on Synodality, which Leo XIV is continuing toward an ecclesial assembly in 2028. See Synodality.
T
Three Days of Darkness. A private prophecy of three days of darkness lit only by blessed candles, attributed to various mystics; a Catholic Answers writer found it in no approved apparition (Catholic Answers). See explainer.
TLM (Traditional Latin Mass). The Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal. Usus antiquior ("older use") and "Extraordinary Form" (Benedict XVI's term, 2007–2021) name the same rite. See explainer.
Trad wife. Online content presenting full-time homemaking, deference to a husband's leadership and large families as an ideal. Catholic writers disagree whether the label fits any wife who chooses homemaking. See explainer.
Traditionis custodes. Francis's motu proprio of 16 July 2021 (vatican.va), which calls the reformed books "the unique expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite" and restricts use of the 1962 Missal. Cardinal Arthur Roche was widely reported as saying, in a July 2026 Tablet interview, that Leo XIV would not change it (OnePeterFive). See Liturgy law.
U
Usus antiquior. See TLM.
See also: Who answers traditionalist media?