No . . . Quo Primum in binding only until another pope or council changes it. It is not a dogmatic decree, nor a matter of divinely revealed moral law.
Popes can overrule other popes and entire councils as well. Popes are bound only by Divinely revealed moral law, which is revealed in scripture and in nature and by revealed dogma.
Liturgical rites are not dogmas. The sacrament is a dogma, not the rite. For example, Pope John Paul approved an anaphora from the East that does not have the words of consecration as valid and licit, because it dates back to one of the apostles. who did not use the words of consecration as did the other apostles.
The point is that even among the apostles, there were differences in liturgical laws. There are essentials that must be preserved and there are other things that can be changed by the authority of the pope.
Remember, it was not Vatican II that revised the missal. That’s a very common misconception. Vatican II simply called for a revision of the missal. The actual revision was done by a committee and the final edition was reviewed and sealed by Pope Paul VI. Pope Paul VI has as much authority over the mass as Pope Pius V.
Bl. John XXIII had already revised it in 1962. It was not the exact version of the Tridentine Form that St. Pius V was discussing in his day.
The the Law-Giver is Christ who writes the law of the Church into the heart of Peter. Therefore, Peter cannot be bound by any Church or civil law. No church government or civil government can contradict him, overrule him, judge him or sentence him, regardless of what they may accuse him, even if it be true. The pope is above all law, including laws made by his predecessors and by councils.
The only law to which he answers is law directly revealed by God and the only truth to which he is bound is revealed truth (dogma).
This argument about Quo Primum is a misunderstanding of the authority of the pope. People often look at the wording of the document, but fail to look at the subject. The subject is not morality or dogma. It’s liturgy, which falls under rites and disciplines.
The very fact that the Tridentine mass was not imposed on the universal Church tells us that it is not a dogma. Dogmas are held by all 23 Catholic Churches. Rites and liturgical disciplines are not held in common.
Even though Quo Primum was written for the Latin Church, there were groups that were exempt from it: Franciscans, Benedictines, Carmelites, Carthusians, Dominicans, Jesuits, Diocese of Milan, the Mozarabic Catholics in Spain, and any Catholic who attends mass at any of those churches. Therein lays the proof that it was not a dogmatic decree.
Everyone is bound by a dogma. For example, whether you’re Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic or Maronite Catholic, you must believe the Immaculate Conception. You must accept that this or that person is a saint once the pope declares him to be so. Those are binding on all Catholics, no exceptions. This was not the case with Quo Primum, even though the wording makes it sound as if it were. The fact is that the pope, who was a Dominican, exempted his own religious order from Quo Primum and from then on, other orders and other dioceses around the Roman Catholic Church and he bound none of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
It was only binding until another pope or council came along and changed it and only binding on those who were not exempt from it, including the pope’s own order. Most people don’t know that the Dominicans protested vehemently against Quo Primum and Pope St. Pius V, being an obedient son of St. Dominic himself, bowed to the wishes of the Dominicans and did not impose it on them.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
