Abp. Cordileone: ‘Renewal of Western civilization begins with renewal of the Mass’
The American archbishop offered Pontifical High Mass at the ‘Christ is King’ conference in Croatia where he noted young people yearn for 'authentic' spiritual 'heritage.'
Archbishop Salvatore CordileoneDennis
Callahan, Archdiocese of San Francisco
- 15
Wed Mar 11, 2026 - 9:58 am EDT
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ZAGREB, Croatia (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, California, celebrated Croatia’s first Traditional Pontifical Mass in over half a century during the “Christ is King” conference last weekend.
The March 7 Mass, celebrated at the Church of St. Blaise, taking place during the third annual “Christ is King” conference, was notably the first Pontifical High Mass celebrated in Latin in the central European country in over 50 years. During a lectureprior to the Mass, Cordileone emphasized that returning to the beauty of the ancient liturgical practices found in the Tridentine Mass is the key to evangelization and ultimately restoring Western civilization to Christ.
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“The renewal of Western civilization begins, therefore, with the renewal of the Mass…. The Mass is truly the heart and foundation of that civilization. Moreover, it offers us a unique opportunity in the time in which we live,” the archbishop said as part of a speech before the Mass.
“People can argue, ‘You have your truth, and I have mine,’ but when it comes to beauty, the arguments stop. Beauty touches a person in an intuitive way, bypassing logical arguments – or, more often, illogicalities – and thus prepares the soil of the human soul for the seed of truth,” he added. “People can deliberately close their eyes to all the good the Church does for the world, but it is difficult to deny beauty when it is before us.”
Cordileone, citing recent reports showing that young people are increasingly beingdrawn to Catholicism because of its traditional liturgical, artistic, and spiritual practices, stressed that instead of trying to find a “new language” to reach younger generations, the Church should look no further than her ancient language.
READ: Wall Street Journal highlights Gen Z’s interest in the Latin Mass, reverence
“The beauty of our authentic Catholic liturgical, artistic, and spiritual heritage attracts people – especially young people – to the Church,” His Excellency said. “It is often said that we must find a new language to reach young people who are increasingly distancing themselves from the Church. We already have that language: it is the old one. Or, more precisely, the classical – the timeless language. And it does not just work on an aesthetic level: it also fosters moral conversion.”
The “Christ is King” conference, the brainchild of Ivan Pavlovic, featured talks by LifeSiteNews Editor-in-Chief John-Henry Westen and others. During the conference, hundreds of faithful prayed the holy Rosary for the unborn in Zagreb square as pro-abortion protesters tried to drown out their prayers.
The Mass was also the initiative of Ivan Pavlovic; responsibility for organizing the liturgy later fell upon others.
READ: Archbishop Cordileone rallies behind bishop calling for Notre Dame to demote pro-abortion professor
The archbishop of San Francisco has been one of the most outspoken pro-life and conservative voices in the Church in America for decades. He has frequently attended and celebrated Mass for pro-life events such as San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast.
Cordileone has repeatedly denounced Nancy Pelosi, who represents the city in Congress, for her pro-abortion stance, and made national headlines in 2022 when hebarred her from receiving Holy Communion within his archdiocese.
More recently, Cordileone rallied behind Bishop Kevin Rhoades and several other bishops in their denunciation of the promotion of a vehemently pro-abortion professor, Susan Ostermann, as the director of Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
The archbishop has also been a staunch defender of the Latin Mass and reverent liturgical practices, including receiving Holy Communion on the tongue and kneeling. Last Summer, he notably concelebrated a Pontifical High Mass with Cardinal Raymond Burke at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Wisconsin.
Updated.
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- Catholic
- Catholic Church
- Christ is King
- Christ is King conference
- Christian renewal
- Croatia
- Mass
- pontifical high mass
- Salvatore Cordileone
- Traditional Latin Mass
- Zagreb
