Pope Leo gave his final elocution on Sacrosanctum Concilium today at His Holiness’ Wednesday audience. You can read it HERE.
He gives the rational for the requests to renew the liturgy, encourage actual participation, and simplify the rites and make the Mass more intelligible.
The transitional 1965 Roman Missal accomplished all of this while maintaining its reform within continuity with the 1962 Roman Missal used at Vatican II.
BUT, BUT, BUT, Holy Father, it is appropriate also to focus on Pope Paul VI’s Consilium headed by Bishop Bugnini and if that committee went way beyond what the Council Fathers foresaw. That committee is the elephant in the room and Pope Benedict XVI rightly said they manufactured a new Mass which did not develop organically—it was created.
In your elocution, we thank you for highlighting the liturgical abuses that developed almost overnight around 1966 regarding the Mass which continue unabated to this very day.
The first liturgical war wasn’t about the old and the new. Catholics obedient to Vatican II and the Mass that Pope Paul VI promulgated wanted it celebrated by the book. They were then accused by abusers of the liturgy as being the liturgy police or gestapo!
Pope Benedict XVI, the most liturgical pope we have had in centuries, also developed the theology of VAtican II’s request for a renewal of the liturgies of the Church by indicating that what was considered sacred and for centuries could not be said to be a problem for the Church after the new was promulgated.
We must not neglect the great theological developments on the liturgy approved by Pope Benedict XVI’s magisterium. Pope Benedict’s letter to bishops concerning Summorum Pontificum highlights this liturgical theological development. You can read it HERE.
These include Summorum Pontificum but more importantly, the manner in which Pope Benedict celebrated the Mass of Paul VI:
1. He modeled ad orientem and encouraged it!
2. He modeled distributing Holy Communion to kneeling communicants and encouraged it.
3. He encouraged maintaining some Latin especially for the Eucharistic Prayer, but also for the Pater Noster and Agnus Dei and maintaining the Greek Kyrie.
As pope, Pope Benedict XVI never publicly celebrated the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, but might have privately. His focus was the reform of the reform in continuity with the older form of the liturgies.
That’s theological development that should not be canceled.
2 comments:
The proof is in the pudding. The “reforms” resulted in a collapse of Catholics attending Mass. it also resulted in the collapse of collections to support the Church’s mission. Great job guys!
Pope Leo XIV has reiterated that the liturgical reform is in wonderful continuity with Vatican II's liturgical directives. His Holiness has again shattered talk about a rupture between Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Holy Mass of Pope Saint Paul VI.
Pope Leo XIV, in particular, via Cardinal Roche, has confirmed his (Holy Father's) embrace of Pope Francis' liturgical vision for the Church.
Pope Leo XIV has been unrelenting is regard to his promotion of the Holy Mass of Pope Paul VI.
The liturgical reform, as our Vatican II holy Popes have confirmed, is rooted in Holy Tradition.
Pope Leo XIV today: "The liturgical reform promoted by the Second Vatican Council is thus firmly rooted in the living tradition of the Church."
Not surprisingly, Pope Leo XIV's comments in question today have been trashed by various trads/trad sites.
Comments posted to Rorate Caeli X:
Kraft Lawrence
@KraftLawrence20
"Absolute garbage."
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Jeanneen Griffin
@GriffinJxgriff
"With all due respect this is Baloney."
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T.A.R.S. 🏴🇻🇦
@TARSRel0aded
"Rhetorical nonsense. Ignored."
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gilles lacombe
@gplacombe
"I will never read any more new lines about this - even from the Pope. It’s a failure they will never concede - but they will talk and talk about it. Doesn’t make it a success!"
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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