Showing posts with label Ad Orientem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ad Orientem. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Francis Celebrates Ad Orientem at Tomb of John Paul II for Centenary



(Rome) On Monday, Pope Francis celebrated the first Mass since the re-admission of public services in Italy - and that versus DeumIt should also be the last to be broadcast on the media due to the Corona crisis.

Among all the measures that have been taken because of the Coronavirus by the Church,  this was Pope Francis' most radicalIn his diocese of Rome he had all services suspended on March 8th and all churches and chapels closed on March 12th. No diocese worldwide has gone this far. After only 24 hours and an impending uprising, the priests rowed backAt least the parish churches were reopened, all other churches and chapels remained closed. The Pope's diocese remained on the most radical path. The corresponding decrees were signed by Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis, who heads the diocese on behalf of the Pope. The cardinal vicar is formally an auxiliary bishop who acts as vicar general. Cardinalatial dignity has been associated with this since 1558. De Donatis indicated that the order had come directly from Francis. No other would be conceivable. No vicar general would take such a drastic and historically unprecedented step on his own. Since the Vatican had hermetically sealed itself at the beginning of March, Pope Francis also celebrated without the people in the past ten weeks Only two or three priests, a religious and an organist took part in the morning celebrations in Santa Marta. In return, the Pope's morning mass was carried over the world through direct channels. The Mass last Monday morning was the last to be broadcast because public services have been allowed again in Italy since the same day.
Franziskus at Sebastian's Altar (St. Peter's Basilica)
The direct transmissions were not concluded from Santa Marta, but from St. Peter's Basilica, namely from the Sebastian chapel. It is located in the north aisle in front of the chapel. The tomb of John Paul II has been under the altar of this chapel dedicated to the proto-martyr, since 2011. The remains of the Vatican Grottoes, the first burial place, were brought to the beatification. The canonization took place three years later, on April 27, 2014.
At the Sebastian's altar above the tomb of the Polish Pope, who ruled the Church from 1978 to 2005, Pope Francis celebrated the last of the morning Masses that were broadcast. The occasion was the 100th birthday of John Paul II, who was born on May 18, 1920 in the Polish town of Wadowice. Here Pope Francis celebrated versus Deum . It's a direction of celebration that gives his House Liturgist, Andrea Grillo, a flush of anger.
Pope Francis had already celebrated at the Sebastian Altar in the past and in each case versus Deum as an alternative to the direction of celebration that was taken for granted in Church tradition, in the direction of the rising sun, towards the returning Christ who would come from the east.

For the first time, however, the celebration was broadcast by the media on Monday, which is why the unusual direction of celebration since the great liturgical reform of 1969/70 was given special visibility. Photos of the celebration were also distributed by international press agencies such as AFP.
The tomb of John Paul II has been under the altar since 2011
It is said that the Pope celebrated "with his back" to the people, as the actual direction of celebrations has been discredited for half a century, because the previous way of things were adhered to. In plain language: There is no "people's altar" in the chapel of St. Sebastian. Another inaccurate claim, because in the past it has been demonstrated many times over how quickly a portable altar can be set up at any location. Pope Benedict XVI had one removed from the Sistine Chapel, where John Paul II usually celebrated. For the Thanksgiving Mass with the Cardinals, his first mass as Pope the day after the election, Francis had it brought back to the Sistine Chapel.

The unusual orientation for Francis  was no tribute to John Paul II. Be that as the people's altar was shuffled into the Sistine Chapel, undoubtedly the celebration versus populum is preferred.

Liturgical gestures by Benedict XVI. paid special attention because Francis knew how serious the liturgical question was to him. The media rush to judgement. Probably for the exact opposite reason of his predecessor.

Gestures that cannot really be classified are an essential feature of the current pontificate.


Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: MiL

Monday, June 17, 2019

Viral Video of Child Playing Mass in Latin NO Ad Orientem

Edit: the video has 80k hits so far.  This was from ChurchPop and BigPulpit.  Demonstrating once again the enormous popularity of traditional practices and the thirst of ordinary people for what was handed down to us.



AMDG

First Mass at Notre Dame Since Fire Celebrated Ad Orientem



Notre-Dame de Paris: view through the ruined vaulted ceiling.

(Paris) On Saturday, the first Mass was celebrated in the ruined cathedral Notre Dame de Paris since the devastating fire of last April 15th. The celebrant was Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris, who celebrated it ad orientem (facing east).

Protected by helmets, the Archbishop and about 30 people entered the episcopal church of Paris, which together with the Eiffel Tower, is considered the most famous landmark of France, in contrast to this not only is it much older, but it also has a much deeper cultural and spiritual significance.

"The fire that destroyed the building on April 15 sparked a wave of emotions, not just among the faithful," said Archbishop Aupetit.

Secured statue of Mary in Notre-Dame.

With him, the church rector, Msgr. Patrick Chauvet, canons, volunteers, diocesan staff and construction workers came to the cathedral, who took a break from working to stabilize the roofless masonry. In total, there were about 30 people attending the Mass.

For security reasons, access was not allowed to other believers. The Catholic TV station KTO transmitted the celebration directly. It took place on the dedication day of the altar of the cathedral, a "highly spiritual" date, says Msgr. Chauvet.

The celebration took place in the Mary chapel in the outer ambulatory of the sanctuary, where the crown of thorns was kept until the fire. It had been rescued from the flames by the brave chaplain of the Paris Fire Department, Jean-Marc Fournier, a priest close to tradition, along with the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Crown of thorns in the Marienkapelle before the fire.

Since the devastating fire, the cause of which remains unclear, between 60 and 150 workers work to secure the cathedral. Even while the cathedral was in flames, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that it would be rebuilt within five years. For now, we are working feverishly on securing the stock. It should first and foremost be started with the planning of the reconstruction. The French Senate, the upper house of legislation, recently voted in favor of the faithful reconstruction, rejecting architectural experiments or misappropriation.

Of the 850 million euros in donations promised in the course of the fire, only nine percent have been paid.

Archbishop Aupetit at the celebration in the Mary chapel.

The media reports hardly mention it, but the KTO transmission shows that Archbishop Aupetit celebrated ad
orientem in the reliquary chapel in the Novus Ordo. The reason: there is no people’s altar in the Mary chapel. [Isn’t ironic that the Cramner table of the NO was something imposed on the people?] 

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has been recommending to all priests since 2016 to rediscover and resume this celebration, which was common until the liturgical reform of 1969/1970.


Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: KTO / Giuseppe Nardi
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Friday, April 26, 2019

The Removal of Iconostases of the West and the People’s Altar

Altar and Church, presented by Stefan Heid in his latest book

By Christoph Matthias Hagen

When, fifty years ago, the liturgical reform of Paul VI. for which the Pope appealed to the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, it was often and gladly argued, that it was nothing different from what happened more than 400 years before, when Pius V. issued his Missal on behalf of the Council of Trent. In fact, both councils relied on the norm of the fathers, which they would use to restore the liturgy. The Council of Trent had brought the Tridentine Missal of Pius V, where the II Vaticanum was followed by the Missale Romanum of Paul VI. In fact, both books have the same Latin name: Missale Romanum, and the number of the typical editions begins again after Vatican II.

If one looks at the Roman liturgy in its rites and texts before and after Trent, one immediately recognizes continuity and the closest possible agreement, where, after the Second Vatican Council, two different liturgies, one old and one new, are strikingly distinguished. Too different are apparently the understandings of history and the working of both councils and what it is they each understand of the Standard of the Fathers and how far they reach to the Fathers’ title.


Stefan Heid, who works in Rome as a professor of liturgical history and Christian archeology, was editor of an anthology entitled Operation am Lebendem Objekt in 2012 [Operating on a Living Object], in which there are contributions that show where in fact similarities of post-Tridentine-Pian and post-Vatican-Paul liturgical reform lie. These can hardly be found in dealing with rites and texts, but in the field of church construction and sanctuary design. It was not the software that determines how the liturgy comes to life in a similar way, but both Councils have installed new hardware, so to speak. Similarly, almost identically, is in both cases also the reason for this reorganization and redesign of the liturgical place and its equipment as an educational-catechetical motif.

Heid dedicates this issue to a large-scale monograph just published by Schnell & Steiner in Regensburg: Kirche und Altar. Prinzipien Christliches Liturgie. 

Two altars before Trent, two altars after Vatican II

While in the liturgical reform of Paul VI. above all, it requires the people can see the altar, so a second altar was set up in front of the high altar, there was in pre-Tridentine times the rood screen, which separated the presbytery from the nave, where the faithful arrived. Behind the rood screen in the choir was the high altar in cathedral and monastery churches, which the laity, however, could not see, and therefore, in front of the rood screen there was the so-called cross altar, both of which were oriented. Masses were celebrated at this altar, in which the people were directly involved, in this sense, it could even be regarded as a kind of people’s altar.


Choral side of the rood screen of the Cathedral of Albi (view from nave).

In post-Tridentine times, the rood screens were removed, which sometimes took a hundred years, and no longer erected in new churches to clear the view to the high altar. The altar that had become superfluous in this way merged with the high altar, so to speak, or it came to an altar fusion, so to speak. The communion rail remained a relic of the former choir barriers, as it were, a shrunken or miniature rood screen.

After the Second Vatican, the new altar (Josef Andreas Jungmann SJ) was added in the sanctuary, behind which the priest now stepped to celebrate. The Communion rail disappeared as well, so basically the difference between the sanctuary and the nave was lost.

Celebration versus Populum in the Liturgical Movement

It should not be forgotten, however, that already in the 1920s and 1930s in liturgical circles the establishment of modern people’s altars took place, such as in the crypt of the Benedictine Maria Laach in the East Eifel or from 1926 in the Cologne Basilica of the Holy Apostles. This was believed to be in accordance with early Christian custom and with the findings that archeology had brought to light, so was just convinced, not to introduce any innovation, but to revive the ideal state of ancient times.

This perspective was then officially prescribed after the Council, which had been held from 1962 to 1965, and practically lasts until today.

Hopefully Heid will not end up like Ratzinger

Joseph Ratzinger later regretted that his book, The Spirit of Liturgy had been shortened on the question of celebration. Of course, if Heid consciously concentrates on the altar question in his work, it may well be that it happens to him in a similar way, which would be a pity.

The context of the problem that Heid faces is much further defined:

First of all, the idea that the early Christians had met for the Eucharistic celebration as many, smaller, worship groups in various private houses within a city, and in the sources, the Latin term, domus ecclesiae meaning “house churches” in this sense. Heid, on the other hand, advocates that domus ecclesiae means church buildings, and that in every city there is basically only one episcopal, central Eucharistic place (see pp. 89f).

"The scientific dispute over the organizational form of the emerging Christianity, which can be described as 'house church versus bishop's church', ends in favor of the episcopal church and the unity of the municipality. The popular thesis of a plural urban Christianity fragmented into small cult groups must be radically questioned "(p. 158, in italics in the text).
Of course, one must not overlook the fact that early Christianity, as a movement, has known manifold, different, and also path-breaking lines of development. There may have been various Christian Eucharistic sites in one city, but in principle, only one Catholic, in unity with the rightful bishop. Heid also argues that the private gathering requires Christianity to be a movement of a few rich, who, in modern terms, could afford the luxury of a private chapel. If this condition had been applied, it would have stood in the way of the widespread effect of Christianity and its spread. It might have been elitist, but undoubtedly remained small and soon drowned again. 

Nevertheless, one should not think of the Christian community in the early days as a mass movement, that even from this perspective a singular place of liturgical gathering would not have been logistically possible, especially as Heid emphasizes that a Sunday duty can not be projected onto this early temporal and organizational stage. The precept of Sunday sanctification is just to be distinguished from this question.

Similarly, some of Heidi's statement is less likely to obey that orienteering is primarily related to (even extra-liturgical) prayers and says nothing about whether the Eucharist is perceived as a sacrifice or not (see page 449). Rather, this impression arises from the modern folk altar, through whose table shape and the celebration facing the people (and usually a deliberately asymmetrical decoration of candles and flowers) the meal comes to the fore and the character of the victim is downplayed.

Supposed papal privilege and modern folk altar
"When Pope Julius II begins in 1506, to demolish the 1200-year-old St. Peter's -  Old St. Peter - to make way for the new, mighty renaissance cathedral, for many, a world collapses in the face of such sacrilege. (...) However, where the living tradition has been demolished, there is the danger of making the early Church into  one's own picture of it. (...) There are drastic reconstructions of the old rooms” (p. 407f).

With the Renaissance, the sense of the meaning of the direction of prayer and celebration was lost in Rome. Not a few churches were there, so that the popes celebrated to the east and were practically turned to the people, but not with the intention to look at them, but to orient themselves geographically eastward. This knowledge and understanding was lost:

Altar of the Sistine Chapel: on the west wall with the celebration direction West



Altar of the Sistine Chapel on the west wall with the celebration direction West.

"Paradigmatic is the high altar of the Sistine Chapel, which stands on the west wall. The pope celebrates with his back to the people and looks to the west. Many public station Masses are celebrated in the city are liturgically wrong now. The 'altar of St. Peter' plays a central role in this. Without even understanding that here the liturgy (sic ! it must be called correct Liturgy apparently, reviewer’s note ChMH) is right behind the altar and looks to the east, the popes reclaim a general privilege to celebrate versus populum. (...) Consequentially, Pope Sixtus V had the papal altars of the great basilicas rebuilt in order to celebrate to the people, regardless of whether he is looking to the east or the west. (...) The liturgical experts of the time celebrate this as the restoration of early Christian conditions " (p. 441, in italics in the text).

Following the Baumstark principle of the preservation of the old in high-quality liturgy, the alleged privilege of the pope is then understood as a remnant in which original, once common practice has been preserved.

Thus, later in the Liturgical Movement and post-Vatican-Pauline liturgical reform, one becomes convinced that the direction of celebration is to return to the original, while the modern people’s altar and the altar of the early Christians actually have at most the accessible, but not the actually significant and essential turn to the geographical east, towards an orientation that is intentionally to the direction of East.

While in a first phase of the most recent form of liturgy it was often the case, for example, to give a baroque or neo-Baroque altar to a baroque church, and to give the impression that it had been there in 1745, one now increasingly notices that the now insalled people’s altars often can not deviate drastically enough from the historical space in terms of material and design, so provocatively they are designed and placed. In many places, too, they are moving more and more into the center, whereas the altar itself was never centered in historically round buildings, but was set back to the east.

Stefan Heid also does not leave such questions unaffected.



New folk altar, which deviates drastically from historical space in terms of material and design.

Perhaps it is simply that today's liturgical science or liturgical ideology no longer has any interest in legitimizing itself with the proof or appearance of originality, but rather to immovably demonstrate its own, altogether different and new understanding of the Eucharist in the new altar opposite to its origin and tradition.

Bibliographic information: Heid, St.,  Altar und Kirche Prinzipien Christliches Liturgie  82 b / w illustrations, 73 colored illustrations, 496 pages, hardcover, thread-stitched, (Schnell & Steiner) Regensburg 2019, ISBN: 978-3-7954-3425-0, Price: Euro 50,00.

The book can be purchased through katholisches.info partner bookstore.

Image: Wikicommons

Heid, St.,  Altar und Kirche Prinzipien Christliches Liturgie  

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Ad Orientem Mass Returns to San Francisco Parish

SAN FRANCISCO (ChurchMilitant.com) - Starting Ash Wednesday, a parish priest in San Francisco is offering all Masses ad orientem — facing the altar.
Father Joseph Illo — pastor at Star of the Sea in Abp. Salvatore Cordileone's archdiocese of San Francisco — told Church Militant the inspiration behind this change in orientation came from Cdl. Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Liturgy. Referencing Cdl. Sarah's talk at the 2016 Sacra Liturgia conference and Cdl. Sarah's book — God or Nothing — Fr. Illo related, "It was Cdl. Sarah's suggestion that we requested permission to implement; but Abp. Cordileone gave his approval."
http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/fr.-illo-restoring-ad-orientem-mass-ash-wednesday
AMDG

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

New Archbishop of Kraków Celebrates Installment Pontifical High Mass Ad Orientem

(Warsaw) The new Archbishop of Krakow, Monsignor Marek Jedraszewski , celebrated the Pontifical Mass for his official installation.

Archbishop Jedraszewski was appointed in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. as the Archbishop of Lodz. Prior to that, he had been auxiliary bishop of Poznań since 1997. After the retirement of Stanislav Cardinal Dziwisz on 8 December 2016 for reasons of age, Pope Francis appointed Jedraszewski as  the 5th Archbishop and 78th Bishop of Krakow. Karol Wojtyla, the later Pope John Paul II, was 2nd Archbishop and 75th Bishop of Krakow. In 1925 Krakow was elevated to an archdiocese. The Church province covers the area of ​​Little Poland.

Last Saturday, 28 January, the new Archbishop's enthronement took place. He is considered a candidate for Cardinal dignity. Since the end of the nineteenth century, all the senior shepherds had belonged to the Cardinal's collegium. Five cardinals, numerous bishops, the clergy and faithful of the Archdiocese  took part in the solemn ceremony in the Wawel Cathedral. President Andrzej Duda also came to Krakow with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda.

Archbishop Jedraszewski celebrated the Solemn Pontifical Mass ad orientem, as was the case in the church celebration until the liturgical form of 1965. Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Order of the Sacraments, called on all priests worldwide to return to the Eucharistic direction of ad Deum and to abandon the Protestant celebration in facing the people.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL / InfoCatolica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Monday, January 9, 2017

Pope Francis Celebrates Mass in the Sistine Chapel Ad Orientem

Celebration: In the Sistine Chapel, Pope Francis celebrates before the
Last Judgement versus Deum. The People's Altar Was Removed by Pope Benedict
(Rome) Pope Francis celebrated also in this year's Feast of the Baptism of the Lord versus Deum. The feast is traditionally celebrated in the Sistine Chapel, where the Pope each year offers the sacrament of baptism to some newborn children.
Pope Benedict XVI removed the mobile "people's altar" and celebrated at the high altar below the representation of the Last Judgment versus Deum. For his first Holy Mass as pope, which Francis celebrated with the Cardinal's collegium on the day after his election in the Sistine Chapel, the plywood altar was again set up, which was feared to be a backward step. However, this remained the only exception.
Since then, Pope Francis has been celebrating this year in the presence of God for the faithful. Thus, the argument, which has been widely held since the first liturgical form of 1965, that the "people's altar" would have to be celebrated toward the people, because it would otherwise be rude to "turn your back to the people". To be precise, the argument was stupid then just as it is now. The change of the direction of celebration away from God to the people was a result of Martin Luther's Reformation-Revolution and was premiered for the first time in 1536 in the recently converted Strasbourg Cathedral.
In 2016 Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, called to all priests worldwide to return to actual direction of celebration of the Church ad orientem or versus Deum . He firmly called upon them to make the appeal concrete and to do so from the First Day of Advent.
The Cardinal Prefect was publicly criticized by those circles close to the pope and "corrected" by the Vatican Press Office "no" liturgical changes were provided. Cardinal Sarah, who had been appointed by Pope Francis himself, has since been "left in the cold". He has been strongly isolated in his own Congregation, thus limiting his scope for action.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican.va (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Cardinal Robert Sarah -- Assigned by the Pope and Isolated at The Same Time

Cardinal Robert Sarah, Appointed by the Pope
\and isolated at the same time
(Rome) On October 28, the Vatican announced the appointment of 27 new members of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.It's an intervention that shifts the internal equilibria, and that is exactly what is intended. It was not said who which members were confirmed previously by the pope, including known names from the pontificate of Benedict XVI. Now there is clarity.
It is thanks to the Vaticanist Sandro Magister, who has made the effort to understand the extent of "renewal".The circle of the newcomers does not show a uniform manuscript, but points in a particular direction.

The newly apppointed

Francis' new members are:
  • Rainer Maria Woelki, Archbishop of Cologne
  • John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja (Nigeria)
  • Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Secretary
  • Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Archbishop of Québec (Canada)
  • Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
  • John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington (New Zealand)
  • Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Archbishop of Valladolid (Spain)
  • Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Archbishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde Islands)
  • Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
  • Beniamino Stella, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
  • Dominic Jala, Archbishop of Shillong (India)
  • Domenico Sorrentino, Archbishop of Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino (Italy)
  • Denis James Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne (Australia)
  • Piero Marini, Archbishop and President of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses
  • Bernard Nicolas Aubertin, Archbishop of Tours (France)
  • Romulo G. Valles, Archbishop of Davao (Philippines)
  • Lorenzo Voltolini Esti, Archbishop of Portoviejo (Ecuador)
  • Arthur Joseph Serratelli, Bishop of Paterson (USA)
  • Alan Stephen Hopes, Bishop of East Anglia (Great Britain)
  • Claudio Maniago, Bishop of Castellaneta (Italy)
  • Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, Bishop of Oslo (Norway)
  • Miguel Ángel D'Annibale, Bishop of Rio Gallegos (Argentina)
  • José Manuel Garcia Cordeiro, Bishop of Bragança Miranda (Portugal)
  • Charles Morerod, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva and Friborg (Switzerland)
  • Jean Pierre Kwambamba Masi, Auxiliary Bishop of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Benny Mario Travas, Bishop of Multan (Pakistan)
  • John Bosco Chang Shin Ho, Auxiliary Bishop of Daegu (Korea).

The non-confirmed

The Vaticanist Sandro Magister researched the names of former members who were not confirmed by Francis:
  • Norberto Cardinal Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico City
  • Zenon Grochowevsky, em. Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education
  • Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan
  • Geoge Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the economic secretariat
  • Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops
  • Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Mumbai
  • Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes and Saints
  • Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta
  • Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Grand Penitentiary
  • Mario Oliveri, Emeritus Bishop of Albenga-Imperia
Almost all of them are known Ratzingerians, or were in conflict with Pope Francis. Usually both are true. The Cardinals Piacenza and Burke were dismissed in 2013 and 2014 as heads of dicastries. In replacing the head of the dicastry by Cardinal Grocholewski,, Bergoglio appointed his former ghostwriter in 2011, Victor Manuel Fernandez, who was rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. Sparks flew between Cardinal Rivera, Primate of Mexico, and the pope in Mexico during the Pope's visit and even now with the appearance of the new apostolic nuncio in the conflict over the legalization of "gay marriage". Sawing the legs of the chair of Cardinal Pell in papal circles has been going on for quite some time . The Cardinals Scola, Ouellet and Amato seem to be already scheduled for the replacement. Pope Francis did not confirm the Emeritus Bishop Mario Oliveri of Albenga-Imperia, as expected.
Only two, Archbishop Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet of Nouméa in New Caledonia and Bishop Julián López Martín of León were confirmed among the Archbishops and Bishops, who were previously members of the Congregation, but nine were not.

Archbishop Piero Marini and Cardinal Stella as "Watchers"

In the Vatican, it is denied that the reformation of the Congregation had taken place to "discipline" its Prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah. The talk is of "necessary adjustments". The reality looks different. "Cardinal Prefects Sarah has not been given," said the Vaticanist, Sandro Magister, "the supporters of the reform he had hoped for." What was meant actually is the reform of the post-Conciliar liturgical reform of 1969/1970.
The new appointment of the Congregation was by no means accidental, after Cardinal Sarah had come out with the public demand for a "reform of the liturgical form". Before the summer break, he asked all the priests worldwide to go back to celebrating Mass facing the East, and cited the coming First Advent Sunday as a suitable deadline to implement this change. The Vatican denied changes to the liturgy, but the Cardinal insisted. Among other "unfriendliness" was the reorganization of the Congregation at the end of October.
Albert Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo (Sri Lanka), who was himself secretary of the Congregation for several years, is among the "survivors" on the side of Cardinal Sarah. The friend of the traditional rite has a solid liturgical education. He speaks fluent English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and also speaks the ancient Greek and Latin languages. The Cardinal seems to have impressed Pope Francis during his visit to Sri Lanka in January 2015.
More important, however, are the "watchers" placed aside the cardinal. This obviously applies to Beniamino Stella, who is not a liturgist, but a close confidant of the Pope. The same is true for the Bugnini student, Piero Marini, who is, however, a proven expert. The co-architect of the post-conciliar liturgical form is regarded as a decisive opponent of a recovery of the traditional form of the Roman rite. 

The Confirmed

The names of all the cardinals and bishops who were confirmed as members:
  • Peter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest
  • Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima
  • Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux
  • Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa
  • Kazimierz Cardinal Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw
  • Albert Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo
  • Dominique Cardinal Mamberti, prefect of the apostolic signature
  • Michel-Marie-Bernard Calvet, Archbishop of Nouméa (New Caledonia)
  • Julián López Martín, Bishop of León (Spain)
The General Assembly of the Congregation, together with Cardinal Prefect Robert Sarah and Secretary Archbishop Arthur Roche, now has a total of 38 members, eight more than before. More than 70 percent were newly appointed.
The first phase of the reconstruction of the Congregation had already taken place in the summer and autumn of 2014 when Pope Francis returned the then Prefect of the Congregation, the "Little Ratzinger" Antonio Cardinal Cañizares as Archbishop of Valencia to Spain, for construction in the Dicasterium. All advocates of a "reform of reform" were replaced by liturgists of the cut of a Piero Marini. When Cardinal Sarah was appointed as new Prefect on 24 November 2014 and took office soon afterwards, he was already isolated from the Congregation of Worship. In the words of Magister,
"Cardinal Sarah is condemned to lead offices that work against him."
This should also explain his change of strategy, to be heard in other ways, especially through his books. In recent his book "La Force du silence " (The Power of Silence), which was published on 6 October in France, he reaffirms in the face of Vatican denials whether by announcement, desire or prophecy that the "reform of the reform" would take place.
Pope Francis and his circle seem to have understood the words as a threat. Three weeks later, phase two was carried out in the reorganization of the Congregation.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Sacra Liturgia (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Oriented Liturgy: Benedict XVI Stands Behind Cardinal Sarah -- And Pope Francis Sinks Into Silence

Holy Liturgy: Celebration Direction versus deum, facing to the East,
from which the Lord will come.
(Rome) The news is startling indeed, and was supported by different news agencies like Riposte Catholique and Boulevard Voltaire: Benedict XVI. adopted a position this  October 12th in the Osservatore Romano  on the battle escalating within the Church for the orientation of the Sacred Liturgy. He did not hesitate in himself making the line of Cardinal Robert Sarah entirely his own. Thus, the former head of the Church openly distanced  himself from the line of his successor Pope Francis.
Benedict XVI. has made this downright sensational step on soil familiar to him,  theology. He spoke in favor of changing the celebration direction in the New Rite. The direction of the celebration in the liturgical reform of 1969/1970 facing the people should be abandoned and returned to the celebration facing east, says Benedict. The German Pope wrote:




"In the orientation of the liturgy to the east, we see that Christians want to strive together with the Lord, for the salvation of the whole creation."
It is not the celebrant, who must become  the eyes of all, since - says Benedict XVI :
"A shepherd of the flock of Jesus Christ is never  facing only to the circle of his own faithful."

Benedict XVI. openly contradicts the line of his successor - Cardinal Sarah's Push

Some have expected that since there would be backlash by Pope Bergoglio. Since the publication of the opinion of Benedict XVI.  it's been more than 20 days, so it is probable that no backlash will come, at least not directly.
"The situation is really irritating," said Corrispondenza Romana . A Pope that will be contradicted by his surviving predecessor in a core area, the core area of the Holy Church. In other words: The predecessor slips back into the role of the Pontiff and Supreme Pastor to do what was supposed to be done by his successor, the reigning Pope.
But why has it come about? Last June the prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Robert Cardinal Sarah, called upon "all, priests and faithful" to "face eastwards" to turn in the Holy Mass, at least in those central parts of the Mass where one turns directly to God: the Kyrie, Gloria prayers and especially the Eucharist. The cardinal urged not only all priests, again to change the Zelebrationsrichtung eastwards, as it has always been in the Church. He also named a specific date to implement the change: the First Sunday of Advent 2016th
The proposal was immediately agreed upon by Cardinal Raymond Burke, once the highest of judges and lawyers of the Church, whom Pope Francis removed in November 2014 from the Roman Curia because he resisted the weakening of the marriage sacrament.
The proposal was also decisively rejected on the part of those circles in the Vatican, who are close to  Pope Francis. The then Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi rushed to the microphone to explain: "There are no new upcoming liturgical directives."
A statement by the Press Office, with which distanced the Holy See from Cardinal Sarah's proposal remained anonymous. Who was commissioned, which office and which person is in charge, is still unclear. There is no doubt, however, that it was approved by Pope Francis.

Unfriendliness against Cardinal Sarah - backing from Benedict XVI.

Since then Cardinal Sarah was  invited to a few more of the numerous events than earlier that take place continuously in the Vatican. The most recent unfriendliness towards the courageous Cardinal from Guinea was his cancellation as a speaker at the opening of the academic year at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute. For Studies on Marriage and Family. Pope Bergoglio, who had previously conducted profound changes at the Institute, which amount to a change of direction, even gave the opening speech.
It was less marveled at that Cardinal Sarah was not even invited by Pope Francis to commemorate Luther and accompany him to the Swedish city of Lund.
But it was Benedict XVI., who stood with his authority behind Cardinal Sarah and the proposal to "reform the liturgical reform".  It would be difficult for the reigning pope to enter the field against the theological competence of his predecessor,without daring to reveal sheer arbitrariness.
This could explain why  21 days after the publication of Benedict XVI's opinion he is still silent.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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