Pope Francis speaks magisterially

Aug 31, 2017

By Gerard O’Connell
In January 1965, Blessed Paul VI, explaining the first steps of the reform that were then underway, made clear that “it is the Church’s authority that wished (this reform)” and wanted “to promote and set alight this new way of praying” and that everyone should come on board as disciples of the Lord.

Pope Francis said the direction traced by the council “took form...in the liturgical books promulgated by Blessed Paul VI, that were welcomed by the very bishops that were present at the council and that have now been in universal use in the Roman Rite for almost 50 years.”

The Pope underlined the fact that “the practical application” of this reform, “guided by the Bishops’ Conferences in their respective countries, is still under way. Because it is not sufficient to reform the liturgical books to reform the mentality.” He said, “The books reformed, according to the decrees of Vatican II, have started a process that requires time, faithful reception, practical obedience, wise active celebration, first on the part of the ordained ministers but also of the other ministers, of the singers and of all who participate in the liturgy.”

“In truth,” he said, “the liturgical education of pastors and faithful is a challenge always to be faced anew.” He recalled that Paul VI, one year before he died, told the cardinals at a consistory, “The time has come, now, to definitely leave aside the disruptive ferments, equally pernicious in one sense or the other, and to implement fully, according to its right inspiring criteria, the reform approved by us in application of the decisions (votes) of the council.” It is clear that Francis shares this position.

Indeed, Pope Francis declared, “After this magisterial and long journey we can affirm that the liturgical reform is irreversible.”-- America Magazine