Pope makes complete overhaul of Vatican liturgical congregation

Nov 08, 2016

By Robert Mickens
Pope Francis has issued a crystal clear sign that he is not in favour of any so-called “reform of the reform” when it comes to the Church’s liturgy.

On October 28, he replaced all the members of the Congregation for Divine Worship — many of whom have been critical of the post-Vatican II liturgical reforms — with 27 men mostly known as supporters of the Novus Ordo Mass in the vernacular and facing the people.

The move is a further slap-down of the congregation’s prefect, Cardinal Robert Sarah, who has continued to defy the Pope in pushing for a further reform of the liturgy that would reinsert elements of the Tridentine Mass that were removed in the reform stemming from the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

It is also a rebuke of the Guinean cardinal’s insistence that priests take it upon themselves to celebrate Mass ad orientem (facing liturgical East), colloquially called “with the priest’s back to the people.”

Those who have lost their membership at the Congregation for Divine Worship include Cardinals Angelo Scola (Milan), George Pell (Secretariat for the Economy), Raymond Burke (Knights of Malta), Peter Erdo (Esztergom-Budapest), Marc Ouellet (Congregation for

Bishops), Malcolm Ranjith (Colombo, Sri Lanka) and Angelo Bagnasco (Milan).

Almost all these men have been supportive of the direction Cardinal Sarah is trying to steer the Church’s liturgy. All were key allies of Benedict XVI, who spearheaded the revival of the Old Mass and the reform of the reform.

Among the notable new members of the Congregation for Divine Worship are Cardinals John Atcherley Dew (Wellington, New Zealand), considered a thoroughly pro-Vatican II bishop, John Onaiyekan (Abuja, Nigeria), who has publicly denounced any repealing of the conciliar liturgical reforms and several cardinals known to be enthusiastic supporters of Pope Francis’ overall plan to renew the Church, such as Rainer Maria Woelki (Cologne (Germany), Pietro Parolin (Vatican Secretary of State), Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, (Quebec, Canada), Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, (Valladolid,Spain) and Beniamino Stella (Congregation for the Clergy).

Perhaps the most surprising (and upsetting) to liturgical traditionalists and neo-Tridentinists is the Pope’s appointment of Archbishop Piero Marini (Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses).

This figure, more than any other on the list, is a living embodiment of Vatican II’s product of reforming the Mass and the other rituals. He worked closely with the bishops who helped Pope Paul VI devise the new liturgical books and liturgies. He was also an official of the worship congregation and, probably most famously, he was the long-time master of papal liturgical ceremonies in most of the pontificate of John Paul II and in the first couple of years when Benedict XVI was pope.

Altogether, Pope Francis appointed 27 new members to the worship congregation on Friday — ten cardinals, seven archbishops, eight bishop and two auxiliary bishops.--La Croix