Jeg leste i dag en blog jeg ikke har vært borti før, «Shouts in the Piazza», som her prøver å forklare hva paven ønsker når han gradvis forandrer liturgien i Vatikanet i konservativ retning – som vi så både under juelemessene og nå sist søndag.
First, let’s say that it always was rather stupid to use furnishings and vestments that were clearly very contemporary in the largest baroque church in the world. … Now the Pope has an MC who has stopped trying to force a square peg into a round hole.
Second, it looks as though the Pope and those who advise him have gotten tired of listening to ageing hippies tell everyone the lies that, «Vatican II did away with all that». The Council concerned itself with ecumenism, religious liberty and updating the methodology of the Church in its relationship to the world. There was no time (or desire) for the Council Fathers to ban Latin, do away with chant, discontinue the biretta, redesign the cut of chasubles, rise up against Communion rails, mandate the use of guitars, instruct on the importance of Communion-in-the-hand and Extraordinary Ministers of Communion, advocate for Communion under both species, ban lace, etc., etc., etc. …
Third, I think the Holy Father is trying to restore some dignity to the liturgical celebrations over which he presides since he knows they are seen as paradigmatic by Catholics the world over. I also think this is what prompted the recent Motu Proprio concerning the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. It seems to me the Pope is hoping that a wider exposure to the older form of mass will positively affect the celebration of mass in the newer form. … I don’t think the Pope is advocating a new theology or a new ecclesiology. He is simply using the liturgy of the Church (which has developed over a continuum for centuries not in a matter of decades) to remind us of the ecclesiology we have always had and which is reflected in our outward worship and the things we use to carry it out. Those who think precious mitres and baroque vestments are things of the past that don’t speak well to the contemporary Church are wrong.
Han skriver også morsomt om hva det betyr at paven feiret messen på festen for Jesu dåp – vendt mot alteret.