Jeg har nå i nesten en uke tenkt å nevne dette intervjuet på bloggen, men det har dessverre tatt litt tid – kanskje fordi det mentalt er litt anstrengende å vær midt i en flytteprosess – det er nå fire dager til vi flytter til Oslo:
Tidligere erkebiskop i Toledo, Spania, kardinal Antonio Cañizares Lloverais er leder av vatikanets liturgikongregasjon og har myndighet over hvordan messen blir feiret rundt om i verden. With the help of a translator, the Cardinal kindly consented to speak with LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) on July 24th at the offices of the Congregation on the Via della Conciliazione in Rome, down the road from St. Peter’s Basilica and the Apostolic Palace.
LSN: What is the connection between faithfulness to the norms of the liturgy and faithfulness to the Church’s moral teachings?
Cardinal Canizares Llovera: There is no doubt about the connection.
To recognise what is the Eucharist is to recognise Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God that became man. Christ is the most absolute ‘yes’ of God to man. He is the revelation of God and the revelation of the truth about man. Man cannot be separated from God; man was created in the image and likeness of God. … …
LSN: We know that over the years a great many people have seen and complained about abuses of the liturgy at Mass. What can the faithful do when they see these?
Cardinal Canizares Llovera: They should say to the priest immediately after Mass as a part of fraternal correction. If it is not possible, they should say to the bishop. If the bishop does not act, they should come here and report it to the Congregation.
There are two documents that are important. One by the Cong. for Divine Worship, Redemptionis Sacramentum, that talks about some of these abuses and talks about the rights of the faithful and how they should act.
The other is Sacramentum Caritatis, of Benedict XVI that also gives criteria on the way that the Eucharist is abused.
We should all fight to avoid abuses against the Eucharist. It is the holiest, greatest, most important [thing] in the Church and in life. We should respect the Eucharist and the rules and discipline of the Church that give the warranty of ecclesial communion that has its sources, its roots, its truth in the Eucharist, in the celebration of the Eucharist, in the rite that the Church has indicated.
LSN: Is the liturgical revolution over? Is the Church in general becoming more balanced about the liturgy?
We’re still suffering it but also we are in a moment of great hope. The Pope Benedict XVI makes the renewal of the spirit of liturgy to rekindle in the conscience of all the true sense of the liturgy. Which should help to impose a great new unstoppable liturgical movement. Nevertheless, we have not yet applied in a truthful way the teachings of Vatican II read in continuity with the tradition of the Church. This is the commitment of this congregation continuing the [work of the] Holy Father that presides over us in faith and charity and over the whole Church.
We want a Church that should be present in the world, that is ready to transform the world and [lead] the renewal of mankind in accordance with God’s will. This will not be possible without Sacrosanctum Concilium, without liturgy, adoration, without putting God in the centre of all, living of God’s gift, and offering Him whatever we are in order to bring about His will.
In other words, there is no new humanity and there is no hope for man that is not grounded in God that would come from God and would return everything to God as His glory. The future of humanity is in the liturgy. When we read the last encyclical of the Holy Father, we can understand that the liturgy occupies a central role in the concerns of the Holy Father.