Paven

Ikke-nyhet om paven og Luther

Paven, Økumenikk /

Vårt Land hadde i sin papirutgave i går en overraskende artikkel med overskrift «Paven hyller Luther», som i alle fall er en hel del bedre enn «Strides om paven tilga Luther», som NRK presterte å skrive et par dager tidligere – og som VL ser ut til å bygge på. Men VL skriver også uryddig ting som «Luther er på god vei inn i den katolske varmen …» etc.

NRK skriver bl.a. i sin artikkel:

… Etter besøket i Augustinerklosteret fredag har det startet en debatt om paven er i ferd med å rehabilitere Martin Luther og heve bannlysingen av ham.

Paven kom med uventet rosende ord om Luther under besøket og sa blant annet at «spørsmålet om gud» var «den dypt følte drivkraften» gjennom hele Luthers liv. Videre ble Luther hyllet av paven som «et stort vitne for troen» og at han var en «sann troende».

Ordene fra pave Benedikt XVI regnes som særlig viktige ettersom han, med sin tyske bakgrunn, er den første paven som har lest Luthers skrifter og kjenner godt til protestanter. …

Diskusjonen om katolikkers syn på Luther kommer etter et lite foredrag pave Benedikt holdt for lutheranere i Erfurt – samme dag som han deltok i en økumenisk bønnegudstjeneste samme sted, som jeg skrev om her. Hele pavens tale til «the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany» kan leses her i engelsk oversettelse.

Catholic World Report skriver her om problemet enkelte har med å forstå hvorfor og for hva paven kan rose Luther og også dagens protestantiske kristne:

… But now here comes Pope Benedict XVI, a fellow German, visiting his homeland and speaking to German Evangelical Christians, i.e. Lutherans, as we call them here. The Holy Father seems comfortable talking about Luther with Lutherans, even talking with obvious regard and sympathy for Luther. Shocking?

Not to those who have followed the nuances of Catholic teaching on non-Catholic Christians as it has developed, especially as expressed in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and in papal teaching since then. Not to those who are dissatisfied with a spiritual cold war among western Christians or who don’t need to refight the battles of the 16th century in order confidently and placidly to affirm their Catholic faith. And not to those familiar with Benedict XVI, theologian and pastor.

What stands out about Pope Benedict’s comments is how nonchalantly he talks positively about Luther, without betraying the slightest hint of a compromise regarding the fundamental issues dividing Catholics and Protestants. Someone might think, “Well, Pope Benedict knows this is not the 16th century. He knows that we should not treat Protestants today as if they were the original Protestants who broke with the Catholic Church.”

True enough. But Luther was the original Protestant. Pope Benedict shows how a Catholic can have a certain sympathetic reading of Luther, notwithstanding the same Catholic’s rejection of Luther’s repudiation of the Catholic Church. In this way, a Catholic can see what is most important when it comes to assessing Luther—not denying the problems with him but also not overlooking what Luther got right or demonizing him. …

Pave Benedikts økumeniske tale i Erfurt

Paven, Økumenikk /


Pave Benedikt besøkte i går det tidligere augustnerklosteret i Erfurt (nå protestantisk), der Martin Luther var munk en årrekke. Han talte til lutherske/evangeliske kirkeledere og sa mot slutten av sin tale:

…. Prior to my visit there was some talk of an «ecumenical gift» which was expected from such a visit. There is no need for me to specify the gifts mentioned in this context. Here I would only say that, in most of its manifestions, this reflects a political misreading of faith and of ecumenism. In general, when a Head of State visits a friendly country, contacts between the various parties take place beforehand to arrange one or more agreements between the two states: by weighing respective benefits and drawbacks a compromise is reached which in the end appears beneficial for both parties, so that a treaty can then be signed.

But the faith of Christians does not rest on such a weighing of benefits and drawbacks. A self-made faith is worthless. Faith is not something we work out intellectually and negotiate between us. It is the foundation for our lives. Unity grows not by the weighing of benefits and drawbacks but only by entering ever more deeply into the faith in our thoughts and in our lives. In the past fifty years, and especially after the visit of Pope John Paul II some thirty years ago, we have drawn much closer together, and for this we can only be grateful. …

Les hele pavens tale her.

Pave Benedikt imponerer tyskerne

Paven /

I alle fall er «Der Spiegel» imponert. De skrev mye negativt om paven før hans besøket i Tyskland, men nå leser vi om hvor imponerte de er over han klare tale og «fingerspitzgefühl». Her er noen utdrag:

It has been billed as Pope Benedict XVI’s most difficult trip abroad to date. But so far in Germany, the pope has not sought to shy away from controversy. His bluntness has surprised many — and could transform the visit into a rousing success. …

… many Vatican observers have noted that it could end up being the most difficult trip of his six-year-old papacy. And it could ultimately resemble his trip to Britain last October — a trip which began with heavy criticism of the Catholic Church and widespread protests only to become a wildly successful visit and a boon to Benedict’s image. …

It was, however, his speech to the German Bundestag which has been the most parsed since his arrival. Even before he got to Berlin, Vatican observers, studying the speech on the plane on the way to Berlin, were astounded at what they read. It was as if the old Joseph Ratzinger had returned, the theology professor who never really wanted to become pope.

He did not mince words. He spoke about nature and reason and demanded from the parliamentarians an increased sense of moral responsibility for ecology and equality. It was a very political speech. It was courageous. And it was unique.

A politician’s «fundamental criterion and the motivation for his work as a politician must not be success, and certainly not material gain,» the pope said. «Politics must be a striving for justice, and hence it has to establish the fundamental preconditions for peace.» A politician’s success, he continued, should be «subordinated to the criterion of justice, to the will to do what is right, and to the understanding of what is right.» Pointedly, he added «we Germans … have seen how power became divorced from right, how power opposed right and crushed it.»

«Også tempelet (synagogen) er Guds hus»

Katolsk, Paven /

Pave Benedikt holdt en interessant tale for jødiske ledere i Berlin i går, der han la mye vekt på hvor mye jøder og kristne har felles. Han sa bl.a.:

… In this place, remembrance must also be made of the Kristallnacht that took place from 9 to 10 November 1938. Only a few could see the full extent of this act of contempt for humanity, like the Berlin Cathedral Provost, Bernhard Lichtenberg, who cried out from the pulpit of Saint Hedwig’s Cathedral: «Outside, the Temple is burning – that too is the house of God». The Nazi reign of terror was based on a racist myth, part of which was the rejection of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Jesus Christ and of all who believe in him. The supposedly «almighty» Adolf Hitler was a pagan idol, who wanted to take the place of the biblical God, the Creator and Father of all men. Refusal to heed this one God always makes people heedless of human dignity as well. What man is capable of when he rejects God, and what the face of a people can look like when it denies this God, the terrible images from the concentration camps at the end of the war showed. …

Hele talen kan leses (på engelsk) her.

Forandres forståelsen av Vatikankonsilet?

Katolsk, Paven, Teologi /

For et par dager siden la Vatikanet fram noen betingelser til SSPX, betingelser for at man skulle kunne fortsette (og konkretisere) samtalene om forsoning. Det interessante i disse betingelsene er at de skiller tydelig (uten at vi kjenner detaljene) mellom trossetninger som alle må være enige i, og synspunkter man har lov til å være uenige om.

Det springende punkt her er nå (inntil vi får kjennskap til detaljene) hvor store deler av 2. Vatikankonsils dokumenter som hører til gruppen «det man kan være uenige om» – det meste, det var jo et pastoralt konsil, ikke et dogmatisk? På Rorate Cæli leser jeg i alle fall en ganske dristig forståelse av hva dette kan bety:

In 1988, addressing the Chilean bishops, Cardinal Ratzinger affirmed, «The truth is that this particular Council defined no dogma at all, and deliberately chose to remain on a modest level, as a merely pastoral council; and yet many treat it as though it had made itself into a sort of ‘superdogma’ which takes away the importance of all the rest.»

While affirming his remaining attachment to Vatican II, Benedict XVI, on this September 14, 2011, brought down the taboo of the Council. For while no Pope could free a Catholic from the decisions of dogmatic Councils, the Pope, by way of the text of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, liberates the souls from those of a pastoral Council. From now on, one may be of the Church without holding on to the controversial points of Vatican II. In 2007, the helmsman of the Church had already undermined the monopoly held by the Novus Ordo. Four years later, he removes from the Conciliar doctrine its non-negotiable character and its exclusivity. It is not any longer the alpha and the omega of the life of the Church; that life is now once again refocused on its object: Faith.

It is true that, in small steps, the Catholic world, and the Curia in particular, faced with what John Paul II called the «silent apostasy», have allowed themselves to be interested in the Traditional world, once exiled and condemned, now increasingly esteemed. A French bishop said a while ago that he felt forced to bow to this movement, because the youth was present in it. In Rome, the major master of ceremonies lifts from the dust the traditional ornaments of which the Supreme Pontiffs, from Pius IX to Pius XII, made use. In the doctrinal domain, some parallelism is to be found, even though it is less evident. After Benedict XVI accepted to discuss the Vatican II texts with the Society of Saint Pius X, some prelates, especially the younger ones, decided to find out in the archives what was unanimously believed before the Council. Very slowly, the phenomenon begins and widens, to the detriment of the aggiornamento… And voices rise up in Italy denouncing the spirit of the Council, which has not let fresh air in, but rather a freezing gust. These voices are those of a Monsignor Gherardini and of the author of his preface, Bishop Oliveri. Those of a Roberto de Mattei or of a Bishop Schneider. All take up their pens and do not hesitate to openly demand that the taboo of the Council be finally shattered. …

Pave Benedikt: Skam dere ikke over Herren!

Katolsk, Paven /

Slik hilste pave Benedikt de unge i Spania (fra Rorate Cæli)

Of course, there is no lack of difficulties. There are tensions and ongoing conflicts all over the world, even to the shedding of blood. Justice and the unique value of the human person are easily surrendered to selfish, material and ideological interests. Nature and the environment, created by God with so much love, are not respected. Moreover, many young people look worriedly to the future, as they search for work, or because they have lost their job or because the one they have is precarious or uncertain. There are others who need help either to avoid drugs or to recover from their use. There are even some who, because of their faith in Christ, suffer discrimination which leads to contempt and persecution, open or hidden, which they endure in various regions and countries. They are harassed to give him up, depriving them of the signs of his presence in public life, not allowing even the mention of his holy name. But, with all my heart, I say again to you young people: let nothing and no one take away your peace; do not be ashamed of the Lord. He did not spare himself in becoming one like us and in experiencing our anguish so as to lift it up to God, and in this way he saved us.

Benedict XVI – Address – Welcoming ceremony – Madrid/Barajas

Pave Benedikt: «Forlat hatets vei!»

Generelt, Katolsk, Paven /

Fra katolsk.no:

Pave Benedikt XVI ba søndag for ofrene etter fredagens tragiske hendelser ved regjeringskvartalet og Utøya. Etter Angelusbønnen ved Castel Gandolfo kom Benedikt med følgende uttalelse: Påny blir vi dessverre møtt av nyheter om død og vold. Vi føler alle en dyp sorg over de store terrorangrepene som fant sted sist fredag i Norge. Vi ber for ofrene, de sårede og alle deres kjære. Til alle gjentar jeg min dyptfølte appell om å forlate for alltid hatets vei og flykte fra ondskapens logikk, sa pave Benedikt.

På Vatikanets nettsider kan vi lese mer om dette:

Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday prayed for the victim’s of Friday terrorist attack in Norway, which took nearly 100 lives. Speaking after his Angelus in Castel Gandolfo, the Holy Father said, “Unfortunately, yet again, comes news of death and violence,” and expressed his deep sorrow. He reiterated a “grief-stricken” appeal to all to forever abandon the way of hatred and to flee from the logic of evil.

Before reciting the Angelus, the Pope reflected on the importance of one’s conscience is doing good and avoiding evil. He was speaking about the first reading from Sunday’s Mass, which spoke of King Solomon, who had prayed to God to give him a meek heart, meaning a developed conscience to determine between good and evil.

The Pope said, “Solomon’s example applies to everyone…The moral conscience presupposes a capacity to listen to the voice of truth, and to be meek towards its indications.”

“In reality,” Pope Benedict XVI said, “the true quality of our own life and that of society depends on a person’s rightly formed conscience, and on everyone’s capacity to recognise good, separating it from evil, and to try and bring it about patiently to contribute to the cause of justice and peace.”

The Holy Father added, “People called to political office naturally have more responsibilities, and thus, as Solomon teaches, need God’s help even more.”

Kondolansetelegram

Generelt, Paven /

Dette kondolansebrevet vil bli lest opp i alle messer i morgen:

Hans Majestet, Kong Harald V, konge av Norge

Hans Hellighet pave Benedikt XVI sørger dypt over nyheten om de mange tap av liv forårsaket av de ufattelige voldshandlingene i Oslo og på Utøya. Han ber inderlig for ofrene og deres familier og påkaller Guds fred over de døde og guddommelig trøst til dem som lider. I denne tiden med landesorg ber han om at alle nordmenn må være åndelig forenet i besluttsomt å avvise hatets og konfliktens vei og uten frykt arbeide sammen for å skape en fremtid med gjensidig respekt, solidaritet og frihet for kommende generasjoner.

(Kardinal Tarcisio Bertone, statssekretær)

Non iam dicam servos, sed amicos – Jeg kaller dere ikke lenger tjenere, men venner.

Katolsk, Paven /

Her er starten av pave Benedikts preken i Petersskirken i går, der han snakket en hel del om sin egen prestevielse for 60 år siden:

«Non iam dicam servos, sed amicos» — «I no longer call you servants, but friends» (cf. Jn 15:15).

Sixty years on from the day of my priestly ordination, I hear once again deep within me these words of Jesus that were addressed to us new priests at the end of the ordination ceremony by the Archbishop, Cardinal Faulhaber, in his slightly frail yet firm voice.

According to the liturgical practice of that time, these words conferred on the newly-ordained priests the authority to forgive sins. «No longer servants, but friends»: at that moment I knew deep down that these words were no mere formality, nor were they simply a quotation from Scripture. I knew that, at that moment, the Lord himself was speaking to me in a very personal way. In baptism and confirmation he had already drawn us close to him, he had already received us into God’s family. But what was taking place now was something greater still. He calls me his friend. He welcomes me into the circle of those he had spoken to in the Upper Room, into the circle of those whom he knows in a very special way, and who thereby come to know him in a very special way. He grants me the almost frightening faculty to do what only he, the Son of God, can legitimately say and do: I forgive you your sins. He wants me — with his authority — to be able to speak, in his name («I» forgive), words that are not merely words, but an action, changing something at the deepest level of being. I know that behind these words lies his suffering for us and on account of us. I know that forgiveness comes at a price: in his Passion he went deep down into the sordid darkness of our sins. He went down into the night of our guilt, for only thus can it be transformed. And by giving me authority to forgive sins, he lets me look down into the abyss of man, into the immensity of his suffering for us men, and this enables me to sense the immensity of his love. He confides in me: «No longer servants, but friends». He entrusts to me the words of consecration in the Eucharist. He trusts me to proclaim his word, to explain it aright and to bring it to the people of today. He entrusts himself to me. «You are no longer servants, but friends»: these words bring great inner joy, but at the same time, they are so awe-inspiring that one can feel daunted as the decades go by amid so many experiences of one’s own frailty and his inexhaustible goodness. …

Les hele prekenen her.

60 år siden Joseph Ratzingers ordinasjon

Katolsk, Paven /

29. juni 1951 ble over 40 unge menn ordinert samtidig, og jeg husker at jeg leste akkurat dette (spesielt andre avsnitt) i boka der pave Benedikt skriver om de første 50 år av sitt liv; «Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977». Udraget fra boka er publisert på det helt nye nettestedet news.va.

“We were more than forty candidates, who, at the solemn call on that radiant summer day, which I remember as the high point of my life, responded “Adsum”, Here I am. We should not be superstitious; but, at that moment when the elderly archbishop laid his hands on me, a little bird—perhaps a lark—flew up from the high altar in the cathedral and trilled a little joyful song. And I could not but see in this a reassurance from on high, as if I heard the words “This is good, you are on the right way.” There then followed four summer weeks that were like an unending feast. On the day of our first Holy Mass, our parish church of Saint Oswald gleamed in all its splendor, and the joy that almost palpably filled the whole place drew everyone there into the most living mode of “active participation” in the sacred event, but this did not require any external busyness.

We were invited to bring the first blessing into people’s homes, and everywhere we were received even by total strangers with a warmth and affection I had not thought possible until that day. In this way I learned firsthand how earnestly people wait for a priest, how much they long for the blessing that flows from the power of the sacrament. The point was not my own or my brother’s person. What could we two young men represent all by ourselves to the many people we were now meeting? In us they saw persons who had been touched by Christ’s mission and had been empowered to bring his nearness to men. Precisely because we ourselves were not the point, a friendly human relationship could develop very quickly.”

Msgr. Marini om pave Benedikts liturgiske eksempler

Liturgi, Paven /

Pave Benedikts øsnker bør følges, sier hans seremonimester – ved konferanse Adoratio 2011 som nettopp ble avsluttet i Roma. (Referatet under er fra en englsk presteblogger.)

Among other things, the papal Master of Ceremonies spoke of the ancient tradition of focusing on Christ in a physical way in the sacred liturgy, either though the eastwards orientation of the Eucharistic Prayer or where the crucifix or other image of Christ stood in for the eastward orientation. He thought that recently we have been in danger of losing this and that this is not a small detail but something of central importance, for in the past everyone (including the priest) prayed towards the same point – showing that the Lord was coming and that together we all looked towards Him.

Mgr Marini also posited that kneeling before the presence of the Lord makes it all the clearer that it really is Jesus and implies our adoration of Him. Not that we just receive Him but that we kneel before Him. To kneel accomplishes the truth of our relationship with Him – we adore. This is true freedom because man submits to slavery to many other earthly things – we bow down before these false gods – but to kneel before Christ expressses the truth and therefore reveals the dignity of man before the Lord of Life. Kneeling is the TYPICAL sign of offering our hearts and lives. The Church that kneels in the body will adore in the heart.

MGR. MARINI ASKED US TO LISTEN ANEW TO WHAT THE HOLY FATHER SAYS ABOUT THESE THINGS IN HIS WRITINGS AND BY HIS EXAMPLE IN THE PAPAL LITURGIES.

Of the Holy Father’s example in the Papal liturgies where Holy Communion is now always administered by Pope Benedict on the tongue to kneeling communicants he said that it was the Holy Father’s practice and intention – BEYOND INDULTS AND PERMISSIONS – that this remains a law of universal character. That Holy Communion received on the tongue and kneeling was more than just the Pope’s personal desire. The Holy Father’s intention is that people and priests follow his example. …

Corpus Christi i Vatikanet

Katolsk, Liturgi, Paven /

Som mange sikkert vet, feirer Vatikanet festen for Corpus Christi på selve (tors)dagen, mens man i (resten av) Roma og i Italia feirer festen kommende søndag. Den tradisjonelel prosesjonen med det hellige sakrament fra Johanneskirken i Lateranet til Santa Maria Maggiore er likevel beholdt, med svært stor oppslutning. Den sakramentale velsignelse blir til slutt gitt av pave Benedikt utenfor hovedinngagen til Santa Maria Maggiore. Se videoen under:

Vil pave Benedikt forandre messens rubrikker?

Liturgi, Paven /

I innlegget jeg nylig skrev – SE HER – om å forstå pave Benedikts syn på liturgien, vil jeg først ta med et utdrag fra kapittel 7; er det noen grunn til å tro at pave benedikt snart vil foirandre enkelte ting i den nye messens rudbrikker? Ikke veldig sannsynlig, skriver David Bonagura, men kanskje noe:

VI. Reforming the Letter

While the spirit of the liturgy has been Benedict’s priority thus far, his comments as cardinal still prompt speculation over whether he will make structural changes to the Missal of Paul VI. Critics of that missal have not been shy in voicing their desire for a “reform of the reform,” though they do not all agree on how to go about this. Alcuin Reid summarizes the most common suggestions:

«Proposals include the wide use of Latin, that the Roman Canon once again becomes the (sole) Canon of the Mass of the Roman rite, the replacement of the current offertory prayers with ones having a clear sacrificial theology, the restoration of the proper prayers of each Mass to their unedited form, the promotion of silence in the Liturgy, the return of many of the ritual gestures abolished in the Mass, and the return to the ancient Christian practice of priest and people facing east for what we now call the Liturgy of the Eucharist.»

Ratzinger, as theologian, commented on a number of these suggestions but did not endorse all of them. He affirmed both the desirability of the vernacular (while favoring Latin for parts of the Ordinary) and the revised offertory prayers, now called the preparation of the gifts. He likewise affirmed the eucharistic prayers introduced in 1968 (S.Car. 48). He has not specifically addressed the drastically altered texts of the Mass Propers. In a number of places he has written in favor of silence in the liturgy60 as well as celebrating the liturgy ad orientem, but the current missal permits both.

These points aside, Ratzinger has still asserted that the new missal requires some changes, although generally he has avoided mentioning specifics. He has, however, suggested three steps toward reconciling the missals of 1962 and 1970: (1) freeing the new missal from its creative options such as “sacerdos dicit sic vel simili modo”; (2) using more precise translations, particularly in English; and (3) greater use of ad orientem worship. …

«Å forstå pave Benedikt i lys av kardinal Ratzinger»

Liturgi, Paven /

På slutten av 2009 ble det publisert en artikkel i tidsskriftet Antiphon med overskrifta vi ser over, i februar 2010 ble artikkelen nevnt på liturgibloggen PrayTell, tidlig i år lest jeg artikkelen – uten å nevne den på bloggen!! Nå leser jeg artikkelen – av David G. Bonagura – på nytt igjen og vil ta med noen utdrag her på bloggen.

Hovedpoenget til forfatteren er at vi kan vite en hel del om pave bendikts syn på liturgien ved å lese hva han skrev om dette temaet mens han var kardinal ratzinger. Bonagura har studert temaet grundig og skrevet en interessant og godt dokumentert artikkel. Les gjerne hele artikkeln her – i pdf-format. I artikkelen (på 18 sider) går han gjennom følgende hovedtemaer:

I. Joseph Ratzinger and Sacrosanctum Concilium
II. The Novus Ordo Missae: Praises and Criticisms
III. Summorum Pontificum: the Key to Continuity
IV. Using the Past to Guide the Present
V. Reforming the Spirit
VI. Reforming the Letter
VII. Organic Development and Liturgical Regulation

Paven mener sekularismen må ta en stor del av skylden for familiens problemer

Katolsk, Paven /

Under sitt besøk i Kroatia nylig, understreket (pave Benedikt) i alvorlige vendinger betydningen av at Europa vender tilbake til sine kristne røtter. Og under en messe han feiret i Zagreb for rundt 400.000 troende i anledning den kroatiske familiedagen, hevdet han at den sekularistiske ideologien har ført til økt oppløsning av familien.

Paven, som under sitt opphold i Kroatia, også uttrykte sitt støtte til landets EU-søknad, advarte også mot den moderne relativismen. I en tale til Kroatias akademiske og kulturelle elite, uttalte han blant annet følgende om samvittighetens mening og opprinnelse.

Hvis vi er i samsvar med den rådende moderne idé, så reduseres samvittigheten til den subjektive sfære hvor religion og moral fordrives, og krisen i vesten lar seg ikke kurere og Europa er dømt til å kollapse under egen vekt. …

Slik skriver avisa Dagen etter pave Benedikts besøk i Kroatia sist helg.

Skuffende når presten ikke synger messen – og andre liturgiske skuffelser

Liturgi, Paven /

Bloggen Vultus Christi skriver om musikken i messen, og ber pave Benedikt gripe inn og sette ting på sin rette plass med et nytt pavelig dokument. Slik skriver de bl.a.:

We Southern Italians love to sing, and sing we do! The faithful are deprived, nonetheless, of the authentic chants of the Church. Since my arrival here, not once have I heard the Proper of the Mass (even recited) nor anything even remotely related to it.

The Ordinary of the Mass is trivialized by settings in Italian that are sentimental and that have no organic continuity with the musical tradition of the Church. Not once have I heard a priest sing the orations or the Preface of the Mass and this in a culture where to sing is to love, and to love is to sing.

The Motu Proprio of Pope Saint Pius X, Tra le sollecitudini (22 November 1903) has yet to be implemented. In fact, it continues to be transgressed widely and habitually. In conclusion, allow me to say that the situation is, if possible, even worse in the United States. Usquequo Domine?

(Og vi som har vært i Italia og i USA vet hvor forferdelige messene kan være.) I tillegg er det svært skuffende når presten ikke synger noe som helst, skriver man på Vultus Christi, og når Credo blir sagt også i svært mange høytidelige messer – og når ingen ting av messens proprium blir brukt:

… His Eminence recited in a spoken tone of voice all of the parts belong to the celebrant. This was acutely disappointing, given both his ability to sing, and the solemnity of the occasion. And again, the end result was a Low Mass with a sung Ordinary in Italian and popular hymns. …

Pave Benedikt, på den annen side, går foran og viser hvordan messen bør feires. Slik beskrives hans messe i Venezia for en måned siden:

A model of what the Second Vatican Council intended was given at the Mass celebrated by the Holy Father on 8 May 2011 in San Giuliano Park on the occasion on his recent visit to Venice. To my edification and delight a schola cantorum sang the complete Proper of the Mass in Gregorian Chant, while the vast crowd of the faithful alternated the Paschaltide Ordinary (Mass I) Lux et Origo with the choir. The organizers of this celebratIon are to be commended and congratulated.

Martin Mosebach uttaler seg igjen om liturgi, paven og den tradisjonelle messen

Liturgi, Paven, TLM /

Martin Mosebach ble intervjuet i Die Welt 23. mai om Vatikanets nye dokument, som presiserer en del ting rundt feiringen av den tradisjonelle latinske messen. Intervjuet er nå oversatt til engelsk, slik at flere kan lese Mosebachs ganske «friske fraspark», som begynenr slik:

Four years ago, Pope Benedict XVI, against the opposition of the great majority in the Catholic Church, restored the old Latin liturgy to equality with the new vernacular form of the celebration of the mass, which had been mandated since 1969. … A week ago, the Vatican, in a papal letter, reaffirmed its determination of 2007 and clarified some disputed questions regarding its practical application. Martin Mosebach, the recipient of the Büchner prize, is one of the most fervent admirers and defenders of the old Liturgy.

Die Welt: In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI, in a special motu proprio, freed the ancient Gregorian liturgy for the Catholic Church. Why does the Vatican publish instructions four years later on how the will of the pope is to be implemented?

Martin Mosebach: The enemies of the great liturgical tradition of the Roman Church in many cases have not accepted the permission given to the Old Rite. They often tried to ignore the pope’s motu proprio and sought to maintain obstacles. They tried with bureaucratic methods to render ineffective the pope’s generosity. Therefore, the Vatican had to be clearer if it wanted to maintain the motu proprio.

Die Welt: The Instruction speaks of “two usages of the one Roman rite.” Doesn’t this open the door to a creeping new schism?

Martin Mosebach: There’s already a schism, not between supporters of the new and old rites, but between those Catholics who adhere to the old sacramental theology of the Church as was solemnly confirmed by Vatican II, and those who assert that Vatican II founded a new Church with a new theology and new sacraments. This latter doctrine has been diffused wholesale and against the better knowledge of its promoters, in the seminaries, universities and Catholic academies. This is what has fostered the danger of a schism.

Die Welt: “What was sacred for prior generations remains sacred and great also for us as well; it cannot be suddenly prohibited altogether or even judged harmful.” The Instruction cites here the pope. But wasn’t this the intention of the overwhelming majority of the Catholic bishops in the last 40 years?

Martin Mosebach: Yes, it is regrettably true that a not small part of the Catholic bishops, in a suicidal frenzy, attempted to separate from the Catholic Tradition and to cut the Church off from the source of her vitality. In the sentence you have cited, the pope has given them some tutoring in ecclesiology.

Die Welt: How can the Roman liturgy in the “usus antiquior “ be offered today “to all the faithful “ if only a fraction of the faithful understand Latin?

Martin Mosebach: At all times only a few Catholics have been able to follow the Latin Mass word for word. Europe looks back on well over a thousand years of glorious Catholic culture without the people being able to understand Latin. They understand something more important: that in the rite the Parousia – the mystic presence – of the Lord takes place. Without this understanding, a person has understood nothing of the Mass, even if he thinks he understands every word. Moreover, for a long time there have been wonderful bilingual missals with which we can pray the mass with the priest. But it is indeed correct: the Old Rite requires a certain effort, a readiness to learn.

Die Welt: And how will precisely the promotion of the “older” rite further “reconciliation within the Church” after it has led to so much conflict until now?

Martin Mosebach: The conflict essentially is due to the misunderstanding, so perilous for the Church, that Vatican II established a new Church. The struggle surrounding this misunderstanding must be endured to the end. Covering it up with peaceful phrases doesn’t help the Church.

Die Welt: Pastors are invited to show “a spirit of generous welcome” to groups of faithful who would like to celebrate the Old Mass in Latin. Isn’t this naïve after the last few decades, in which such faithful were considered hopelessly old-fashioned and retrograde?

Martin Mosebach: Indeed, the faithful, who have adhered to the Old Rite or have discovered it just recently, were reviled in manner that, I hope, is not revealing of the spiritual worth of the reform. ….

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