Cardinal Cañizares Transferred to Valencia

It was announced today that His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera has been transferred to his native diocese, the Archiepiscopal See of Valencia in Spain, the former archbishop, His Grace Carlos Osoro Sierra, being transferred to Madrid to succeed Cardinal Antonio Varela. Cardinal Cañizares’s successor as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has not yet been announced. We should all offer a prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide Pope Francis to choose a wise and worthy successor.

Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.

V. Fiat manus tua super virum dexterae tuae.
R. Et super filium hominis quem confirmasti tibi.

Oremus. Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Franciscum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Let us pray for our Pope Francis. May the Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

V. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand.
R. and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

Let us pray. O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all the faithful, look mercifully upon Thy servant Francis, whom Thou didst will to be the shepherd of Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter's: Definitve Programme

A while ago we mentioned that after the conferences of 2008 and 2009, the Italian Association Giovani e Tradizione (Youth and Tradition) and the Sodality Amicizia Sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum (Priestly Friends of Summorum Pontificum), are organising another convention on the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in Rome at the Angelicum in May 2011, which will conclude with another Pontifical Mass according to the usus antiquior in St. Peter's, this time celebrated by H.Em. Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, at the Altar of the Cathedra, on Sunday 15 May 2011. Giovani e Tradizione has now released the definitive programme for the convention: see here and here. Assistant Priest, Deacon and Subdeacon of the Mass will be officials of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. The remaining liturgical service will be provided by the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, while one of the two choirs will be directed by Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci himself.

Pontifical Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter's

After the conferences of 2008 and 2009, the Italian Association Giovani e Tradizione (Youth and Tradition) and the Sodality Amicizia Sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum (Priestly Friends of Summorum Pontificum), are organising another convention on the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in Rome at the Angelicum in May 2011 (cf. NLM coverage of the past conferences here and here). See the programme of the upcoming conference here. After last year's conference had brought us the momentous Pontifical Mass in the Sacrament Chapel of St. Peter's Basilica celebrated by Archbishop Raymond Burke - the first Pontifcal Mass in the usus antiquior celebrated in St. Peter's since the reforms (see picture above and more here) -, next year's conference will conclude with another Pontifical Mass according to the usus antiquior in St. Peter's, this time celebrated by H.Em. Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, at the Altar of the Cathedra, on Sunday 15 May 2011.

Liturgy Convention of the Archdiocese of Colombo: Cañizares, Ranjith, Lang, Mosebach

As part of the Year of the Eucharist in the Archdiocese of Colombo called by H.E. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith (which we have mentioned in passing here), a liturgy convention was held in that diocese from 1 to 3 September. Speakers included, beyond Archbishop Ranjith himself, H.Em. Card. Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, who delivered the keynote address on "Liturgy, the most effective way of experiencing the overpowering presence of God in human life"; Fr Uwe Lang, Cong. Orat., official of that same Congregation and well known to NLM readers as auhtor of "Turning Towards the Lord: Orientation in Liturgical Prayer", who spoke on "Beauty and Liturgy: Towards an understanding of the concept of Liturgy as a glimpse of heaven"; and Martin Mosebach, equally well-known author of The Heresy of Formlessness. The Roman Liturgy and Its Enemy, whose topic was "The difficulties emerging in the Church with regard to worship patterns. Tradition or Innovations?". Full texts of all talks will be uploaded to the convention's website, where you can also find further information. Already online is Archbishop Ranjith's talk on "Liturgy of the Hours and Priestly Spirituality".

Some impressions from the convention, taken from the same website. Archbishop Ranjith:


With Card. Cañizares:




Fr Lang:


Martin Mosebach:



The audience:

Cardinal Cañizares Interview on Three Years of Summorum Pontificum: Full Text

The NLM is happy to provide a full translation of the interview which His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera gave to the German Catholic newspaper Die Tagespost on the occasion of the third anniversary of the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (German original here).

We have to turn around 180 degrees

Three years after the publication of the Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum", the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship takes stock

By Regina Einig

Eminence, the Pope, in the letter to the world episcopate, spoke regarding the preliminary talks leading to the Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of reactions of joyful acceptance to harsh opposition. Has the climate changed since then?


The climate has remained essentially the same. But I believe that a movement is under way. It is now understood much better what the Motu proprio is about. The understanding of the liturgy in the tradition of the church has grown. The same is true of the hermeneutic of continuity. All this will benefit not only the acceptance and implementation of the motu proprio, but it also enriches the liturgical renewal and brings it forward - in the sense that the spirit of the liturgy is again revived.

In France, two diocesan seminaries form their seminarians in both forms of the Roman rite. What do you think about this model?

There is only one liturgy. Consequently both forms of the celebration of the Roman rite fit with ease in the same formation - precisely because they are one and the same liturgy. It is also important to note that the Church, because of the hermeneutic of continuity, does not freeze the Missal of John XXIII, but has not broken with it either. The tradition of the Church is being further integrated in the development of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore, the liturgical education for all will always have to be aligned with Sacrosanctum Concilium. Given the richness of the Roman Rite in its entire traditions - and this includes the missal of John XXIII and the post-conciliar liturgical reform - both cannot be played off against each other. They are expressions of the same liturgical wealth.

Do you share the view of the Bishop of Toulon, who considers it to be ideal to form his seminarians in both forms?

The Bishop of Toulon, an excellent man, wants to view the whole tradition of the church in this light of the hermeneutic of continuity. And since Sacrosanctum Concilium is still valid, he implements this formation, unique in this form, in which the celebration is taught in both forms of the Roman rite. The good fruits in Toulon are evident.

What elements of the extraordinary form might also be integrated into the ordinary form of the rite?

The sense for the mystery and of the sacred, and above all the sense for what God's reign means. It is about the greatness of God and the mystery of God. Man really is always unworthy to share in this divine gift of the liturgy. We need again to acknowledge God's right, the "ius divinum" - the sooner the better. Today liturgy often appears as something that man has a right to and in which he acts. This reflects the secularisation of our society, while other aspects fade behind it. This has led to the reform of the Second Vatican Council not unfolding its wealth and greatness as hoped.

What do you recommend to the priests? Where should they start?

The priests should again prepare for Mass as provided in the extraordinary form. The same goes for the penitential rite and the awareness that we are essentially not worthy of celebration, but put our trust in the mercy and the forgiveness of God and thus approach God's presence in the celebration. A treasure that we must not forget is the offertory as it is described in the prayer texts [sc. of the extraordinary form]. That expresses a deep attitude. We should internalise it.

In his letter to the bishops the Holy Father has stressed that his aim with the motu proprio is the internal reconciliation of the Church. What do you think about the debate on the illicit ordinations of the Fraternity of St. Pius X?

The ordinations are an incisive element in a time of grave decisions. It would have been highly desirable to delay the ordinations, because if one day there is a real opportunity for an opening and a possibility of agreement, this chance may be hampered by the fact of the ordinations.

Regarding World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011: What do you recommend to young people who are curious about the old Mass?

The young people must be educated in the spirit of the liturgy. It would be a mistake to commit them to one or the other form in a polemical way. They need to be introduced to adoration and the spirit of the mystery. Praise and thanksgiving should be taught to them - and the whole which has made up the liturgical celebration of the Church throughout the ages. Today the young people are lacking above all in liturgical education - regardless of the form which they defend particularly. This is the great challenge for the near future, also for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Today we need a new liturgical movement, as there was in the 19th and 20th Century. And this is not about one or the other form, but the liturgy as such.

And how can this new liturgical movement become a reality?

We need a new introduction to Christianity. Also for children and young people. An introduction to the liturgy does not only mean to know something about the celebration, although of course that is indispensable both theologically and doctrinally. Young people and children should participate in liturgies celebrated with great dignity, which are entirely permeated by the mystery of God in which the individual knows himself to be included. Active participation does not mean to do something, but to enter into the worship and the silence, into listening and also the prayer of petition and all that which really constitutes the liturgy. As long as that does not happen, there will be no liturgical renewal. We have to turn around one hundred eighty degrees. Youth ministry should be a place where the encounter with the living Christ in the Church takes place . Where Jesus Christ appears as someone of yesterday, neither liturgical education nor active participation is possible. As long as the awareness of the living Christ does not awake again, nothing will come of the much-needed renewal.

Card. Cañizares Will Ask for the Extension of the Feast of Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest to the Entire Church

His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, announced this monday his intention to ask the Holy Father, in this Year for Priests, to extend the Feast of Jesus Christ the Eternal High Priest (D.N.J.C. Summi et Æterni Sacerdotis) to the Entire Church (source: Religión Confidencial). The feast is currently celebrated in Spain on the Thursday after Pentecost by concession of Paul VI. The concession is from 1970, and had been petitioned for by the then Archbishop of Valencia José María García Lahiguera, the "Apostle of the Priests", who helped the persecuted priests of Madrid during the Spanish civil war, founded in 1938 the Oblate Sisters of Christ the Priest dedicated to prayer and sacrifice for the sanctification of the priests, and whose process of beatification was opened in 1995.

A Mass de D.N.J.C. Summo et Æterno Sacerdote was first introduced, as a votive Mass for Thursdays, under Pius XI and announced in his Encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii of 1935, and remains as such in the Missale Romanum of the Extraordinary Form. It is also contained as a votive Mass in the Roman Missal of the Ordinary Form. Fr Mark of Vultus Christi has a comparison of the two Mass formularies.

The Curia is Preparing a Document on Liturgical Formation of Religious

Cardinal Franc Rodé, C.M., the Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, on this World Day of Consecrated Life granted an interview to the Italian section of Vatican Radio, in which he announced that his Congregation, together with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is preparing a document, which will also deal with the liturgical formation of the religious. Here is an NLM translation of the relevant part of the interview:

Q.: The Congregation is also engaged in a reflection about the importance of prayer ...

Card. Rodé: Some say that today men and women religious pray too little. I do not know that, I do not know if it is true and I certainly hope it is not. Prayer presents difficulties today, difficulties which maybe [were not so much present] in the past, in a time in which the rhythm of life was a bit more human, and there was not so much stress, not so much noise, maybe [then] prayer, recollection, concentration, thinking, elevating one's mind towards God were much easier. Today in a world as busy as ours, prayer becomes certainly more difficult. We must emphasize the absolute necessity of prayer in the spiritual life of consecrated men and women. This we want to try to do with the creation of a document we are preparing. Then there is also another point of view: Cardinal Cañizares, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, had the idea - which he prposed to me - to produce an interdicasterial document, with a first part entrusted to our dicastery and a second seen to by the dicastery for Divine Worship, about the liturgical formation of men and women religious. This, too, seems very important to me because on the one hand there is a certain "ignorance", a certain lack of liturgical knowledge and training in young men and women religious; on the other hand, there are also liturgical fantasies that are not always of good taste and which do not correspond to the desire and the will of the Church and to the spirit of the Liturgy itself. Some corrective measures appear, therefore, necessary. This part will be the responsibility of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and together we will produce a single document, consisting of two parts, that regarding prayer and that regarding liturgical formation. I think that both parts are necessary and will - I hope - benefit the spiritual life of men and women religious.

h/t to Cantuale Antonianum

Pontifical Mass of Cardinal Cañizares at Rome's Personal Parish for the Usus Antiquior

As mentioned earlier, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, today celebrated Pontifical Mass for the Feast of All Saints at Rome's personal parish for the usus antiquior, Santissma Trinità dei Pellegrini. First images are now available, once again by way of our friend John Sonnen:

Cardinal Cañizares on the Supreme Importance of the Liturgy

The Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, recently attended a conference in Barcelona. On this occasion, he was interviewed by Catalunya Cristiana. Here is an NLM translation of the parts of this quite inspiring interview, which concern the liturgy. I have taken the liberty to highlight the passages which speak to the supreme importance of the liturgy, a point sadly still often overlooked:

Soon it will be a year that you were appointed by the Pope as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship ... How do you assess your debut in the Vatican Curia?

It is not for me to assess my performance. All I have to say is that it is a very important time for all, intense work is being done, a plenary meeting of the Congregation has taken place, proposals have been reached which the Holy Father approved and which constitute the plan of our work [NLM: this appears to refer to the "reform of the reform proposals" mentioned by Andrea Tornielli in August, cf. here]. The great objective is to revive the spirit of the liturgy throughout the world.

What have been the most pressing issues that you have had to attend to?

Urgent business there is every morning, referring to excesses and errors which are being committed in the liturgy, but above all, the most urgent issue that is pressing all over the world, is that the sense of the liturgy be truly recovered. This is not about changing rubrics or introducing new things, but what it is about, is simply that the liturgy be lived and that it be in the center of the life of the Church. The Church cannot be without the liturgy, because the Church is there for the liturgy, that is, for praise, for thanksgiving, to offer the sacrifice to the Lord, for worship ... This is fundamental, and without this there is no Church. Indeed, without this there is no humanity. It is therefore an extremely urgent and pressing task.

How can the sense of the liturgy be recovered?

At present we work in a very quiet manner on an entire range of issues having to do with educative projects. This is the prime necessity there is: a good and genuine liturgical formation. The subject of liturgical formation is critical because there really is no sufficient education [at the moment]. People believe that the liturgy is a matter of forms and external realities, and what we really need is to restore a sense of worship, i.e. the sense of God as God. This sense of God can only be recovered with the liturgy. Therefore the Pope has the greatest interest in emphasizing the priority of the liturgy in the life of the Church. When one lives the spirit of the liturgy, one enters into the spirit of worship, one enters into the acknowledgment of God, one enters into communion with Him, and this is what transforms man and turns him into a new man. The liturgy always looks towards God, not the community; it is not the community that makes the liturgy, but it is God who makes it. It is He who comes to meet us and offers us to participate in his life, his mercy and his forgiveness ... When one truly lives the liturgy and God is truly at the centre of it, everything changes.

So far away are we today from the true sense of the mystery?

Yes, there is currently very great secularization and secularism, the sense of mystery and the sacred has been lost, one does not live with the spirit truly to worship God and to let God be God. This is why it is believed to be necessary constantly to be changing things in the liturgy, to innovate and that everything has to be very creative. This is not what is needed in the liturgy, but that it really be worship, i.e. recognition of the One who transcends us and who offers us salvation. The mystery of God, which is the unfathomable mystery of his love, is not something nebulous, but is Someone who comes to meet us. We must recover the man who adores. We must recover the sense of the mystery. We must recover what we never ought to have lost. The greatest evil that is being done to man is trying to eliminate from his life transcendence and the dimension of the mystery. The consequences we are experiencing today in all spheres of life. They are the tendency to replace the truth with opinion, confidence with unease, the end with the means ... Therefore it is so important to defend man against all the ideologies which weaken him in his triple relationship to the world, to others and to God. Never before has there been so much talk of freedom, and never before have there been more enslavements.

After so many years of teaching and episcopal ministry, how have you experienced the call to serve in the Roman Curia as "minister of the Pope"?

I accept it with great joy, because it means fulfilling the will of God. When one does the will of God one is very happy, although I must confess that I did not expect something like this. At the same time, the fact of working together with the Pope allows me to live intensely the mystery of communion. I feel very united to him, happy to help him in all he really is asking for. As is known, one of his principal concerns is the concern for the liturgy.

Second Undersecretary for the CDW appointed

As we learn from today's bollettino of the Press Office of the Holy See,

The Holy Father has apoointed a second Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: the Rev. Mons. Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche, until now Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Toledo (Spain).

Mons. Ferrer had already in April been appointed a Consultor to the Congregation for Divine Worship (cf. Significant Nominations for the Congregation for Divine Worship). Mons. Ferrer was the Vicar General of the new Prefect of the CDW and former Archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Cañizares, and has previously been mentioned on the NLM as co-organiser and participant in training workshops for the Extraordinary Form in Toledo (see NLM reports here and here). He also is Mozarabic Chaplain of the Cathedral of Toledo and parish priest of the parish of Santo Tomé where Mass in the usus antiquior is celebrated daily. Taking into account that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei is to be attached to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it seems not unreasonable to speculate - but keep in mind that at this point it is no more than that - that the appointment of Mons. Ferrer as a second Undersecretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments - a post which did not exist before, and which therefore in my mind implies (although not necessarily) new responsibilites - could mean that the competence of that Pontifical Commission pertaining to strictly liturgical matters will be transferred to the Congregation for Divine Worship.

The NLM will endeavour to learn more about this development.

Mons. Ferrer to the right of Card. Cañizares at the Corpus Christi procession in Toledo. Before anyone asks: the wearing of the pallium with the cope is not foreseen by the rubrics, as far as I know, but seems customary in Toledo, as you can see in older photographs. Thanks for this picture to the Fraternity of Christ the Priest.

Cardinal Cañizares Writes About Usus Antiquior and Liturgical Reform

The Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has written a preface to the Spanish edition of a recent book by Fr. Nicola Bux, The Reform of Benedict XVI, which will be presented in Toledo this Thursday. In this outstanding preface, the Prefect of the dicastery charged with the sacred liturgy quite frankly recognizes that the liturgical reforms after the Second Vatican Council have often not been completely successful, that a false spirit of rupture was at work. While this may seem obvious to most NLM readers, it should be considered that until a rather short time ago, to express such a view was still anathema. Thus, to have it puclicly stated by the man given he highest authority in matters liturgical by the Holy Father is quite significant. What we see here, then, surely is the "setting of the tone", the "laying of the foundations" for an actual reform of the reform, in the cautious and gentle, yet determined manner which clearly is the modus operandi of our Holy Father.

The Cardinal again stresses - like Cardinal Castrillón has often done - that Pope Benedict's intention in issuing Summorum Pontificum was above all to open up the treasure of the traditional liturgy to all the faithful. He makes concrete suggestions how the usus antiquior might be integrated into the life even of parishes and communities which do not regularly celebrate it, and among these suggestions is also, very significantly, Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum, when many had (wrongly) claimed that Summorum Pontificum did not allow for the rites of the Sacred Triduum to be celebrated according to the usus antiquior outside of personal parishes and the like. He asserts that the traditional form of the Roman rite - as well as other Western and Eastern rites in the extent possible - should be part of theoretical and practical seminary education. Cardinal Cañizares also finds strong words of comfort for the priests and faithful who after the reforms were being vilified either for being attached to the usus antiquior or for celebrating the reformed liturgy in a spirit of continuity.

All in all a very remarkable text. Here is the preface in my translation:

Only a few months have passed from the publication of this book until this present Spanish edition. However, the significance of certain events which occurred during this time has greatly changed the "climate" around its theme, especially due to the atmosphere of controversy that has been created following the lifting of the excommunication of the four bishops consecrated twenty years ago by Monsignor Lefebvre. This gesture of gratuitous mercy by the Holy Father in order to aid their full integration into the Church, which shows by deeds that the Church does not renounce its tradition, has led to the "traditional Mass" being linked to a disciplinary problem and, worse still, a political one.

Consequently, there is a risk of distortion of the deeper meaning of the Motu Proprio of 7 July 2007, a gesture of extraordinary ecclesial common sense with which has been recognised the full validity of a rite that has nourished spiritually the Church in the West for centuries.

Undoubtedly, a deepening and a renewal of the liturgy were necessary. But often, this has not been a perfectly successful operation. The first part of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium has not entered into the heart of the Christian people. There was a change in the forms, a reform, but not a genuine renewal, as called for by the conciliar Fathers. Sometimes changes have been made simply because of a desire for change with respect to a past perceived as totally negative and obsolete, conceiving the reform as a rupture and not as an organic development of the tradition. This created reactions and resistance from the beginning, which in some cases crystallized in positions and attitudes that led to extreme solutions, and even to concrete actions which meant canonical penalties. It is urgent, however, to distinguish the disciplinary problem arisen from attitudes of disobedience of one group form the doctrinal and liturgical problem.

If we truly believe that the Eucharist is really the "source and summit of Christian life" – as the Second Vatican Council reminds us – we cannot admit that it is celebrated in an unworthy manner. For many, accepting the conciliar reform has meant celebrating a Mass which in one way or another had to be "desacralised". How many priests have been called "backward" or "anticonciliar" because of the mere fact of celebrating in a solemn or pious manner or simply for fully obeying the rubrics! It is imperative to get out of this dialectic.

The reform has been implemented and it has mainly been experienced as an absolute change, as if an abyss should be created between the "before" and the "after" the Council, in a context where the term "preconciliar" was used like an insult. Here also the phenomenon occurred which the Pope notes in his recent letter to the bishops of 10 March 2009: "Sometimes one has the impression that our society needs at least one group for which there need not be any tolerance; which one can unperturbedly set upon with hatred." For years this was the case in good measure with the priests and faithful attached to the form of Mass inherited throughout the centuries, who were often treated "like lepers", as the then Cardinal Ratzinger bluntly put it.

Today, thanks to the Motu Proprio, this situation is changing notably. And it is doing so in large part because the intention of the Pope has not only been to satisfy the followers of Monsignor Lefevbre, nor to confine himself to respond to the just wishes of the faithful who feel attached, for various reasons, to the liturgical heritage represented by the Roman rite, but also, and in a special way, to open the liturgical richness of the Church to all the faithful, thus making possible the discovery of the treasures of the liturgical patrimony of the Church to those who still do not know it. How many times is the attitude of those who disdain them not due to anything other than this ignorance! Therefore, considered from this last aspect, the Motu Proprio makes sense beyond the presence or absence of conflicts: even if there were not a single "traditionalist" whom to satisfy, this "discovery" would have been enough to justify the provisions of the Pope.

It has also been said that these dispositions were an "attack" against the Council, but this shows an ignorance of the Council itself, whose intention to give all the faithful the opportunity to get to know and appreciate the multiple treasures of the liturgy of the Church is precisely what this great assembly ardently desired: "In faithful obedience to Tradition, the Sacred Council declares that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way." (SC, 4).

Moreover, these dispositions are not a novelty; the Church has always maintained them, and when occasionally this has not been the case, the consequences have been tragic. Not only have the rites of the East been respected, but in the West dioceses such as Milan, Lyon, Cologne, Braga and various religious orders have preserved their various rites peacefully through the centuries. But the clearest precedent of the current situation is undoubtedly the archdiocese of Toledo. Cardinal Cisneros put up every means to preserve as "extraordinary" in the archdiocese the Mozarabic rite which was about to become extinct. Not only did he make print the Missal and Breviary, but he created a special chapel in the Cathedral, where still today this rite is celebrated daily.

This variety did not ever mean, nor can it mean, doctrinal differences, but on the contrary, it highlights a profound fundamental identity. Among the rites presently in use it is necessary that there also be this same unity. The current task, as this book of Don Nicola Bux tells us, is to show the theological identity between the liturgy of the various rites that have been celebrated over the centuries and the new liturgy, fruit of the reform, or else, if this identity has been blurred, to recover it.

The reform of Benedict XVI, then, is a book rich in data, reflections and ideas, and from among the many topics treated in it, I would like to emphasize some points:

The first is about the name by which to call this Mass. The author proposes to call it in the oriental manner "Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great." That is perhaps better than to say simply say "Gregorian", as this can lead to a twofold ambiguity (which could be avoided in any case with the designation "Damaso-Gregorian“). It is also more convenient than "traditional Mass", where the adjective is in danger of being contaminated by a burden of either controversy or "folklore"; or more convenient than "extraordinary form", which is a too extrinsic denomination. "Usus antiquior" has the defect of being a merely chronological reference. On the other hand, "usus receptus" would be too technical. "Missal of St. Pius V" or "Blessed John XXIII" are too limited terms. The only drawback is that in the Byzantine rite there already is a liturgy of St. Gregory, Pope of Rome: that of the presanctified gifts used in Lent.

Secondly, the fact that the use is "extraordinary" must not mean that it should be used only by priests and faithful who adhere to the extraordinary form. As Father Bux proposes, it would be very positive if someone who usually celebrates in the "ordinary" form would also, "extraordinarily", do so in the "extraordinary" form. This is a treasure that is the heritage of all and to which, in one way or another, everyone should have access. Therefore one could propose it especially for occasions when there is some particular richness of the old missal of which one could benefit (especially if in the other calendar there is nothing special foreseen): for example, for the time of Septuagesima, for the four Embertides or for the Vigil of Pentecost, and maybe even in the case of certain special communities, both of consecrated life and of brotherhoods or fraternities. Celebrations in the "extraordinary" form would also be of great usefulness for the offices of Holy Week, at least some of them, because all the rites preserve during the Sacred Triduum ceremonies and prayers that go back to the most ancient times of the Church.

Another point which it is necessary to emphasise is the attitude of Benedict XVI: it is not so much a novelty or change of direction of government; rather it brings to its concretisation what John Paul II had already launched with initiatives such as the papal document Quattuor abhinc annos, the consultation of the committee of Cardinals, the Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei and the creation of the Commission of the same name, or the words addressed to the Congregation for Divine Worship (2003).

Something which it is urgent to take into account is the ecumenical impact of these discussions: the criticism directed toward the rite received from the Roman tradition also extends to the other traditions and above all to that of the Orthodox brethren. Almost all the attacks of those opposed to the reintroduction of the old missal are precisely against the places we have in common with the Eastern! A sign that confirms this fact are the positive expressions of the recently deceased patriarch of Moscow on the publication of the Motu Proprio.

It is not one of the least important aspects of this book that it helps us become aware of the various aspects of the situation in which we currently find ourselves. Our generation is faced great challenges in liturgical matters: to help the whole Church to fully follow what the Second Vatican Council has indicated in the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium and what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the liturgy; to treasure what the Holy Father – when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – has written on the subject, especially in his most beautiful book The Spirit of the Liturgy; to enrich oneself by the way in which the Holy Father – assisted by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations, which is presided over by Monsignor Guido Marini, and a consultor of which is the author of this book – celebrates the liturgy. These papal liturgies are exemplary for the whole Catholic world.

Finally, I add that it would be of great importance that all this be expounded profoundly in the seminars as an integral part of the formation for the priesthood, to provide a theoretical and practical knowledge of the liturgical riches, not only of the Roman rite, but also, in the extent possible, of the various rites of East and West, and thus create a new generation of priests free of dialectic prejudices.

Hopefully this valuable book by Don Nicola Bux may serve to know better the intentions of the Holy Father and to discover the riches of the inheritance received and, at the same time, to enlighten us in our action. Let us ask the Lord to know how to interpret, as Paul VI said, the "signs of the times".


+ Antonio Cardinal Cañizares
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Archbishop Apostolic Administrator of Toledo
8 April 2009

Thanks to Secretum meum mihi for the Spanish original. A PDF of the original can also be found on the Spanish website of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which collaborated in producing this edition.

Significant Nominations for the Congregation for Divine Worship

After the significant nominations of new Consultors to the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff last September (cf. NLM reports here and here), Pope Benedict today has made two very good appointments for Consultors to the Congregation for Divine Worship:

The first is Mons. Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche, Vicar General of the Arcidiocese of Toledo (Spain), until recently the Vicar General of the new Prefect of the CDW and former Archbishop of Toledo. Mons. Ferrer has previously been mentioned on the NLM as co-organiser and participant in training workshops for the Extraordinary Form in Toledo (see NLM reports here and here).



The second new Consultor is Mons. Wilhelm Imkamp. He, too, is known to NLM readers as the rector of the pilgrimage church of Maria Vesperbild in the diocese of Augsburg, Germany, where he strongly encourages the reform of the reform, including celebration of the Ordinary Form ad orientem and the regular celebration of the Extraordinary Form (see NLM articles here and here). Last year, he had Archbishop Ranjith, the Secretary of the CDW, as clebrant of the main Mass at the pilgrimage site (the NLM reported here).

Cardinal Cañizares Pontificates in the Usus Antiquior at the Lateran

As mentioned several times before since February, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has celebrated Pontifical Mass according to the usus antiquior this morning in the Lateran Basilica. This is the first time since the liturgical reforms of the late 1960s, as far as I am aware, that a sitting Prefect of the Congregation responsible for the liturgy has publicly celebrated Pontifical Mass in the usus antiquior. [As pointed out by readers, Cardinal Medina had also celebrated in the older form. This does not, in my opinion, diminish the importance of the occasion, given the conjuncture of circumstances here. Also, it is the first time since the publication of Summorum Pontificum and the end of the former indult situation.] Moreover, he has done so not just anywhere, but in the Lateran Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, Cathedral of Rome and thus of the Pope, and "mater et caput" of all the churches of the city and the world.

In addition to the advance pictures already posted, our good friends at Rinascimento Sacro have let us know that images taken by the Franciscans of the Immaculate, who also provided the liturgical service including the major ministers and the chant for this occasion, have become available. Here is a selection (click to enlarge):











Again, the importance of this occasion cannot be overstated. The FFI are greatly to be commended for having been instrumental in making it happen.

Cardinal Cañizares on Communion Received Kneeling

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, is still at the same time Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Toledo. There, during Holy Week, he reinstated the communion rail in the Cathedral and encouraged the faithful to receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue (cf. report in Spanish here; kneelers for receiving Holy Communion kneeling have also been recently introduced at two other Spanish Cathedrals, that of Málaga, beginning with the Chrism Mass, and that of the Diocese of the Armed Forces in Madrid, cf. report in Spanish here). After his successor, Msgr. Braulio Rodríguez, until now Archbishop of Valladolid, has been named last week, Cardinal Cañizares before leaving the Archdiocese has granted an interview to the Spanish newspaper ABC. Here is the question concerning the reception of Holy Communion in an NLM translation:

ABC: A few days ago you prompted the faithful to receive Holy Communion kneeling. Does the Church by reforming the liturgy in this way come closer to man?

Cardinal Cañizares: Communion kneeling signifies respect for God, it is the heart of man which prostrates itself before the One Who loves him unto the end. These are signs, it is not about change for change's sake, it is about looking for the whole meaning and overcoming the secularisation of our world. One of the objectives of our congregations is to realise in these years a great campaign of liturgical formation.

Speaking of Cardinal Cañizares, just a brief reminder that as mentioned in February, tomorrow His Eminence will pontificate in the Extraordinary Form in the Lateran Basilica. The NLM will try to provide you some images as soon as possible.

Pope Benedict on Eucharistic Adoration

Over the last few days, the first Plenary Session of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments under its new Prefect, His Eminence Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, took place. The focus theme of its work was Eucharistic Adoration. On Friday, the members were received in audience by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Here is an NLM translation of the allocution the Holy Father gave on that occasion with some particularly relevant sections highlighted:

My Lord Cardinals,

Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood,

Dear brothers!

With great joy and deep gratitude I receive you, on the occasion of the Plenary Session of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. On this important occasion I am pleased, first, to extend my cordial greetings to the Prefect, the Lord Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, whom I thank for the words with which he illustrated the work done in these days and gave expression to the feelings of those who are present here today. [NLM note: Cardinal Cañizares in his addres to the Holy Father specifically mentioned the recent letter of the Pope regarding the lifting of the excommunication of the bishops consecrated by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1988 and assured the Holy Father of the unanimous adhesion of the members of the Congregation to the content of the letter, and of their filial collaboration, most sincere and profound closeness and loving solidarity.] I extend my affectionate greeting and my heartfelt thanks to all the Members and Officials of the Dicastery, starting with the Secretary, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, and the Under Secretary, through to all the others who, in different tasks, provide with expertise and dedication their service for "the regulation and promotion of the sacred liturgy" (Pastor Bonus, no. 62). In the Plenary Session you have reflected on the Mystery of the Eucharist and, in particular, on the theme of Eucharistic adoration. I know well that, following the publication of the Instruction "Eucharisticum mysterium" of 25 May 1967 and the promulgation, on 21 June 1973, of the Document "De sacra communione et cultu mysterii eucharistici extra Missam", the insistence on the theme of the Eucharist as the inexhaustible source of holiness has been a concern of the first priority for the dicastery.

I have therefore willingly accepted the proposal that the Plenary Session occupy itself with the subject of Eucharistic adoration, in the confidence that a renewed collegial reflection on this practice could contribute to make clear, within the limits of competence of the Congregation, the liturgical and pastoral means with which the Church of our times can promote the faith in the Real Presence of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist and ensure to the celebration of Mass throughout the dimension of adoration. I stressed this aspect in the Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, in which I gathered the fruits of the XI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod, held in October 2005. In it, highlighting the importance of the intrinsic relationship between celebration and adoration of the Eucharist (cf. no. 66), I quoted the teaching of Saint Augustine: "Nemo autem illam carnem manducat, nisi prius adoraverit; peccemus non adorando" [NLM translation: "No one eat this flesh, if he has not adored it before; for we sin if we do not adore."] (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 98, 9: CCL 39, 1385). The Synod Fathers have not failed to express concern about a certain confusion generated, after the II Vatican Council, about the relationship between Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 66). In this was echoed what my Predecessor, Pope John Paul II, had already expressed about the deviations that have sometimes contaminated the post-conciliar liturgical renewal, revealing "a very reductive understanding of the Eucharistic Mystery" (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 10 ).

The Second Vatican Council emphasized the unique role that the Eucharistic Mystery has in the life of the faithful (Sacrosanctum Concilium, nos. 48-54, 56). As Pope Paul VI has repeatedly affirmed: "the Eucharist is a very great mystery, even properly, as the Sacred Liturgy says, the mystery of faith" (Mysterium fidei, no. 15). The Eucharist is indeed at the very origins of the Church (cf. John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 21) and is the source of grace, constituting an incomparable opportunity for both the sanctification of humanity in Christ and for the glorification of God. In this sense, on the one hand , all the Church's activities are ordered towards the mystery of the Eucharist (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, no. 10; Lumen gentium, no. 11; Presbyterorum ordinis, no. 5; Sacramentum caritatis, no. 17), and, on the other hand, it is in virtue of the Eucharist that "the Church continually lives and grows" (Lumen gentium, no. 26). Our task is to appreciate the invaluable treasure of this ineffable mystery of faith "both in the celebration of the Mass itself and in the worship of the sacred species, which are preserved after Mass to extend the grace of the Sacrifice" (Instruction Eucharisticum mysterium, no. 3, lit. g). The doctrine of the transsubstantiation of bread and wine and of the Real Presence are truths of the Faith already evident in Scripture itself, and then confirmed by the Fathers of the Church. Pope Paul VI, in this regard, recalled that "not only has the Catholic Church always taught, but also lived the faith in the presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, always adoring with latreutic worship, which is only due to God, so great a Sacrament" (Mysterium Fidei, no. 56; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1378).

It is worth recalling in this regard, the various meanings which the word "adoration" has in Greek and in Latin. The Greek word proskýnesis indicates the gesture of submission, the acknowledgment of God as our true measure, the norm of which we accept to follow. The Latin word ad-oratio, however, denotes the physical contact, the kiss, the embrace, which is implicit in the idea of love [NLM note: the root here is "os", mouth; the ancient oriental gesture of greeting a ruler, translated into Latin as "adoratio", involved touching the right hand to the mouth]. The aspect of submission foresees a relationship of union, because he to whom we submit is Love. Indeed, in the Eucharist adoration must become union: union with the living Lord and then with his Mystical Body. As I told the young people on the plain of Marienfeld, in Cologne, during the Holy Mass on the occasion of the XX World Youth Day, on August 2005: " God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world."(Insegnamenti, vol. I, 2005, pp. 457 f.). In this perspective, I reminded the young people that in the Eucharist one lives the "first fundamental transformation of violence into love, of death into life; this brings other transformations in its wake. Bread and wine become his Body and Blood. But the transformation must not stop there; on the contrary, the process of transformation must hee fully begin. The Body and Blood of Christ are given to us so that we ourselves will be transformed in our turn."(ibid., p. 457).

My predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter "Spiritus et Sponsa", on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the Sacred Liturgy, urged to take the necessary steps to deepen the experience of renewal. This is important also with respect to the subject of Eucharistic adoration. Such a deepening will be possible only through an increased knowledge of the mystery in full fidelity to sacred Tradition and increasing the liturgical life within our communities (cf. Spiritus et Sponsa, nos. 6-7). In this regard, I appreciate in particular that the Plenary Session has occupied itself with the subject of educating the entire People of God in the Faith, with special attention to the seminarians, to promote the growth in a spirit of true Eucharistic adoration. St. Thomas, in fact, explains: "That in this sacrament is present the true Body and the true Blood of Christ cannot be learned with the senses, but by faith alone, which is based on the authority of God" (Summa theologiæ, III, 75, 1; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1381).

We are living the days of Holy Lent, which is not only a journey of more intense spiritual apprenticeship, but also an effective preparation to better celebrate Holy Easter. Recalling three penitential practices very dear to biblical and Christian tradition - prayer, almsgiving, fasting -, let us encourage each other to rediscover and live with renewed fervor fasting not only as an ascetic practice, but also as preparation for the Eucharist and as a spiritual weapon to fight against any eventual inordinate attachment to ourselves. May this intense period of liturgical life help us to remove everything which distracts the mind and to intensify what nourishes the soul, opening it to the love of God and neighbor. With these sentiments, I express already now to all of you my best wishes for the coming Feast of Easter, and while I thank you for the work you have done in this Plenary Session, as well as for all the work of the Congregation, I impart to each of you with affection my Blessing.

Cardinal Cañizares on Liturgical Reforms, Summorum Pontificum

30 Giorni, the prestigious Italian Catholic monthly, has an interview with Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in which he makes some very interesting remarks. Here are some excerpts in an NLM translation and with my emphases:

30 Giorni: Thus you are the first Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship to have celebrated immediately [sc. after being ordained; the question before dealt with his studies during the postconciliar reforms] with the postconciliar Novus Ordo...

Card. Cañizares: Evidently that is so. I have only recently celebrated with the 1962 missal, in 2007, when I ordained two priests of the Institute of Christ the King in Gricigliano, near Florence.

30 Giorni: What memories do you have of this phase of liturgical reform?

Card. Cañizares: I believe that a deepening and a renewal of the liturgy were necessary. But according to how I have experienced it, it was not a perfectly successful operation. The first part of the constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium [NLM note: dealing with the general principles and the promotion of the liturgy] has not entered the hearts of the Christian people. There has been a change in the forms, a reform, but no true renewal as requested by Sacrosanctum Concilium. Sometimes there has been change for the simple desire of change with respect to a past perceived as all negative and superseded. Sometimes the reform has been conceived as a rupture and not as an organic development of Tradition. Hence all the problems aroused by the traditionalists attached to the rite of 1962.

30 Giorni: We are talking about a reform, then, which, in fact, has not fully complied with the conciliar mandate?

Card. Cañizares: Most of all I would say that it was a reform which has been applied and above all which has been lived as an absolute change, as if there had to be created an abyss between the preconciliar and the postconciliar, in a context in which "preconciliar" was used as an insult.

[...]

30 Giorni: You are also a member of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. How do you assess the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum?

Card. Cañizares: Even if some have received it with ill humour, it was a gesture of extraordinary ecclesial good sense. By it was recognized as fully valid a rite that has nurtured spiritually the Latin Church for more than four centuries. I think that this motu proprio is a grace which will strengthen the faith of traditionalist groups that are already organically present in the Church and which will help the return of the so-called Lefebvrians ... It will also be a help for everyone.

30 Giorni: You have been in contact with the Lefebvrians: what do you think of the withdrawal of the excommunications regarding the bishops and the controversies that have followed?

Card. Cañizares: I have not had contacts with the world so-called "Lefebvrian" world. With respect to the withdrawal of the excommunications my thought is simple.
It was a gesture of free mercy of the Holy Father, to facilitate their full integration into the Catholic Church. It is obvious that this can happen only after they recognize all the Magisterium of the Church, including that expressed by the Second Vatican Council and the recent popes. But we must recognize that unity is inseparable from the cross.

30 Giorni: What about the negationist or reductionist statements regarding the Holocaust by Bishop Williamson?

Card. Cañizares: These are delusions that the Pope and the Holy See have repeatedly and firmly rejected. I hope and pray that they are as soon as possible officially and clearly disowned by the interested party. But I add that it has not been pretty to watch the way in which the Pope has been treated, also by those within the Church, in all of this affair. Fortunately, at least the Spanish Church has issued a nice communiqué in filial support of our great Benedict XVI.

30 Giorni: Back to the liturgy. You as archbishop of Toledo have also celebrated in the most ancient Mozarabic rite ...

Card. Cañizares: In fact every day in the Cathedral of Toledo Mass is celebrated Lauds are recited, also according to this very ancient rite, which survived the Tridentine reform. It must in fact be remembered - and some maybe do not like to do so - that the so-called Missal of St. Pius V did not abolish all previous rites. In fact those rites were "saved" that could boast of at least two centuries of history. The Mozarabic rite - together, for example, with the proper rite of the Dominican order - was among them. So after the Council of Trent there was not an absolute uniformity in the liturgy of the Latin Church.

30 Giorni: What are, beyond those which we already talked about, the issues you will have to address in carrying out this new mission?

Card. Cañizares: To help the Church to follow completely what the Second Vatican Council has indicated in Sacrosanctum Concilium. To help to understand fully what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the liturgy. To take to heart what the Holy Father - when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - was written about the question, especially in the beautiful book The Spirit of the Liturgy. To take to heart how the Holy Father - assisted by the Office for liturgical celebrations headed by Monsignor Guido Marini - celebrates the liturgy. The papal liturgies in fact have always been, and still are, exemplary for the whole Catholic world.

30 Giorni: In an interview granted in Spain you have praised the Pope's decision to distribute the Eucharist, in the liturgies which he celebrates, only kneeling and only in the mouth. Are there changes to be expected in this regard in universal discipline of the Church?

Card. Cañizares: As is known the current universal discipline of the Church requires that as a norm Communion is distributed in the mouth of the faithful. Then there is an indult that allows, at the request of episcopates, to distribute Communion also on the palm of the hand. This is worth remembering. The Pope, then, to give greater prominence to the due reverence with which we must approach the Body of Christ, wished that the faithful who receive Communion from his hands do so on their knees. This seemed to me a beautiful and edifying initiative of the bishop of Rome. The present norms do not require anyone to do the same. But neither do they prevent it.

Three Important Upcoming Masses in the Usus Antiquior

Our friends at messainlatino.it announce three important Masses which will be celebrated according to the usus aniquior in Italy in the coming months.

First, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, will celebrate Pontifical Mass and ordain five priests for the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FFI) in the church of St. Francis in Tarquinia (a small town in Latium) on the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March 2009) at 10 a.m.

Then the Superior of the FFI, Fr Stefano Maria Manelli, will celebrate Solemn Mass in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on the occasion of the Octocentennial of the Approbation of the Rule of St. Francis on 16 April 2009, also at 10 a.m.

And lastly, Cardinal Cañizares, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, will pontificate in the same Archbasilica of St. John Lateran on the following 21 April 2009, again at 10 a.m.

Rumor Watch: Ecclesia Dei to Become Part of CDW?

Via the French blog Le Salon Beige comes this extract from the French publication Monde & Vie (NLM translation):

The Pope intends to take advantage of the appointment of his liege man [Card. Cañizares Llovera] to head the Congregation for Divine Worship in order to profoundly reorganise the Commission Ecclesia Dei, of which it so happens that Cardinal Cañizares is already a member. According to the rumor, which does not seem to be just a hallway rumour, Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos who has long reached the age limit, would cede his post to his current second, a personal friend of Pope Ratzinger, Monsignor Camille Perl, who would be consecrated bishop for this reason. And the Commission would then be attached to the Congregation for Divine Worship, assuming, within the framework of one dicastery, the responsibility of the traditional form of the Roman rite, under the charge of Cardinal Cañizares. [...] This means in any case that the Commission Ecclesia Dei establishes itself in the ecclesiastical landscape. In addition, its anticipated director, Msgr Perl is certainly the man in Rome who best knows the traditionalist world, its ways, its outlines or its detours. He has the ear of the Pope for a long time. On more than one occasion his diplomacy has worked wonders.

Such an integration of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei into the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments would indeed be excellent for several reasons. It would clearly and unmistakably demonstrate, as the article mentions, that the usus antiquior is now a normal and regular part of the life and liturgy of the Church, attended to by a regular discastery of the Curia, and one of the most important at that, and not by a Special Commission named after a now obsolete indult. It makes sense that the curial authority charged with the Sacred Liturgy should have competence over both forms of the Roman Rite, not only because, once again, the Extraordinary Form is a living and regular part of the Sacred Liturgy, and not some isolated special interest concern, but also because, as we have seen, there are many questions which concern both forms, and where a seperate treatment of the same question can cause frictions. And the intgeration would also bring a number of curial officials experienced in the questions of the usus antiquior into the CDW, where still many officials have very little knowledge of it and are sometimes completely unaware of its content and rubrics. This, it might be hoped and expected, would greatly help the reform of the reform, since the liturgical tradition represented by the usus antiquior would become a daily presence within the Congregation. Nevertheless, this is as yet only a rumour, and should be treated as such.

More on the New Prefect of the CDW

As I said in my original post about the appointment of Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera as the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, it would seem as though we can expect much that is very good from the Cardinal.

His support for the Extraordinary Form, of which the pictures from the already mentioned ICRSS 2007 ordinations accompanying this post give proof, is also evidenced by the two usus antiquior workshops his former archdiocese of Toledo has already co-organised with the Institute of Christ the King this year (cf. NLM reports from February and October). Moreover, Cardinal Castrillón in his interview with the Italian magazine "Jesus" (cf. NLM translation here) has stated that in "Toledo, Spain, for example, it is being evaluated whether it is convenient to erect a seminary specifically for the preparation for the extraordinary rite or to give special courses in the seminary of the diocese." This taken together with Cardinal Cañizares's membership in the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei - a position Cardinal Arinze did not hold - does not only give reason to hope for support of the Extraordinary Form as a good in its own right, but also to hope for the mutual enrichment envisioned by the Holy Father.

As mentioned, a nickname for Cardinal Cañizares is the "little Ratzinger" ("pequeño Ratzinger", not "Ratzingerino" as I have read in some places, which simply means "Ratzingerian"). The Cardinal himself has given an explanation of this nickname, which to my mind gives a good insight into his mind in few words, and shows why there is reason to be glad about his appointment. Here it is in an NLM translation:

I think it is owed to the similarity due to the white hair, and to having been secretary of the Doctrinal Commission in Spain [i.e. the Committee for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Spanish Bishops' Conference] before [I became] Bishop, and to this consonance which God has granted to me with the thought of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, consonance and communion in the same Faith and in the great concern for man who, if he misses God, misses everything. It is also consonance and communion in the great love and passion for the Church, in the search for the truth which makes us free, a Truth that comes to us through Tradition, and therefore it is consonance in the fidelity to Tradition which is the only way to open to the future and make possible that a renewal of the Church and of society comes about. I have learned much in the years in which I have worked at his side as a memember of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is a gift of God having worked with him, and a gift of God to feel myself so deeply bonded to Peter in the form of Benedict XVI. I know that only thus will I walk within the Church and not take steps in vain.

(Source: Archdiocese of Toledo.)