Cardinal Woelki: Novus Ordo Not Inferior to Tridentine Rite in Beauty and Dignity
“I see myself entirely at home in the tradition and teaching of the Second Vatican Council,” Cardinal Woelki said. The liturgical reform was “one of the essential reforms” of Vatican II.
The cardinal expressed gratitude to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), which celebrates the Roman liturgy at designated locations in the archdiocese. “I see this as an enrichment, because there have always been different rites in the Church,” he explained.
His but: “The Novus Ordo Missae has a beauty and dignity that is in no way inferior to the Tridentine rite.”
For Cardinal Woelki, the ars celebrandi is decisive.
Liturgical abuses are not confined to the Novus Ordo, Cardinal Woelki believes. If Mass were merely "rattled off in ten to twelve minutes" - something that doesn't happen and is therefore a straw-man argument - this would run contrary to the intention of the tridentine rite.
Return to Tridentine Mass Not the Answer
Cardinal Woelki does not regard a return to the Tridentine Mass as the answer to the Church’s broader challenges. Anyone who expected that, he said, would be "on the wrong track".
Rather, he looks to Protestants for inspiration, announcing that the archdiocese is considering establishing a center for missionary growth modeled on the Anglican London’s Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication, founded in 2015 within the Church of England.
Picture: Pressebild, Erzbistum-koeln.de, #newsAtvddjyhle