Pope ‘decries’ divisions by the old-school liturgy fans
ROME, May 7, (AP): t on Saturday blasted Catholics who, hewing to old-school versions of liturgy like the Latin Mass, have made an ideological battleground of the issue, decrying what he described as devil-inspired divisiveness in the church.
Francis pressed his papacy’s battle against traditionalists, whose prominent members include some ultra-conservative cardinals. They have resisted restrictions, imposed last year by the Vatican, on celebrations of the old Mass in Latin in St. Peter’s Basilica and, more genverally, for years have disparaged the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Speaking at the Vatican to instructors and students of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, Francis said it’s not possible to worship God while using the liturgy as a “battleground” for nonessential questions that divide the church.
Francis has made clear he prefers Mass celebrated in local languages, with the priest facing the congregation instead of with his back to the pews. That was the way Mass was celebrated before the revolutionary Vatican Council reforms, more than a half centuryago, which aimed at making rankand-file Catholics feel more connected to liturgical celebrations.
“I underline again that liturgical life, and the study of it, must lead to greater ecclesial unity, not to division,’’ the pope told the institute’s participants. “When liturgical life is a bit of a banner for division, there is the odor of the devil being inside there, the deceiver.’’
“It’s not possible to render worship to God and at the same time make a battleground of liturgy for questions that aren’t essential,’’ Francis added.
Last year, two prominent cardinals questioned the legitimacy of a Vatican decree placing restrictions of the celebration of the old Latin Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and forbidding private Masses in its side chapels.
Such traditionalists have openly voiced hostility to Francis. The retired chief of the Vatican’s doctrinal orthodoxy office, German Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, contended that no one was obliged to obey that decree. U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was given the heave-ho by Francis early in his papacy from a Vatican post, called for the decree to be scrapped.
Francis told his audience on Saturday that “every reform creates some resistance.” He recalled that, when he was a youngster, Pope Pius XII allowed faithful to drink water before receiving Communion and that scandalized opponents.
Similar indignation followed later reforms allowing Catholics to fulfill their weekly Mass obligation by attending an evening service instead of on Sunday mornings.
Blasted
Francis also blasted what he called “closed mentalities” that exploit the liturgy.
“This is the drama we are living, in ecclesial groups which are moving away from the Church, putting in question” the authority of bishops and of the church, he said.
In 2016, a breakaway traditionalist Catholic group, the Society of St. Pius X, accused Francis of sowing confusion and errors about the faith, joining a chorus of conservative criticism over what they perceived as the pontiff’s lax doctrine.
In 1969, the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre founded the society, opposed to the modernizing church reforms of the 1960s. In one of the more spectacular chapters of the Vatican’s long-running duel with traditionalists, he and four other bishops were later excommunicated by the Vatican after the archbishop consecrated them without papal consent.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis, whose mobility has been limited of late by a nagging knee problem, is looking forward to visiting South Sudan in July, according to a joint message by the pontiff, the archbishop of Canterbury and a Scottish church official.
The Vatican on Saturday released the text of the message, which refers to previously announced plans by Francis to make a July 5-7 pilgrimage to South Sudan. The Holy See two months ago announced that the pontiff would make the latest African pilgrimage of his nine-year-old papacy, beginning with a pastoral visit in Congo on July 2.
The message was addressed to South Sudanese political leaders and signed by Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Jim Wallace, Moderator of the Church of Scotland. The three church officials will visit South Sudan together.
The message referred to last month’s celebrations of Easter, which for Christians marks their belief that Jesus rose from the dead after crucifixion. Jesus “shows us that a new way is possible: a way of forgiveness and freedom, which enables us humbly to see God in each other, even in our enemies,” the trio of churchmen wrote.
Last summer, Francis and Welby marked the 10th anniversary of the independence of South Sudan by urging rival political leaders there to make the personal sacrifices necessary to consolidate peace, and the message released on Saturday elaborates on that exhortation.
The path of forgiveness and freedom, the message published on Saturday said, “leads to new life, both for us as individuals and for those we lead. It is our prayer that you will embrace afresh this way, in order to discern new avenues amid the challenges and struggles at this time.”
“We pray too that your people will experience the hope of Easter through your leadership. In anticipation of our Pilgrimage of Peace this coming summer, we look forward to visiting your great country,” the message concluded.
Apologized
On Thursday, Francis, 85, was seen for the first time in public using a wheelchair. He has apologized for the limits a painful knee ligament ailment has caused on his activities of late. For months, Francis has been limping badly and often leans on the arms of aides to navigate steps or to sit down or rise from chairs after delivering speeches.
The majority of South Sudan’s population is Christian. Churches helped rally international support when the South Sudanese fought for independence from Sudan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim.
Previously, the three church leaders have pressed for more work to be done to ensure peace and reconciliation in the new East African nation. Francis has strived to use his papacy to further the cause of peace, particularly in poorer nations.
Furthermore, Pope Francis authorized spending up to 1 million euros to free a Colombian nun kidnapped by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali, a cardinal testified Thursday, revealing previously secret papal approval to hire a British security firm to find the nun and secure her freedom.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s bombshell testimony could pose serious security implications for the Vatican and Catholic Church, since he provided evidence that the pope was apparently willing to pay ransom to Islamic militants to free a nun, who was eventually let go last year.
Ransom payment are rarely if ever confirmed, precisely to dissuade future kidnappings, and it’s not known how much - if any Vatican money - actually ended up in the hands of the militants. Prosecutors have accused a Becciu co-defendant of embezzling around half the amount on highend luxury items for herself.
Becciu, who was once one of Francis’ top advisers as the No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, had withheld his testimony from the Vatican tribunal for nearly two years as a matter of state and pontifical secret. But he spoke freely Thursday in his own defense after Francis released him from the confidentiality requirement, providing the most anticipated testimony of the yearlong trial to date.
Becciu is one of 10 people accused in the Vatican’s sprawling financial fraud trial, which originated in the Holy See’s 350 million euro investment in a London property and expanded to cover other alleged crimes. Prosecutors have accused the defendants of a host of crimes for allegedly fleecing the Holy See of millions of euros in fees, commissions and bad investments.
Becciu, the lone cardinal on trial, is accused of embezzlement, abuse of office and witness tampering, all of which he denies. On Thursday, his testimony covered the charges concerning his relationship with an Italian self-styled intelligence specialist, Cecilia Marogna.
Marogna has told Italian media that she helped negotiate the release of Catholic hostages in Africa on behalf of the Holy See. Vatican prosecutors accuse her of embezzling 575 million euros, citing bank records from her Slovenian holding company that show nine wire transfers from the Vatican in 2018-2019 for unspecified humanitarian ends, and expenditures out of the account at Prada, Luis Vuitton and fancy hotels. Marogna has said the transfers were reimbursements for expenditures and compensation for her services.
Becciu testified Thursday that he hired Marogna as an external security consultant, impressed by her grasp of geopolitical affairs and the trust she enjoyed of two of Italy’s top secret service officials, Generals Luciano Carta and Gianni Caravelli, who accompanied her to a meeting with Becciu in the Vatican in October 2017.