Saturday, October 19, 2013

I'm Confused



I saw this over at Rorate and immediately went into "What the?" mode.

Dear friends, last evening you celebrated a solemn Mass of thanksgiving at the tomb of Saint Peter, beneath the great inscription which reads: Hinc una fides mundo refulget; hinc unitas sacerdotii exoritur. By enabling the vast numbers of the Catholic faithful throughout the world to pray in a common language, your Commission has helped to foster the Church’s unity in faith and sacramental communion. That unity and communion, which has its origin in the Blessed Trinity, is one which constantly reconciles and enhances the richness of diversity.

This is from Pope Francis's speech to the ICEL (International Commission on English in the Liturgy). Which is weird.

Common language? Unity? Wasn't the ICEL a product of the destruction of a common liturgical language and subsequent disunification of liturgical forms?

I admit to having no idea what the last sentence means. I do feel that there is, at a minimum, about ten tons of irony in the Holy Father's comments.

For comparisons to an earlier mode of thinking on the value of a common liturgical language, allow me to direct you to Blessed John XXIII's Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia, the most ignored and forgotten magisterial document perhaps in the entire history of the Church.


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