Tuesday, December 09, 2008

In the Vatican times are a changin...

The Former Prefect: Cardinal Francis Arinze

The New Prefect: Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera

The new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has been named by Pope Benedict XVI. To no one's particular surprise he has appointed Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Toledo (Spain). The new Prefect has a reputation for conservatism that has earned him the nickname "little Ratzinger." This would seem to be very much in line with the Pope's much rumored agenda for a "reform of the reform" of the liturgy.

Benedict has been sharply critical of various aspects of the liturgical reform that occurred in the wake of Vatican II. Since acending to the See of Peter he has suported a return to more traditional Catholic liturgical practices such as Mass celebrated Ad Orientem, kneeling for communion and an increased use of Latin in parts of the Mass with a special emphasis on Gregorian chant. In July of 2007 he issued a Motu Proprio lifting most restrictions on the use of the Roman Missal of 1962 (often referred to as the Tridentine rite).

4 comments:

  1. The guy would definitely make any "queen" jealous.

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  2. I am lost as to the signficance of the title "times are a changin'." Yes, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera is a liturgical conservative, but then so was Cardinal Arinze. This seems more like continuity (praise God) than "change" to me. My only beef with Cardinal Arinze was that he put out good directives, but rarely put any enforcement weight behind them. Hopefully the new prefect will be more aggressive about insisting on compliance with liturgical norms.

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  3. I think it's meant to be more a commentary on the sartorial differences, Greg, than the theologies of the two cardinals.

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