What Does The Prayer Really Say?
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You know… every time I go on the road and have less access, these stupid glitches happen.

Big news.

Step by step we have seen the Holy Father and his new MC, Msgr. Guido Marini, reintroducing elements of a more traditional  liturgical style. 

For the Sunday of the Baptism of the Lord, 13 January, the Holy Father will as usual celebrate Holy Mass in the Sistine Chapel.  However, instead of setting up an ironing board in front of the main altar (beneath the Last Judgement of Michaelangelo), the Holy Father will actual use the main altar.

Here is an APCOM story in my translation, emphases and comments.

POPE: TOMORROW WILL SAY MASS WITH HIS BACK [its a cliche in any language] TO THE FAITHFUL IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL

For reasons of architecture, baptisms with the pre-Conciliar use  [and post Conciliar.  Nothing in the documents requires that Mass be said facing the people.]

Vatican City, 12 Jan (Apcom) A thing unusual and original [See how ridiculous things have become?  When something like this is perceived as being "outlandish"?]: tomorrow the Pope will celebrate Mass during which he will baptize 13 children in the Sistine Chapel "with his back to the faithful and his gaze toward the Cross".  A note from the liturgical office mentions, in fact, that "this year a wooden platform will not be erected bearing a special altar for the occasion, but the true [
"proprio"] altar of the Sistine Chapel will be used.

"It was decided to celebrate at the old altar so as not to alter the beauty and harmony of this archtectural jewel", the Vatican note explained,[This was the point of an editorial years ago in Notitiae, which is my translation is available widely on the internet: "do not destroy the harmony of the place, by putting up a table in front of a main altar.  It is better to use the main altar in those cases and not have two altars in the same space."] "preserving its structure from the point of view of the celebration and using a possibility foreseen in the liturgical norms. [This is just Vaticanese.  In fact, far from being just a "possibility":, the rubrics actually presuppose that Mass is celebrated ad orientem.]  This means that in some moments the Pope will be seen with his back turned to the faithful [BUT NOBODY PANIC!!] and his gaze at the Cross, thus reorienting the attitude and the disposition of the whole assembly.  [And this, dear friends, is the real reason why it is going to happen.   Listen to my PODCAzTs on what Benedict thinks about ad orientem worship.]

The liturgical office nevertheless clarified that, "the celebration will have the usual order and the ordinary Missal will be used, namely, that of Paul VI.  [It is so ridiculous that some people think that just because Mass is said ad orientem, therefore it must be the "old way".  So, they have to say things like this in press statements.] "Benedict XVI will wear some vestments belonging to John Paul II and during the rite of baptism" the notice from the liturgical office continues, "he will draw the water from an artistic font in bronze, made some years ago by the scuplture Lello Scorzelli, the same artist who made the crozier used during the whole pontificate of Papa Wojtyla.

The Pontiff, as usual, will pour the water on the heads of the children using a glided shell.  The gesture has a rich meaning.  Indeed, from the liturgical point of view, the shell harks to the pilgrimage, symbolizing the new journey that the baptized begin once they have entered to take part in the community of believers."

I contend that more damage was done by turning around the orientation of Mass than perhaps any single other change. 

This is am important move upon which, I hope, much else will turn.

I picked up from Credo Catholic Journal this nice item:

12 January 2008
Latin Mass to be said today in Baileys Harbor Wisconsin

Those in Baileys Harbor, Wisconsin will have an opportunity to attend the Traditional Latin Mass today.

BAILEYS HARBOR — The traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m. today at Saint Mary of the Lake Catholic Church, Wisconsin 57 in Baileys Harbor.

The Rev. Jean-Marie Moreau of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest will be the celebrant.
This will be the first traditional Latin Mass to be said in Door County in 45 years. Renewed interest in the Latin Mass is spreading rapidly since Pope Benedict XVI issued "Summorum Pontificum," which states that the "Tridentine Mass should be made possible wherever the faithful desire it."

 

 

This is from the fine site of the New Liturgical Movement.

You will recall that over 500 people in the Archdiocese of Milan signed a request for the older form of Mass.  Card. Tettamanzi, who was one of the preeminent papabili in 2005, has not been warm to the idea of Summorum Pontificum.

My emphases.

Saturday, January 12, 2008 The Milanese faithful ask…the Archbishop answers posted by Nicola De Grandi

As many NLM readers may know, a petition with 500 signatures was handed over at the end of December to ask once more the Archbishop of Milan Dionigi Card. Tettamenzi, to allow every Ambrosian priest to celebrate the Extraordinary form of the Milanese Rite, according to "Summorum Pontificum" provisions.

During a Mass celebrated in the Cathedral for the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, the Archbishop and his all-powerful Vicar for the Evangelization and Archpriest of the Metropolitan Cathedral, Msgr. Luigi Manganini, gave their answer to the desolate Milanese flock:







Former Head of the State, life Senator and avowed Catholic Francesco Cossiga sharply criticized Card. Tettamanzi’s rebellion to the Papal authority and lack of tolerance towards the legitimate requests from the faithful to liberalize the Traditional Ambrosian Rite, in opposition to the total support given to such horrors in the Cathedral, and asked whether the next step will be a belly dance show to celebrate the Christian-Muslim dialogue. He ironically concluded "just think he could even be elected Pope!"

The Milanese Curia angrily replied that this kind of dances have been common for years in St. Peter’s Basilica... Maybe curial spokesmen were not informed of the radical change in Papal Ceremonies after Msgr. Guido Marini replaced his ill-famed predecessor!

The Milanese faithful can only long Card. Tettamanzi’s 75th birthday next year.

Is this not a classic instance of how scandal works?  

The former papal MC, Piero Marini (or Marini I), perpetrated all manner of antics in papal liturgies.  These antics then become models and justifications for antics elsewhere.