More about Card. Cañizares Llovera

More about Card. Cañizares Llovera, the new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship

From Palazzo Apostolico of Paolo Rodari:

The nickname "little Ratzinger" was born in the Roman Curia.  From 1985 to 1992 Canizares played the same role in the Spanish bishops conference that Ratzinger played in the Vatican: he took care of the "doctrine of the faith" sector for the bishops conference.  It was this role, together with the special friendship he had with Ratzinger, that prompted the men of the former Holy Office good-naturely to start nicknaming him that way.

The friendship with the present Pope had not secondary role in his arrival in Rome.  Benedict XVI trusts him.  It is known that liturgy is a determining domain at the heart of his pontificate, and he wants to be certain that, in the face of the future farewell of Malcolm Ranjith, the present secretary of the same Congregation (who will become the Archbishop of Colombo and later cardinal), there will be in the dicastery a man who will guarantee the continuation of a very clear liturgical line: the liturgy is at the apex of the life of faith and, at the same time, it lives from continuity.  And so: the Church, in the name of a illuminated progress, proceeds renews herself without losing sight of her own roots and her own living tradition.

And so the fact that there arrives at Liturgy a man who in the past has thoroughly digested theology is not irrelevant.  Theological understand is useful and "Little Ratzinger" has it.  A great scholar of Teresa of Avila, having been bishop of Avila from 1992-96 (it was his first, and for him unforgettable, bishop’s see), he demonstrated love for the study of theology founding, at Avila, the Catholic University "Saint Teresa of Jesus".  In the balance, in his curriculum there is only one fault: he speaks only Spanish.

Immediately after the arrival of Canizares Benedict XVI will touch up other crucial sectors of the Roman Curia: Cardinal Walter Kasper, after the funeral of Alexis II (today) and the octve of prayer for unity of Christians (starting in 2009) will leave his dicastery which deals with ecumenism.  Farther down the line the prefects of other dicasteries will also leave, all near to 75 years of age, Claudi Hummes, Giovanni Battista Re, Ivan Dias, Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Javier Lozano Barragan e Franc Rodé.  The example could be given with Re: next January he turns 75 and he could do what in the past his predecessor Lucas Neves Moreira did.  He could step down exactly on the day of 75th birthday: it was 16 September 2000.

There’s more, but that’s what I have the energy to do right now.

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21 Comments

  1. Michael says:

    “In the balance, in his curriculum there is only one fault: he speaks only Spanish”

    Was it not the fault of others that they spoke no Spanish ? After all the Superior (EF) Form should’t be a privilage of the English speaking world. There is a lot to be done elsewhere too.

    Surely, he will manage some kind of English in due course.

  2. Andreas says:

    He speaks only Spanish.

    Nem tud magyarul beszelni? Szornyu.
    A ani po slovensky nevie hovorit? Strasne.

  3. Matt Q says:

    “In the balance, in his curriculum there is only one fault: he speaks only Spanish”

    Was it not the fault of others that they spoke no Spanish ? After all the Superior (EF) Form shouldn’t be a privilage of the English speaking world. There is a lot to be done elsewhere too.

    Surely, he will manage some kind of English in due course.
    Comment by Michael

    )(

    No, it’s no fault of anyone for not speaking Spanish. What for? It’s not a requirement of the position. It just so happened English was common among them. Besides, the working Curial language is Italian anyway.

  4. Fr. BJ says:

    As I understand it, Cardinal Bertone only speaks Italian. ¿No? In other words, I don’t think it’s unprecedented for a person in the curia to be monolingual. And Spanish to Italian is pretty easy; I doubt it will be an issue for Cañizares.

  5. Woody Jones says:

    As I read them from time to time, the Spanish liturgical texts seem to be more faithful to the Latin than the English ones are, so maybe it is a plus that he comes from a linguistic background that is closer to what Rome actually says.

  6. Woody Jones says:

    Oh yes, and perhaps Schoenborn to replace Kasper? As is well known, Cardinal Schoenborn has had excelent relations with Orthodox Bishop Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Vienna. And a curial spot would be good placement for the next Conclave.

  7. Terry says:

    Does anyone know what Cardinal Llovera’s position is concerning the Mozarabic Rite?

    Does he support/promote it? Just wondering since this is the extraordinary form in his own back yard.

  8. Romulus says:

    in his curriculum there is only one fault: he speaks only Spanish.

    Leads me to wonder if this will delay the departure of Archbishop Ranjith, and whether it will be seen as important that he be succeeded by another anglophone.

  9. EDG says:

    He’s favorable to the Mozarabic rite, although it doesn’t have a huge following. The Mozarabic rite is currently celebrated in a special chapel (looks very Byzantine, like the rite itself) in the Cathedral of Toledo. Toledo is the primatial see of Spain, btw. It has always had the right to celebrate the “Visigothic” or “Mozarabic” rite, which was the Spanish form of the mass that was replaced by the Franco-Roman rite starting in the 9th century in all places where the Mozarabic rite had been celebrated for more than 200 years. However, there have been times when it has fallen into complete disuse, even in Toledo, but it has always been revived. The big problem is that no one knows exactly how it sounded; the chant is there, but nobody knows how to read the pointing.

  10. Syriacus says:

    My dream would be to see Ranjit replace Card. Re at the Bishops’ …

  11. Sal says:

    You guys are missing the big news: Walter Kasper is leaving.

  12. EDG says:

    Oops, Terry, I meant where the Mozarabic rite had NOT been celebrated for more than 200 years. Spain was invaded by the Muslims in 711, so by the late 9th-10th centuries, many places had few Christians. Actually, when the Muslims arrived in the 8th century, one of the reasons their conquest was so easy was because of the earlier depopulation of Spain in the 7th century by repeated outbreaks of the plague. So by that time, Spain had many places where there were not only few Christians, but few people (since even the Muslims didn’t settle there because there was no money to be made from Spain’s wastelands).

  13. TJB says:

    My prayer, (and I suspect this may be the Pope’s plan,) is that Malcolm Ranjith stays Archbishop of Colombo for just long enough to straighten out the main problems, enough that someone else can come take over, and Ranjith will be brought back to the Vatican, obviously a Cardinal by then, and given a high office.

  14. therese says:

    Sal
    Having never heard of Card. Kasper, I did a quick google – and I think your comment is extremely illuminating, and would bear further investigation and analysis.

  15. RichR says:

    With the imminent departure of Card. Hoyos from PCED, I wonder who would be likely to replace him. The ramifications of picking the wrong man for the job would be significant both in the Lefebrve affair and the recent motu proprio.

    The HF will have his hands full dealing with all these appointments.

    Prayers!!

  16. David Kastel says:

    My money goes on bishop Fellay for the Ecumenism dicastery.

    lol

  17. RichardUK says:

    His cathedral, the Primatial Cathedral of Toledo, Spain, is one of the most glorious and historic churches in Christiandom. I hope very much that these developments will filter down to the liturgical and musical life of that awesome building with its magnicent Flemish altarpiece, not one but *three* baroque pipe organs, historic mozarabic chapel, and a treasure of gold and visual art that has to be seen to be believed. When I last visited in the year 2001, the music and liturgy was totally incongruous with the surroundings, guitar chords being played on the pipe organ with dreary vatican-II melodies and responsorial psalms drearily intoned, the stuff we see in so many cathedrals. There was also, however, a choir of boys and teens enthusiastically (!) singing a Palestrina motet and a very good young organist playing a real piece on the organ and not guitar chords. I hope some oft the grea traditions there from the renaissance can now be built on! (Both the celebrated early composers Morales and Alonso Lobo were choiurmasters at Toledo).

  18. LeonG says:

    “You guys are missing the big news: Walter Kasper is leaving.’

    On the contrary, that is the most noticeable inclusion in the post & possibly more newsworthy than the main point. Watch carefully for who will replace him.

  19. depeccatoradvitam says:

    Further evidence on the favorable support of the Mozarabic Rite:

    According to Cardinal Rating and a link to cwnews at the time, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera celebrated the Rite himself in 2007.

    see: http://www.cardinalrating.com/cardinal_211__article_5733.htm

  20. Matt Q says:

    “With the imminent departure of Card. Hoyos from PCED, I wonder who would be likely to replace him. The ramifications of picking the wrong man for the job would be significant both in the Lefebrve affair and the recent motu proprio.

    The HF will have his hands full dealing with all these appointments.

    Prayers!!”

    Comment by RichR

    )(

    Definitely. With all of the changes going on, we pray for the Pope the Holy Spirit will guide his decisions. Just as the election was critital for this country, these changes are just as critical for the Church ( and Sacred Tradition ) and the direction She is steered for the foreseeable future.

    Perhaps Father Z can tell us the process. Does the Holy Father actually vet these clerics he chooses, are they interviewed, as opposed to mere familiarity, having just passed them in the hallway 9000 times? Yeah he seems like a good guy. Pick him. ??

  21. Before Cardinal Castrillon, the Cardinal President was usually one who has just retired from a dicastery for reasons of age. That was the case with Cardinals Mayer, Innocenti and Felici. It may be the case after Card. Castrillon as well.

    On the other hand, now that Summorum Pontificum is out and operating, and there will eventually be a clarificatory document, I foresee that there may be structural changes to the Commission, which is still – remember – an “ad hoc” Commission. I foresee the day when it would eventually… eventually… be assumed into the Congregation for Divine Worship.

    However, in the meantime, because of the necessary role it plays with reconciling clerics and supporting new religious institutes, it needs a strong and freestanding status. Card. Castrillon, as a powerful Cardinal in charge of Clergy was the perfect fit. He still carries great clout, thanks be to God, and is doing a very fine job as President. We can be grateful for him.

    If it were today, the obvious choice would be Card. Arinze. That may not be the case if the Cardinal is not so enthusiastic about the sphere of the Commission’s competence, however. Papa wants this to work, after all. But knowing Card. Arinze as I do, I think he would put his shoulder into the work and his own preferences aside. He is a faithful man and would do the job no matter what he was asked to do.

    The documents establishing the Commission call for a President who is a Cardinal. But I suppose that could be fudged. I hope not, however. The work of the Commission is so controversial that it needs the weight of a Cardinal.

    Perhaps along the model of Cardinal Castrillon, who was also Prefect of Clergy, another sitting Prefect of a Congregation with related interests might be chosen … depending on who it is, of course. I think Religious, Clergy, and Doctrine are the likely parings, because of their competence. But I would prefer to see a Cardinal without another role to divide his energies.

    In addition, I would like to see the Vice-President of the Commission, Mons. Perl, consecrated bishop for the role he plays in the day to day operation of the Commission.

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