Over at the Papa Ratzinger Blog (which if your Italian is good, you should read), there is a mention of an interview with the mighty Archbishop Ranjith, Secretary of the CDWDS. It is about, yes once again, bishops who oppose the Holy Father over Summorum Pontificum.
I am still trying to chase down the full text, but here is what I can translate from the PRB (edited). Read the interview in Italian HERE
Mons. Ranjith criticizes the insubbordination of bishops over Latin
"No to dances, ditties and sermons of a socio-political nature"
Rome 16 Nov. (Apcom) –
….
The attitude of "autonomy" demonstrated "among some ecclesiastics", but also "in the highest ranks of the Church" certainly doesn’t help "the noble mission Christ entrusted to His Vicar", the Pope, the Archbishop affirmed in an interview with Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. [Here it is.]
"You hear in certain countries or dioceses that there have been issued by bishops rules which practically countermand or distort the intention of the Pope. Such behavior is not consonant with the dignity and nobility of the vocation of a pastor of the Church."
Mons. Ranjith then calls to mind the motivation which lead the Pope to sanction formally the validity of the liturgy before the Second Vatican Council. "The post-Conciliar reform is not entire negative", the Archbishop affirmed. "On the contrary, there are many positive aspects which were achieved. But there are also harmful things for the faith and the liturgical life of the Church." In particular, "the use of dances, musical instruments and songs that have little to do with liturgy", Ranjith stated "are not in any way in keeping with the sacred context of the church and of liturgy; I would add also certain sermons of a socio-political nature, often poorly prepared. All this perverts the celebration of Holy Mass and turns it into a backdrop (coreografia) and demonstration of theatricality, but not of faith."
Read the interview in Italian HERE
We have the Apcom piece. I want the Fides interview.
I’m fervently praying the Holy Father quickly accepts Cardinal Arinze’s resignation and replaces him with this wonderful man.
I’d also love to see the “mighty Archbishop” get a red hat, but with the coming consistory I’d think he’d have to wait at least a year from now for the next earliest. I know that in the past cardinals weren’t always created at a consistory (take Cardinal Newman, for instance). Does anyone know the last time the red was bestowed independent of one?
Here is a pastor with the courage to articulate clearly what so many think but do not hear said. Thank God for such things as simple but so necessary. Let us also pray for more pastors who care more about serving the truth than what other people think about them.
Ranjith: All this [music, dance etc. which has little to do with the liturgy] perverts the celebration of Holy Mass and turns it into a backdrop (coreografia) and demonstration of theatrical”
Amen! The Sacrificial aspect of Mass is substituted for the personality and demonstrations of the Priest and what he choreographs. Christ is utterly forgotten. We need to sublimate this mentality back into the Sacrificial aspect of Mass; the catalyst for Saints and great art. In 1971 many leading English intellectuals petitioned the Pope for a tridentine mass indult, here is the conclusion of their peition (which led to the Agatha Christie indult):
“In the materialistic and technocratic civilisation that is
increasingly threatening the life of mind and spirit in its original
creative expression — the word — it seems particularly inhuman to
deprive man of word-forms in one of their most grandiose manifestations.”
http://www.traditio.com/tradlib/agatha.txt
Ranjith is correct: those opposing the Vetus Ordo are not only opposing the will of the Holy Father, but also God. The Vetus Ordo mass was saved, almost miraculously, after Vatican II, since the documents of Vatican II called for the watering-down of the old order mass, and did not call for a brand new mass. In creating a new mass, Paul VI inadvertently saved the Vetus Ordo, intact. Now, it is somewhat unthinkable that the Vetus Ordo will be tinkered with, or vernacularized as VII envisioned.
So, we are at a momentous crossroad, Truth and Tradition and the faith of our fathers is once again being made available to the general Catholic. The self-destruction begun after VII is hopefully slowing. But it will be a difficult process, you don’t stop a train the size of the modernistic Church easily. I think BXVI recognizes the plight the Church is in, and with a few loyal Generals at his side, such as Ranjith, he hopes to breath new life into the Church, but the Church will not be fully renewed for generations; until certain documents of VII are seen for the pastoral mistakes that they were…
Malta: Ranjith is correct: those opposing the Vetus Ordo are not only opposing the will of the Holy Father, but also God.
You need to refine your argument.
Ranjith makes strong statements about bishops who oppose the Holy Father’s positions and provisions. The provisions happen to be about the older Mass. But the point is that they are setting themselves against the Vicar of Christ, not that they are setting themselves against the older Mass.
Of course the TLM does become part of the equation. However, were the bishops to oppose the Pope on issues like, say, the authority of a conference of bishops (cf. Apostolos suos, the results would be the same.
Also, Benedict XVI’s derestriction of the older form of Mass is just one part of his larger Marshall Plan for the Church. It is an important – even essential and foundational – part, to be sure, but it is not the sole element of his vision.
I think these clarifications have to be made. Benedict is Vicar of Christ. He has issued provisions. People who resist those provisions (whatever they are) are resisting the Vicar of Christ.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was called “God’s rottweiler”. We need a moniker for Archbishop Ranjith to convey that same fierce defense of the Faith.
I think these clarifications have to be made. Benedict is Vicar of Christ. He has issued provisions. People who resist those provisions (whatever they are) are resisting the Vicar of Christ.
Yes, and if one might be permitted to add:
“He who hears you, hears Me.”
So while those who oppose resist the Holy Father are not necessarily resisting God, those who do as he asks are fulfilling the will of God.
Viva il Papa!
Rorate has a link to the full Fides piece:
Folks: I posted the link to the Fides interview, in the Italian, in the main entry. I will now make it even more obvious.
Father,
I understand what you are saying, but my point was that, ultimately, the TLM is an instrument that has for 1.5 millennia brought Grace and Sanctity into the world. I think it was Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who said the formula of the Mass then (12th century, but nearly identical to the TLM) was a formula of words and prayers nearly as inspired as Holy Scripture. So, those who oppose this magnificent prayer to God–the Vetus Ordo–are not only opposing the Holy Father, but, separately, God Himself, who inspired the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (though, again, not on the same level as Scripture.) I understand that Ranjith didn’t specifically say disagreement with the TLM is opposing God. However, I don’t see how a Prelate can be truly, interiorly, Catholic if he hates the TLM: it was the lifeblood and soul of the Catholic Church since the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great, at least (it can be argued that many elements of the TLM were present even in apostolic times, but the language would have been Greek, of course.)
God bless.
Ranjeth:
Sri Lankan Cobra.
Strikes out at liturgical vandals
Regarding Jon’s question about consistories:
Cardinal Wyzynnski of Poland was named CArdinal at the Consistory of 1953 but the Communist situation in Poland made it imp[ossible for him to get to Rome. He finally made it after the Poznan Revolts in Poland in 1956 thus requiring a separate consistory for himself.
If anyone is interested, I posted my full translation of Mons. Ranjith’s interview with FIDES yesterday in the English section of the PAPA RATZINGER FORUM:
http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=354494&p=140
If anyone is interested, I posted my translation of Mons. Ranjith’s FULL interview with FIDES yesterday in the English section of the PAPA RATZINGER FORUM:
http://freeforumzone.leonardo.it/discussione.aspx?idd=354494&p=140
Malta: I understand what you are saying, but my point was
Understood. Just so we know what Archbp. Ranjith’s point was.
Teresa: A great service, thanks!
You know, I can’t help but wonder if we aren’t hearing the future head of the Congregation for Divine Worship when Cardinal Arinze retires.
I love Cardinal Arinze, and he is very quotable. But, Abp Ranjith is actually even more quotable.
Call it out like it is!