Pope to theologians: Spiritual conversion should precede pastoral solutions

Vatican City, Oct 30, 2019 / 05:18 am (CNA).- Pope Francis prayed Wednesday for Iraq, where 18 more people were killed and hundreds wounded Oct. 29 during political protests in Karbala.

“My thoughts turn to beloved Iraq, where protests during this month have caused numerous deaths and injuries,” the pope said during the general audience Oct. 30.

“I pray that those battered people will find peace and stability after so many years of war and violence, where they have suffered so much.”

There have been numerous anti-government protests across Iraq this month, with the last wave beginning Oct. 25. Since the beginning of the protests, government forces have used tear gas and bullets against protestors.

At least 88 protestors have been killed in the last five days and around 149 protestors died earlier this month, according to AP.

Protests are largely in response to government corruption and a lack of economic growth and proper public services. Protestors are calling for reform and for the resignation of the Iraqi government.

At his audience in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 30, Pope Francis expressed his condolences for the wounded, for all those who have died and for their families, adding that he invites the Iraqi authorities “to listen to the cry of the population that asks for a dignified and peaceful life.”

“I urge all Iraqis, with the support of the international community, to pursue the path of dialogue and reconciliation and to seek the right solutions to the challenges and problems of the country,” he said.

In his message for the audience, the pope reflected on the Acts of the Apostles chapter 16, when St. Paul experiences a vision in which a Macedonian begs him to “come over to Macedonia and help us.”

“The Apostle has no hesitations, he leaves for Macedonia, sure that it is God himself who sends him,” Francis said.

He explained that in this part of the Acts of the Apostles, when St. Paul stays in Philippi, a Roman colony in Macedonia, there are three important events which take place.

The first is the evangelization and baptism of Lydia and her family, he said. The second is St. Paul’s arrest together with Silas, and the third is the conversion and baptism of their jailer and his family.

In each of these, “we see how the Holy Spirit is the protagonist of the Church’s mission: it is he who guides the path of the evangelizers showing them the way to follow,” the pope said.

After Lydia’s conversion and baptism, she invites Paul and Silas into her home. With Christianity’s arrival in Europe, he said, there is “the beginning of a process of inculturation that endures even today.”

Pope Francis explained these episodes in terms of consolation and desolation. This moment with Lydia was a moment of receiving the Holy Spirit’s consolation, he said. When Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison, they pass from consolation to a moment of desolation.

They were thrown into prison because they freed a slave girl from possession to an evil spirit which gave her the power of “fortune-telling.” After the exorcism, her master was angered that he could no longer earn a profit people who paid to have their fortune told by her.

The pope noted that even today there are people who will pay to have their palms read or to tell them their fortunes, something he witnessed as the archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. “People believe in these things. And pay,” he said.

But in prison, instead of giving in to desolation, Silas and St. Paul pray and praise God with song, he said, “and this praise releases a power that liberates them: during the prayer an earthquake shakes the foundations of the prison, the doors are opened and everyone’s chains fall off.”

The jailer is going to kill himself, because the prison guards are supposed to pay with their lives if the prisoners escape, but Paul shouts out, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.”

Then, a miracle happens, Francis said. The guard asks what he must do to be saved, and the answer of Silas and St. Paul is: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”

The two men preach the Gospel to the jailer and his family, who welcome them into their home and wash their wounds, and later receive baptism.

“In the heart of the night of this anonymous jailer, the light of Christ shines and defeats darkness: the chains of the heart fall off and a joy never felt in him and in his family blossoms,” Francis said. “Thus the Holy Spirit began the mission.”

“We also ask the Holy Spirit today for an open heart, sensitive to God and hospitable to our brothers, like that of Lydia,” he said, “and a bold faith, like that of Paul and Silas, and also an opening of the heart, like that of the jailer who lets himself be touched by the Holy Spirit.”

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Vatican City, Oct 24, 2017 / 04:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- To understand the recent publication of a letter sent by Pope Francis to Cardinal Robert Sarah, it is helpful to understand the wider discussion into which it fits.

The letter was sent as a reaction to a commentary the cardinal wrote on the Pope’s motu proprio “Magnum Principium.”

With that motu proprio, issued this September, Pope Francis changed and amended those parts of the Code of Canon Law governing the translations of liturgical books into “vernacular languages.”

The document gave more flexibility to bishops’ conferences to propose and draft their translations, leaving to the Apostolic See to “confirm” their drafts.

At the time the motu proprio was issued, Archbishop Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of Sacraments, released an official commentary, explaining that “the confirmatio of the Apostolic See is not to be considered as an alternative intervention in the process of translation, but rather as an authoritative act by which the competent Dicastery ratifies the approval of the bishops.”

Roche’s commentary went on to say that, “obviously, this presupposes a positive evaluation of the fidelity and congruence of the texts produced, with respect to the typical editions on which the unity of the Rite is founded, and, above all, taking account of the texts of greatest importance, in particular the sacramental formulae, the Eucharistic Prayers, the prayers of Ordination, the Order of Mass and so on.”

If things were so clear, why did Cardinal Sarah draft an additional commentary, and why Pope Francis react so strongly to it?

These questions have no definitive answers, but there are some clues as to why these things happened.

Pope Francis’ push for decentralization

First of all, Pope Francis wanted to reiterate that his reform is intended to fit the de-centralizating goals of his papacy.

In Evangelii Gaudium, widely considered the playbook for Pope Francis’ pontificate, Francis wrote that “it is not advisable for the Pope to take the place of local bishops in the discernment of every issue which arises in their territory. In this sense, I am conscious of the need to promote a sound ‘decentralization’.”

With the letter to Cardinal Sarah, the Pope continued to pursue “a sound decentralization,” in this case, with regard to the liturgy.

The Pope’s letter stressed that “it should be pointed out that the judgment of fidelity to Latin and any necessary corrections had been the task of the dicastery, but now the norm grants to episcopal conferences the right to judge the quality and consistency between one term and another in the translation from the original, even if this is in dialogue with the Holy See”.

So, the Pope said, “confirmatio no longer supposes a detailed word-by-word examination, except in the obvious cases that can be brought to the bishops for their further reflection.”

Pope Francis and Liturgiam Authenticam

Pope Francis’ letter can also be understood best in light of his amendments to Liturgiam Authenticam.

Issued in 2001, Liturgiam Authenticam was the fifth of a series of instructions delivered by the Congregation for the Divine Worship, intended to implement the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

A note delivered by the Holy See Press Office in 2001, when the instruction was issued, helps to fully understand the instruction.

Liturgiam Authenticam was presented as “a new formulation of principles of translation with the benefit of more than thirty years’ experience in the use of the vernacular in liturgical celebrations.”

Among these guidelines, there was the need “not to extend or restrict the meaning of the original terms” and to avoid “terms that recall publicity slogans or those that have political, ideological or similar overtones” since “the handbook on styles” cannot be uncritically used as “the Church has distinctive things to say and a style of expression that is appropriate to them.”

The presentation of Liturgiam Authenticam also stressed that “the preparation of translations is a serious charge incumbent in the first place upon the bishops themselves,” and so “at least some of the bishops should be closely involved” in the process of translations. Procedures for the approval of texts from bishops and the presentation of those texts for review and confirmation from the Congregation of the Divine Worship were clearly established, ensuring that translations done by bishops’ conferences would be vetted for fidelity at the Holy See.

In his letter to Cardinal Sarah, the Pope clarified that “recognition” and “confirmation” are not interchangeable, and stressed that “Magnum Principium no longer argues that translations must conform in all points to the norms of Liturgiam authenticam, as was previously the case.”

The Pope specifically mentioned n. 76 and n. 80 of Liturgiam Authenticam, which said that “the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will be involved more directly in the preparation of the translations into these major languages,” and that “the required recognitio of the Apostolic See is intended to ensure that the translations themselves, as well as any variations introduced into them, will not harm the unity of God’s people, but will serve it instead.”

Francis’ decision can be understood as a shift in focus to bishops’ conferences, which are entrusted with making faithful translations on their own, although a confirmation from the Holy See is still required.

The Pope wrote to Cardinal Sarah that “confirmatio is not merely a formality, but necessary for publication of the translated liturgical book: it is granted after the version has been submitted to the Apostolic See for ratification of the bishops’ approval, in a spirit of dialogue and aid to reflection, if and when necessary, respecting their rights and duties, considering the legality of the process followed and its various aspects.”

Was the Pope attacking Cardinal Sarah?
 
Can these clarifications be read as an attack on Cardinal Robert Sarah?

It is no mystery that Cardinal Sarah’s approach to liturgy is not that of Pope Francis. Cardinal Sarah often spoke about a “reform of the reforms,” as did Benedict XVI, that would reform some liturgical practices and norms developed after the Second Vatican Council, without changing the Council’s teaching on liturgy.

On July 5, 2016, Cardinal Sarah delivered a speech at the Sacra Liturgia conference in London urging priests to start celebrating Masses ad orientem, often seen as a hallmark of the “reform of the reform” movement, and his words were interpreted as new liturgical directives.

A statement from the Holy See Press Office some days later explained that the Pope and Cardinal Sarah had discussed the issue, and that Sarah’s remarks did not constitute new liturgical directives.  

Despite this difference of views, Pope Francis’ letter to Sarah seems mostly a reaction to the fact that Cardinal Sarah’s “commentary” was leaked to several magazines. The letter ends with the Pope’s request to “provide this response to the same sites” where the Cardinal Sarah’s commentary was published, “and also to send it to all episcopal conferences, and the members and consultors of your dicastery.”

The Pope recognized that the commentary’s leak was “erroneously attributed” to Cardinal Sarah; it seems clear that Pope Francis does not consider Cardinal Sarah to be the “leaker” of the letter.

Cardinal Sarah’s commentary was first published in French, in the magazine L’Homme Nouveau, and then translated into several languages. A source within the Congregation for the Divine Worship shared with CNA that the commentary was initially sent only to the Pope, and shared by Sarah only with some high-ranking officials.

If this account is true, why was the letter leaked, and why was the Pope’s reaction so strong?

A debate that started long ago

Once more, it is important to go back to the beginning of the story, in January, when veteran Vatican watcher Sandro Magister reported that “directed by the secretary of the Congregation (for Divine Worship), the English archbishop Arthur Roche, a commission has been set up within the dicastery at the behest of Francis” with the goal of demolishing “one of the walls of resistance against the excesses of the post-conciliar liturgists,” namely “the instruction Liturgiam Authenticam issued in 2001, which sets the criteria for the translation of liturgical texts from Latin into the modern languages.”  

According to Magister, the agenda of the commission was established by an article drafted by the theologian Andrea Grillo, which apparently had the support of Pope Francis.

Grillo’s article criticized the way the instruction addressed the issue of the “too liberal translations,” and suggested that it contained the groundwork for Benedict XVI’s motu proprio “Summorum Pontificum,” which liberalized the use of the so-called “Extraordinary Form.”

According to Grillo, the fact that the phrase Summorum Pontificum is already present within Liturgiam Authenticam, together with the “new season of renewal” called for by the instruction suggests that it was the framework for the “reform of the reform” Cardinal Sarah advocated.

Grillo, however, said that “it is evident that a new season of renewal will be possible only overcoming the contradictions and nostalgic naivete of this act of interruption of the pastoral turn began with the Second Vatican Council.”

Apparently, the Pope felt he had to make sure that his understanding of liturgical reform is not sidelined by any other possible interpretations.

Though reaffirming the need for a confirmation of the Apostolic See, the Pope intended to show that he really aims for a decentralization, giving more responsibility to local bishops in the area liturgy. More, the Pope intended to show that there is no way to reverse the liturgical reforms he understands to be required by the Second Vatican Council.

In the end, the Pope himself, speaking Aug. 24 to the participants of the 68th Italian Liturgical Week, stated, “After this magisterium, and after this long journey, we can assert with certainty and magisterial authority that the liturgical reform is irreversible.”

The concern that some of those advocating a “reform of the reform” might really be reversing Vatican II’s liturgical reforms is ultimately – at least in part – the reason why Pope Francis reacted with an unprecedented public letter to Cardinal Sarah’s commentary.

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Vatican City, Apr 2, 2020 / 03:45 am (CNA).- Mother Teresa’s example should inspire us to seek out those whose suffering is hidden during the coronavirus crisis, Pope Francis said at his daily Mass on Thursday.

At the start of the Mass April 2, Pope Francis said he had seen a photograph in the newspaper of homeless people sleeping in a parking lot. He may have been referring to a widely circulated image of the homeless lying six feet apart at Cashman Center in Las Vegas March 29.

“These days of pain and sadness underline many hidden problems,” he said. “In the newspaper today there is a photo which moves the heart: many homeless people from a city lying in a parking lot, under observation… There are many homeless people today.”

“We ask St. Teresa of Calcutta to reawaken in us the sense of closeness to so many people who, in society, in normal life, are hidden but, like the homeless, in a moment of crisis, are pointed out in this way.”

In his homily via livestream from Casa Santa Marta, the chapel in his Vatican City residence, Pope Francis reflected on God’s covenant with Abraham in the Book of Genesis.

“The Lord has always remembered his covenant,” he said. “The Lord never forgets. Yes, he forgets only in one case, when he forgives sins. After he has forgiven he loses the memory, he does not remember the sins. In other cases, God does not forget.”

The pope highlighted three aspects of God’s relationship with Abraham. First, God had chosen Abraham. Second, he had promised him an inheritance. Third, he had established a covenant with him.

“The election, the promise and the covenant are the three dimensions of the life of faith, the three dimensions of the Christian life,” the pope said. “Each of us is an elect. No one chooses to be a Christian among all the possibilities that the religious ‘market’ offers him, he is an elect.”

“We are Christians because we have been elected. In this election there is a promise, there is a promise of hope, the sign is fruitfulness: ‘Abraham will be father of a multitude of nations and … you will be fruitful in faith. Your faith will flourish in works, in good works, in works of fruitfulness too, a fruitful faith. But you must – the third step – observe the covenant with me.’ And the covenant is faithfulness, to be faithful. We have been elected. The Lord has given us a promise. Now he is asking us for a covenant, a covenant of faithfulness.”

The pope then turned to the Gospel reading, John 8:51-59, in which Jesus says that Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see Jesus’ day.

“The Christian is a Christian not because he can show the faith of baptism: the baptismal faith is a certificate,” the pope said. “You are a Christian if you say yes to the election that God has made of you, if you follow the promises that the Lord has made to you and if you live a covenant with the Lord: this is Christian life.”

“The sins of the journey are always against these three dimensions: to not accept the election – and we ‘elect’ so many idols, so many things that are not of God; to not accept hope in the promise, to go, to look at the promises from afar, even many times, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, greeting them from afar and making the promises today with the little idols that we make; and forgetting the covenant, living without the covenant, as if we were without the covenant.”

He concluded: “Fruitfulness is joy, that joy of Abraham who saw the day of Jesus and was full of joy. This is the revelation that the word of God gives us today about our Christian existence. That it is like that of our father: conscious of being elected, joyful of going towards a promise and faithful in fulfilling the covenant.”

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