Liturgy of the Hours

Monday, May 12, 2008

Another Msgr. Guido Marini interview by Il Giornale (courtesy of WDTPRS)

Andrea Tornielli interview Msgr. Guido Marini, papal MC

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Andrea Tornielli today reports that in Il Giornale there is an interview with none other than Msgr. Guido Marini, presently the papal MC. Here is my translation. I will try to dig up the piece in Il Giornale.

Msgr. Marini makes comments about Summorum Pontificum and ad orientem worship.

Today Il Giornale published an interview with [Archbp] Guido Marini, the new Mastor of Ceremonies for Papa Ratzinger, who explained the meaning of some of the Pontiff’s choices, starting with the Cross in the center of the altar. Not all of the conversation I had with Msgr. Marini could be published. I had to cut two important responses, dedicated to the orientation of the altar and the Motu Proprio. Here is the text, which I invite you to read.

For baptisms in the Sistine Chapel Benedict XVI celebrated with his back to the faithful, as before the Council. A fact that created some surprise…

"In circumstances in which the celebration is carried out in the way, we aren’t dealing as much with turning one’s back to the people as, rather, orienting oneself with the faithful toward the Lord. From this point of view "the door isn’t being closed on the faithful", but, "the door is being opened to the assembly, leading it to the Lord. There are certain circumstances in which, because of the artistic conditions of the sacred place and of its special beauty and harmony, it becomes advantageous to celebrate at the old altar, where among other things the exact orientation of the liturgical celebration is preserved. This shouldn’t surprise anyone: it is enough to go into St. Peter’s in the morning and see how many priests are celebrating according to the Ordinary Rite which came out of the post-Conciliar liturgical reform, but on traditional altars and, thus, oriented like that in the Sistine."

Benedict XVI will celebrate a Mass using the old Rite, which he derestricted with the Motu Proprio?

"I don’t know, and I am not in a position to respond. I believe nevertheless that a serene, ecclesial and non-ideological reading of these decisions by the Pontiff is important. The liturgy of the Church, just as with Her whole life, is comprised of continuity: I would speak of a development in continuity. This means that the Church procedes in her journey in history without losing sight of Her own roots and Her own living Tradition: this can require, in some cases, also the recovery of precious and important elements which were lost along the way, forgotten and which the passage of time has made less luminous in their authentic meaning. It seems to me that the Motu Proprio is aiming precisely in this direction: reaffirming with great clarity that in the liturgical life of the Church there is continuity, without rupture.

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