Translate

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

THE ENIGMA THAT IS POPE FRANCIS

Many people, including the secular press, want to show a dramatic breach between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis and want to make the words of Pope Francis today at a Mass that Pope Francis celebrated to honor the birthday of Pope Benedict into a repudiation of the same person he was honoring with the highest form of prayer the Church has.

I don't buy it, although Pope Francis, modeling his papacy after St. Francis of Assisi is taking the path of simplicity and reduction of liturgical style in vestments and papal trappings. That is his business and another pope may go in another direction.

But of the liturgies I have thus far witness, the papal ones, he celebrates in a very serious and humble way much like Pope Benedict.

The major things that I continue to notice which I find odd and would like some explanation is that he doesn't distribute Holy Communion to the laity. However, he continues to distribute Holy Communion to the deacons of the Mass, who kneel before him to receive and he offers them Holy Communion by intinction.

Except for vestments this could easily be Pope Benedict:

16 comments:

John Nolan said...

People had to be specially selected to receive Communion from the Pontiff, and I suspect Francis thinks this sort of elitism, while acceptable for Offertory processions and the like, is not appropriate for the Eucharist.

Unknown said...

"Except for vestments this could easily be Pope Benedict:"

Uhhhh....no.

He preaches standing up. He doesn't use Cardinal deacons. He prays the Mass in the vernacular. He uses as little Latin as he can possibly get by with. He preaches in Italian. It goes on and on.

This is not, Benedict's style and there is nothing close.

Also, I'm going to throw a challenge to you Father McD. Here it is:

Show me where St. Francis of Assisi wanted a "reductionist" attitude toward the Mass? Where did he preach on it? Where did he chastise his priests? Where did he openly challenge the Pope? That is a revisionist history view of Francis of Assisi.

There is the challenge, Father.

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Pope John Paul II preached standing, Pope Benedict returned to sitting. In the video please notice how hard Pope Francis is breathing as he sits at the throne.
Yes, there have been cardinal deacons at some of his Masses, I've seen them.
I suspect too, that Francis may have chastised the popes of his day like Saint Catherine of Siena did. All great reformers of the Church in times of crisis were challenging of the hierarchy. We can also challenge Pope Francis respectfully too.

ytc said...

John, cardinal deacons were used for Palm Sunday procession and Mass, as well as on Easter Sunday. There are only, and only ever were, a few occasions per year that cardinal deacons were/are used.

Little intimate type Masses are done largely in Italian, but Capella Papales at St. Peters are as Latin as they ever were with BXVI.

And, of course he preaches in Italian... duh. Except for one time, BXVI never preached in Latin...

Unknown said...

Fr. McD,

I won't argue that Papa Frank is like JPII, that isn't in question. What is in question, as you posed it was that you compared him to being like Pope Benedict. He simply isn't. And that is the point.

I have seen all of his public Masses thus far and have yet to see a Cardinal deacon. I have actually lamented it in public with my MC friends (Yep, we critique the Papal Masses, but we did with Benedict as well).

Regarding St. Francis of Assisi, you didn't even come close to defending your statement.

@ ytc:

"And, of course he preaches in Italian... duh. Except for one time, BXVI never preached in Latin..."

You must not watch Papal Masses very often. Benedict preached in Latin A LOT! I would be willing to bet the number is very close to, if not 100% when at St. Peter's.

And why should we expect Papa Frank to preach in Italian, he's a Spanish speaker. Aren't we supposed to be about diversity of language. Isn't that the point of the vernacular taking over Holy Mother Church?

"Little intimate type Masses are done largely in Italian, but Capella Papales at St. Peters are as Latin as they ever were with BXVI."

Not with Benedict they weren't. He said his Mass in Latin. Almost no Italian whatsoever. As for the Capella Papales, sure the singing is in Latin, but I'm talking about the propers and the ordinary...it has slipped back into the vernacular.

Lyle Neff said...

I'll prove that St. Francis of Assisi preferred the "reductionist" attitude toward the Mass.

In the film, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Francis is shown watching the Mass, solemn, reverent, in Latin and quiet. He shouts out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Franco Zeffrelli artfully shows us what an offense that was to God. In the next scene, we see the "Franciscan Liturgy" with everyone singing, arms around each other, swaying to a snappy folk-song of praise.

I know, I know. But it's in a movie. It HAS to be true!

Anonymous said...

Francis of Assisi dealt with two popes during his lifetime, Innocent III and Honorius III. There is no record of him chastising any pope or bishop. His extreme humility was the sort that preferred to tolerate injustice from Church authority rather than make an issue of it. He also got along quite well with the Bishop of Assisi.

Marc said...

"What good is it to devote oneself to serving people if one hides from them what is essential, the purpose and the meaning of their life, and the seriousness of sin that turns them away from it? Works of charity done for the poor, the needy, the infirm, and the sick have always been a true concern for the Church, and we must not excuse ourselves from it, but if it becomes merely man-centered philanthropy, then the Church is no longer carrying out her mission, she is no longer leading souls to God, which can really be done only by supernatural means: faith, hope, charity and grace. And therefore by denouncing anything that is opposed to them: errors against faith and morality. Because if people sin, for want of that denunciation, they are damned for eternity. The Church’s reason for being is to save them and to help them avoid the misfortune of their eternal perdition."

ytc said...

Lyle: Brother Sun, Sister Moon is a stupid lie-infested swamp of a movie. It is a joke. Don't take it as truth.

Andy, Sir:

Go back through BXVI's Masses. I promise that you will find all of his homilies, save (I am 99% sure) one, were in the vernacular, whether Italian or another. I promise.

For example, see here http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2012/index_en.htm

None of those 2012 homilies have a Latin version. If you view the Italian (or other vernacular, whatever is the original) version of any of them and watch the video of the respective Mass, you will find that the Italian (or other, original vernacular) text is what was preached.

I personally think Latin homilies, save in Consistory or in other special circumstances, is stupid. Benedict gave very few Latin addresses at all. One was his first Papal homily, given to the Cardinal Brothers. Another was the abdication address, given in Latin in Consistory. These are the only times he used the _spoken_ Latin language outside of a specific liturgical act (blessing, Mass, Rosary, etc.). There might have been a few more, but at none of his public Capella Papales were the homilies/addresses/speeches/whatever given in Latin.

Furthermore, BXVI's daily Masses in the Palace were in Italian. I'm not saying I support that, but that's the truth. His Capella Papales were almost totally in Latin, with a few exceptions like one of the long sung Gospels every year (I think Palm Sunday) which was in Italian; also the other readings were always in the vernacular. The rest of these Capellas were in Latin. This is exactly the same practice followed by Francesco: his "Inauguration" Mass was almost totally in Latin, and the use of Latin in Holy Week was exactly the same as for Benedict's Holy Week liturgies, with the obvious exception of that Holy Thursday Mass.

The only considerable deviation on the Latin front, so far, has been his Enthronement Mass at St. John Lateran.

Cardinal Deacons have been used at least twice so far.

Check my assertions if you like. I'm not trying to be confrontational to you, just trying to set stuff right.

Gene said...

Marc, Who is the quote from?

Marc said...

+Fellay's letter of yesterday on the SSPX and its doctrinal disagreements concerning Vatican II. It's a good read as he quite clearly lays out the doctrinal rupture and why they refuse to submit to error.

http://sspx.org/superior_generals_news/supgen_80.html

Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...

Marc, Bishop Fellay's communique may well be the basis of Pope Francis homily yesterday when he spoke of those who wanted to turn the clock back and not move forward with the Holy Spirit.

This homily wasn't a rebuke of Pope Benedict on his birthday, for whom the Mass was celebrated, but a rebuke of the SSPX for its intransigence in not allowing the Holy Father to reintegrate them back into the full communion of the Church and lift the suspension of their bishops and priests.

Pope Francis' homily now makes more sense and is really a compliment to Pope Benedict who was repudiated by the SSPX and seriously so just as they repudiate an Ecumenical Council, the highest teaching authority of the pope and bishops in union with him, the Magisterium.

Marc said...

Father, that's fine. I'm not arguing either way on these issues any more. I just thought the section I quoted was nicely worded and a good reminder for all of us in the Church that there are higher ends at stake than temporal well being.

Gene said...

Well, SSPX or not, what he says is certainly correct and proper. I suspect, if things go the way many fear, the SSPX is likely to swell their numbers. While I do not believe that would be a necessarily good thing, it would certainly be a symptom of an underlying illness...

Lyle Neff said...

YTC:

I was joking to make a point.

Unknown said...

@ytc,

I stand corrected about the Cardinal deacons. I checked the video. Thank you for the fraternal correction.

I will not engage in further banter about said subjects

AMDG+