OBSERVATION OF POPE FRANCIS ON PRIESTS CELEBRATING MASS

On June 29, 2022 Pope Francis issued an Apostolic Letter entitled Desiderio Desideravi on the Liturgical Formation of the People of God. He mentioned his two important reasons of writing this Letter to the entire Universal Church. First, he said “I write to share with you some reflections on the liturgy, a dimension fundamental for the life of the Church. The theme is vast and always deserves an attentive consideration in every one of its aspects. Second, he said “Even so, with this letter I do not intend to treat the question in an exhaustive way. I simply desire to offer some prompts or cues for reflections that can aid in the contemplation of the beauty and truth of Christian celebration.” (Desiderio Desideravi 1)

In his Letter, he noticed that some priests have their own way of celebrating the Liturgy. Priests had to adapt and follow the rules with regard to ars celebrandi, that is, the art of celebrating which should be based on the rubrics, tradition, and the sensus fidelium. He said that “If it is true that the ars celebrandi is required of the entire assembly that celebrates, it is likewise true that ordained ministers must have a very particular concern for it.” The Pope now enumerates some priests’ way of celebrating that may lead to abuse and the misuse of the Liturgy. Here is a possible list of approaches, which even though opposed to each other, characterize a way of presiding that is certainly inadequate:

a) rigid austerity or an exasperating creativity,

b) a spiritualizing mysticism or a practical functionalism,

c) a rushed briskness or an overemphasized slowness,

d) a sloppy carelessness or an excessive finickiness,

e) a superabundant friendliness or priestly impassibility.

The Pope clarifies that at the bottom of these practices is a self-centered way of celebrating the liturgy. He said: “granted the wide range of these examples, I think that the inadequacy of these models of presiding have a common root: a heightened personalism of the celebrating style which at times expresses a poorly concealed mania to be the center of attention. Often this becomes more evident when our celebrations are transmitted over the air or online, something not always opportune and that needs further reflection.”