The Pope asks to abandon “the controversies” after the brake on the mass ‘ad orientem’ and welcome “the beauty” of the post

“Let us abandon polemics to listen together to what the Spirit says to the Church, let us maintain communion, let us continue to be amazed by the beauty of the liturgy”. This is the call of Pope Francis in his apostolic letter ‘Desiderio desideravi’ on the liturgical formation of the People of Godpublished today on the occasion of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.



The Pontiff wishes, with his letter, “to reach everyone after having written to the bishops after the publication of the motu proprio ‘Traditionis custodians’“, by means of which restricted the celebration of the mass ‘ad orientem’.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s objective now is to share some reflections on the liturgy, aware that “the subject is very extensive and deserves careful consideration in all its aspects: however, with this writing I do not intend to treat the issue exhaustively. I simply want to offer some food for thought to contemplate the beauty and truth of the Christian celebration.”

With the I remember the Second Vatican Council as the axis of the entire letterthe Pope points out that the Church owes to this historical moment, and to the liturgical movement that preceded it, “the rediscovery of the theological understanding of the liturgy and its importance in the life of the Church”, since “the general principles enunciated by the ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’, just as they were fundamental for the reform, they continue to be so for the promotion of full, conscious, active and fruitful participation in the celebration”.

Against “ideological instrumentalization”

In this sense, Francis hopes that “the beauty of the Christian celebration and its necessary consequences in the life of the Church will not be disfigured by a superficial and reductive understanding of its value or, worse still, by its instrumentalization at the service of some ideological vision, whatever it may be.

According to Bergoglio, “the continuous rediscovery of the beauty of the liturgy It is not the search for a ritual aestheticism, who delights only in the care of the outward formality of a rite, or is satisfied with a scrupulous observance of the rubrics. Obviously, this statement is not intended to endorse, in any way, the opposite attitude that confuses the simple with a banal carelessness, the essential with ignorant superficiality, the concreteness of the ritual action with an exaggerated practical functionalism.

More clear, “You have to take care of all aspects of the celebration (space, time, gestures, words, objects, clothes, songs, music,…) and observe all the rubrics: this attention would be enough not to rob the assembly of what belongs to it, that is, the Paschal mystery celebrated in the way ritual that the Church establishes. But, even if the quality and standard of the celebratory action were guaranteed, this would not be enough for our participation to be full”, he details.

Unity throughout the Roman Rite Church

“How to recover the capacity to fully live the liturgical action?”, asks the Pope. And he continues: “The reform of the Council has this objective. The challenge is very demanding, because modern man – not in all cultures in the same way – has lost the ability to confront symbolic action, which is an essential characteristic of the liturgical act”. “We need a serious and vital liturgical formation,” he claims.

The Pontiff concludes his letter asking all bishops, priests and deacons, seminary instructors, professors at theological faculties and theology schools, and all catechists, to help the People of God to “drink of which has always been the main source of Christian spirituality”. Because “we are continually called to rediscover the richness of the general principles set forth in the first numbers of the ‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’understanding the intimate link between the first conciliar Constitution and all the others”.

That’s why, “We cannot return to that ritual form that the council fathers, cum Petro and sub Petro, felt the need to reform, approving, under the guidance of the Spirit and according to their conscience as pastors, the principles from which the reform was born”. “The holy pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, by approving the reformed liturgical books, guaranteed the fidelity of the reform to the Council. For this reason, I wrote ‘Traditionis custodes’, so that the Church can raise, in the variety of languages, a single and identical prayer capable of expressing her unity. This unity that, as I have already written, I intend to see restored throughout the Roman Rite Church”, he emphasizes.

The Pope asks to abandon “the controversies” after the brake on the mass ‘ad orientem’ and welcome “the beauty” of the post-conciliar liturgy