Pope at Audience: Liturgical tradition and renewal drive evangelization

During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflects on Vatican II9;s 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, and emphasizes the importance of liturgical progress that also preserves sound tradition.

Pope Leo XIV during the Wednesday General Audience (@Vatican Media)

Renewing the liturgy and allowing it to progress, while preserving tradition, allows the Church to grow, be united and continue her mission of spreading the Gospel to all, Pope Leo XIV said during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 27.

Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis series on the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, and reflected on the 1963 Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. He focused especially on liturgy through the perspective of tradition and development.

Sacrosanctum Concilium was the first text to be promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and brought about important changes to the liturgy, such as allowing it to be celebrated in vernacular languages and encouraging a more active participation of the faithful.

In his address, the Pope highlighted that the liturgy has “been, for centuries, a driving force for evangelization.'

“Today, this energy must be renewed in continuity with the authentic and living Catholic tradition, that is, in accordance with a dynamic aimed at introducing believers to the fullness of the truth.”

In this sense, the Pope especially urged priests “who exercise the ministry of liturgical presidency, to always uphold that respect for the texts and regulations of the liturgy which springs from an inner attitude of openness and trust in God, manifesting humility before His greatness and sincere fidelity to ecclesial communion.”

The close bond between liturgical renewal and the Church’s renewal

Pope Leo XIV had begun his catechesis by citing his predecessor Venerable Pius XII, who writes that the Church is “a living organism” that – also in respect of the liturgy – “grows, matures, develops, adapts and accommodates herself to temporal needs”

The Pope noted that, according to this principle, Sacrosanctum Concilium recognized in its introduction the necessity of reforming the liturgy in order to adapt to the needs of the times and “impart an ever increasing vigour to the Christian life of the faithful.”

“At that moment in history, there was a strong sense of the need for a renewal of the ritual forms through which, for centuries, the Church had glorified God and sanctified the Christian people,” the Pope explained.

Thanks to the Liturgical Movement, which led this push, the conviction matured that “a very close and organic bond exists between the renewal of the liturgy and the renewal of the whole life of the Church. The Church not only acts but also expresses herself in the liturgy, lives by the liturgy and draws from the liturgy the strength for her life,” the Pope continued, citing his predecessor Pope John Paul II.

A progress rooted in Tradition

Pope Leo XIV pointed out that Sacrosanctum Concilium also offered a roadmap for liturgical renewal as to encourage the access of the faithful to the richness of the liturgy, sound tradition should be retained while also allowing the developments to stay open to legitimate progress.

To explain this, the Pope also cited his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI who underlined that “tradition and progress are often clumsily opposed”, whereas “actually, the two concepts merge: tradition is a living reality, which therefore includes in itself the principle of development, of progress.”

“The Council affirms the legitimacy of this progress, rooted in authentic Tradition, distinguishing within the liturgy ‘immutable elements, divinely instituted’,” from others that can be subject to change, the Pope insisted.

He added how changes of this type have taken place constantly over the centuries to allow the faithful to participate fully in the liturgy and thus in “the Paschal Mystery of Christ,” the foundation of the Christian faith.

“The Church’s worship has thus been ‘embodied’ in the cultural forms of each age and has been able to influence them and even transform them,” and hence has been a force for evangelization, Pope Leo said.

A progress that fosters communion

The Pope explained how the Council Fathers also emphasized that the revision of the rites, “must be carried out taking care that ‘any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing’” and that, for the good of the Church, every reform must “always be preceded by careful ‘theological, historical and pastoral’ investigation.”

The Council Magisterium, thus calls to avoid confusion amongst the faithful, “discouraging anyone from adding, removing or altering anything in liturgical matters on their own initiative,” the Pope continued.

“The progress evoked in the Conciliar Constitution in no way compromises ecclesial communion: rather, it seeks to confirm and foster it,” he concluded.

Isabella H. de Carvalho
Source: vaticannews.va/en