A sign of things to come? In terms of the liturgy, the reforms of Benedict XVI are possibly coming to an end

Right up to the end of his papacy, Benedict XVI was primarily concerned with the implementation of the authentic texts and interpretations of the Second Vatican Council. In this regard, he was a tireless promoter of a God-orientated Catholic liturgy, which sits firmly in continuity with the ancient and venerable traditions of the Roman Rite. This is one of the reasons why he 'liberated' the usus antiquior, with the publication of Summorum Pontificum in 2007.

As the former Pope mentioned just before leaving office, when speaking with the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, a false interpretation of Vatican II became prominent, often thanks to the media, even during the Council itself. This 'spirit of Vatican II' (or 'rupture') hermeneutic resulted in "so many disasters" for the Church, including "banal liturgies" -- where, as Benedict XVI had previously warned many times, 'communal' or 'anthropological' priorities effectively pushed out God and the sacred from the Church's worship. (Hence the previous Pope's discouragement of clapping or dancing during Mass.) This disordered misdirection in the life of the Church, away from the worship of God and towards a self-congratulatory community turned in on itself (cf The Spirit of the Liturgy, written as Cardinal Ratzinger), inevitably led, according to Benedict XVI, to a collapse in vocations, a crisis of evangelisation, and also to a false or truncated understanding of the Church's teachings, even among Catholics.

The video below (h/t Mundabor), which was uploaded onto YouTube just over a year ago, shows a Mass celebrated by the then Cardinal Bergoglio, now His Holiness Pope Francis. From what I can see, it does not appear to have been a liturgical celebration that was in line with the type of worship which Benedict XVI worked so hard to restore throughout the Church's Roman Rite. (I have no idea what's happening around 7 minutes and 30 seconds.)

Hopefully, the Benedictine reform of the liturgy will not be forgotten during the pontificate of Pope Francis, though I suspect there will be a change of emphasis in Papal ceremonies and Masses during the coming weeks and months. From what we have already seen of our new Holy Father, it appears that he might prefer a 'humbler' or more 'human' liturgical tradition. As someone I know, who in turn knew the Pope (when he was Cardinal Bergoglio), said to me the other evening, it might be time to 'say goodbye' to those (in Papal terms, at least) liturgical traditions recently promoted during the pontificate of Benedict XVI.

Here is an extract from Benedict XVI's last audience with the parish priests and clergy of the Diocese of Rome (see link above):-

...[T]here was the Council of the Fathers – the real Council – but there was also the Council of the media. It was almost a Council apart, and the world perceived the Council through the latter, through the media. Thus, the Council that reached the people with immediate effect was that of the media, not that of the Fathers. And while the Council of the Fathers was conducted within the faith – it was a Council of faith seeking intellectus, seeking to understand itself and seeking to understand the signs of God at that time, seeking to respond to the challenge of God at that time and to find in the word of God a word for today and tomorrow – while all the Council, as I said, moved within the faith, as fides quaerens intellectum, the Council of the journalists, naturally, was not conducted within the faith, but within the categories of today's media, namely apart from faith, with a different hermeneutic. It was a political hermeneutic: for the media, the Council was a political struggle, a power struggle between different trends in the Church. It was obvious that the media would take the side of those who seemed to them more closely allied with their world. There were those who sought the decentralization of the Church, power for the bishops and then, through the expression "People of God", power for the people, the laity. There was this threefold question: the power of the Pope, which was then transferred to the power of the bishops and the power of all – popular sovereignty. Naturally, for them, this was the part to be approved, to be promulgated, to be favoured. So too with the liturgy: there was no interest in liturgy as an act of faith, but as something where comprehensible things are done, a matter of community activity, something profane. And we know that there was a tendency, not without a certain historical basis, to say: sacrality is a pagan thing, perhaps also a thing of the Old Testament. In the New Testament it matters only that Christ died outside: that is, outside the gates, in the profane world. Sacrality must therefore be abolished, and profanity now spreads to worship: worship is no longer worship, but a community act, with communal participation: participation understood as activity. These translations, trivializations of the idea of the Council, were virulent in the process of putting the liturgical reform into practice; they were born from a vision of the Council detached from its proper key, that of faith. And the same applies to the question of Scripture: Scripture is a book, it is historical, to be treated historically and only historically, and so on. 

We know that this Council of the media was accessible to everyone. Therefore, this was the dominant one, the more effective one, and it created so many disasters, so many problems, so much suffering: seminaries closed, convents closed, banal liturgy … and the real Council had difficulty establishing itself and taking shape; the virtual Council was stronger than the real Council. But the real force of the Council was present and, slowly but surely, established itself more and more and became the true force which is also the true reform, the true renewal of the Church. It seems to me that, 50 years after the Council, we see that this virtual Council is broken, is lost, and there now appears the true Council with all its spiritual force. And it is our task, especially in this Year of Faith, on the basis of this Year of Faith, to work so that the true Council, with its power of the Holy Spirit, be accomplished and the Church be truly renewed. Let us hope that that the Lord will assist us. I myself, secluded in prayer, will always be with you and together let us go forward with the Lord in the certainty that the Lord will conquer.

It's all in God's hands.

Let us pray for Pope Francis with that humility and love which belongs to the flock of Christ.