The following is obviously written by someone who is not enamoured of Pope Francis, so we must consider his bias, even as we consider the valid points he makes.
The liturgical novelties
of Pope Francis are not Franciscan
by Mattia Rossi
Translated from
April 12, 2013
Among the most recent novelties of the newborn Bergoglian Pontificate, besides the recent appointment of the Franciscan superior-general Franccisco Carballo as secretary of the Vatican congregation in charge of religious orders, we noted during the enthronement of the new Bishop of Rome at the Lateran Basilica last Sunday, the return of the silver papal staff originally designed for Paul XVI by the sculptor Lello Scorzelli and used by John Paul II during his long Pontificate, as well as by Benedict XVI before he replaced it with a replica of Blessed Pius IX's 19th-century staff.
[It was a gift to Benedict XVI by the Circolo San Pietro, one of the traditional Roman societies dedicated to the service of the Pope and St. Peter's Basilica.]
In Monday's issue of Corriere della Sera, an enthusiastic Alberto Melloni greeted the decision, observing that "the psychosis of traditionalists had erupted against the Scorzelli staff who see in everything the obsessions that inhabit their souls". Hurray, hurray???
Well, let us consider some facts, above all, the uninterrupted wish of Pope Francis to give demagogic signs of discontinuity manifested precisely in the renunciation or substitution of habits and symbols. No ceremonial mozzetta (symbol of the authority of the Vicar of Christ), his own steel pectoral cross, no red shoes (symbol of Peter's martyrdom), no homilies delivered from Peter's Chair (even if Christ himself always preached, seated), no chasubles resurrected from previous Popes, and now, not Benedict XVI's staff either
[perhaps because it is gold-plated, and gold must be abjured?]
In fact, the emeritus Pope was quite the 'inconvenient' Pope - this is the message we keep getting. The 'terrible' German Pope who respected his predecessor enough not to immediately cast off his liturgical practices and took years to introduce his liturgical changes.
So in the early years we saw him with some rather bizarre chasubles, the 'kilometric' version of the pallium
[introduced for Benedict's installation Mass by Papa Wojtyla's master of liturgical ceremonies Mons. Piero Marini], and the Scorzelli staff.
Gradually, Papa Ratzinger moved into the use of liturgical vestments used by past Popes not for mere aestheticism, as maintained today by those who praise the desirability of exterminating any traditional liturgical accessory. He did it to make visible the continuity of the lex orandi, the Church's practice of liturgy.
He did it to underscore that there ought not to be a 'before' and 'after' in liturgy: the vestments, the language. Gregorian chant, and even the Pope's staff, remaining as the same as they have been just as the Church remains the same.
[Not really that the Church remains the same - it must be renewed in continuity with Tradition, which means keeping those traditional elements that express the faith and do no harm!]
But what has been happening in the past month is precisely the desire of the new Bishop of Rome to underscore his discontinuity from his predecessor of whom the Pius IX papal staff was the last accessory that must be jettisoned.
Finally, let it not be said that all this 'simplification' is in the name of Franciscanism. The Poverello of Assisi knew well to remind his followers of the distinction between personal poverty and the luxury of worship.
In his first letter to the custodians of the order, Francis admonished: "The chalices, the ornaments of the altar and everything that serves during the Sacrifice of the Mass must be of precious materials. And if in any place, the Most Holy Body of the Lord should be found in a manner that is unworthy, the Church commands us that it must be kept in a precious place and carried with great veneration while being administered with great discretion".
Francis's first biographer, Tommaso da Celano, narrates that Francis had wanted his friars to go out to the world with the Eucharist in precious ciboria "in a manner most worthy of the cost of redemption, wherever they found the Sacrament kept indecorously".
A Franciscan concept of liturgy which seems to be disappearing in a wave of para-Franciscan practices.
P.S. Thanks to Beatrice for pointg this out:
Mons. Marini's office says
Pope Francis will alternate
using the 2 papal staffs
The Office of p[a[al Liturgical Celebrations has clarified that Pope Francis will be alternating the use of the Scorzelli pastoral staff with that of the Pius IX-Benedict XVI staff. The clarification ends an article on the papal staff - ferula - on the webpage of the office led by Mons. Guido Marini.
[Since the entry ends with a picture of Pope Francis with the Scorzelli ferula on April 7, it must have been posted after the ensuing brouhaha]
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/details/ns_lit_doc_20091117_ferula_it.html
It explains, among other things, that the original staff from Blessed Pius IX was given to him by the Circolo San Pieto as a gift on the 50th anniversary of his episcopal ordination in 1877. Benedict XVI first used it on Palm Sunday in 2008, and then, at the First Vespers of Advent in 2009, started using a new staff modelled after Pius IX's staff and presented to him as a gift by the same Circolo San Pietro.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/04/2013 17:51]