Pope meets with International Commission on English in the Liturgy
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday met with members of the International Commission
on English in the Liturgy telling them that the “fruits of their labours had helped
to form the prayer of countless Catholics. Lydia O’Kane reports Below is a translation
of the Holy Father's Address to the “International Commission on English in the Liturgy”
(ICEL) My Brother Bishops, Dear Friends, I welcome the members and staff
of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy as you gather in Rome to
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Commission’s establishment. I thank Archbishop
Arthur Roche, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline
of the Sacraments, and a former President of ICEL, for presenting you. Through you,
I send greetings and the expression of my gratitude to the Conferences of Bishops
which you represent, and to the consultors and personnel who cooperate in the ongoing
work of the Commission.
Founded as part of the implementation of the great
liturgical renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the
Divine Liturgy, ICEL was also one of the signs of the spirit of episcopal collegiality
which found expression in the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (cf. Lumen
Gentium, 22-25). The present anniversary is an occasion for giving thanks for
the work which the Commission has accomplished over the past fifty years in providing
English translations of the texts of the liturgy, but also in advancing the study,
understanding and appropriation of the Church’s rich sacramental and euchological
tradition. The work of the Commission has also contributed significantly to that
conscious, active and devout participation called for by the Council, a participation
which, as Pope Benedict XVI has rightly reminded us, needs to be understood ever more
deeply “on the basis of a greater awareness of the mystery being celebrated and its
relation to daily life” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 52). The fruits of your labours
have not only helped to form the prayer of countless Catholics, but have also contributed
to the understanding of the faith, the exercise of the common priesthood and the renewal
of the Church’s missionary outreach, all themes central to the teaching of the Council.
Indeed, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out, “for many people, the message of the
Second Vatican Council was perceived principally through the liturgical reform” (Vicesimus
quintus annus, 12).
Dear friends, last evening you celebrated a solemn
Mass of thanksgiving at the tomb of Saint Peter, beneath the great inscription which
reads: Hinc una fides mundo refulget; hinc unitas sacerdotii exoritur. By
enabling the vast numbers of the Catholic faithful throughout the world to pray in
a common language, your Commission has helped to foster the Church’s unity in faith
and sacramental communion. That unity and communion, which has its origin in the
Blessed Trinity, is one which constantly reconciles and enhances the richness of diversity.
May your continuing efforts help to realize ever more fully the hope expressed by
Pope Paul VI in promulgating the Roman Missal: that “in the great diversity of languages,
a single prayer will rise as an acceptable offering to our Father in heaven, through
our high priest Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit”.
To you, and to all associated
with the work of the Commission, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge
of abiding joy and peace in the Lord.