India to celebrate revised Mass next year

(Aug.03,2010) The Latin-rite bishops of India have voted to introduce the revised liturgy from the first Sunday of Advent 2011, Cardinal Oswald Gracias President of the Catholic Bishops of India, CBCI, told ucanews. The Cardinal, who is a new appointee to the Vatican office that overseas liturgical practices said Pope Benedict XVI handed over the approved revised English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal for use in the United States and India on April 30. Cardinal Gracias said the new text would be applicable to all English-speaking countries. He explained that Church leaders revised the text as the earlier Missal was a free translation and lacked fidelity to the original Latin text. The 65-year-old prelate, who was appointed to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on July 6, said he was a member of the committee that studied the revision. The new version is “getting back to the roots of our faith,” but is “certainly not an attempt to hark back to the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass,” he added. He said the revision would not hinder incorporating local cultural elements such as music, songs and dance in liturgical celebrations.