Pope says purpose of liturgical reform is renewal of Christian life

(May 06, 2011) In the Catholic liturgy, tradition and progress are often awkwardly viewed as opposed to each other - two concepts that Pope Benedict XVI says are mutually integrating, because tradition includes progress in itself in some way. The Pope’s observation came in a talk he delivered on Friday to participants in 9^th International Liturgical Congress. The May 4-6 congress was in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Rome that studies liturgical reforms called for by the Second Vatican Council. The Pope blamed the misconceived clash between tradition and progress on the misunderstanding with which reform is often viewed. The German Pope noted that there was an urgency for liturgical reform on the eve of the Second Vatican Council, which called for a more participatory role for the faithful in the liturgical celebrations through the use of national languages, and a deeper study of inculturation of rites, especially in mission lands. At the same time there was also a call for more accurate study of the theological foundations of the Liturgy in order to avoid the pitfalls of ritualism and to ensure reforms were in line with Revelation and Church tradition. But above all what is needed most, the theologian Pope said, is a renewal of mentality in order place the Paschal mystery of Christ at the centre of the Church’s Christian and pastoral life. Liturgy, he lamented, is often seen as an object of reform rather than a subject that renews Christian life.