Monday, December 27, 2010

Tornielli Interviews Cañizares Llovera

Yesterday's edition of the Italian daily Il Giornale, has an interview between Andrea Tornielli and Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship: Basta con la messa creativa, in chiesa silenzio e preghiera (Enough with the Creative Mass, in Church, Silence and Prayer)

Tornielli sets up the interview as follows:

The Catholic liturgy lives "a certain crisis," and Benedict XVI wants to form a new liturgical movement that brings back more sacrality and silence in the Mass, and more attention to beauty in chant, sacred music and art. Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 65, Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship, who, when he was bishop in Spain was called "the little Ratzinger," is the man to whom the Pope has entrusted this task. In this interview with the newspaper, the "minister" of the liturgy of Benedict XVI reveals and explains the programmes and projects

The interview includes discussions surrounding the rapidity with which the postconciliar reform was undertaken, the need for a hermeneutic of reform in continuity, and the new liturgical movement promoted by the Holy Father.

One item which struck me particularly was this announcement by the Cardinal:

The new liturgical movement will have to discover the beauty of the liturgy. Therefore, we will open a new division in our congregation dedicated to "Art and Sacred Music" at the service of the liturgy. This will lead us to offer soon a criteria and guidelines for art, song and sacred music. As well we offer as soon as possible criteria and guidelines for preaching.

The article concludes with the following thought:
...we must devote ourselves to revive and promote a new liturgical movement, following the teaching of Benedict XVI, and revive the sense of the sacred and of mystery, putting God at the centre of everything.

If time permits, the NLM will endeavour to provide a full translation. [Certainly as well if any reader wishes to help with this, by all means do so.]

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