Happy Birthday to Pope Leo!

Today our Holy Father Pope Leo celebrates his 70th birthday, his first birthday as Pope, on this feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. We know that our readers join us in offering prayers that God may bless and keep him, and strengthen him to lead the Church wisely and well. We also note than in three days’ time, he will celebrate his baptismal name-day on the post-Conciliar calendar, the feast of St Robert Bellarmine. Ad multos annos, sancte Pater!

The traditional prayers for the Pope said at Benediction and other occasions, from Pax inter Spinas, the printing house of the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Brignole, France.

Today is also the day on which the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum became legally active in 2007, a bit more than two months after it was promulgated. (This period, known as the vacatio legis, is a normal feature of wise acts of governance.) We hope and pray that Pope Leo will restore this most wise piece of legislation, (and perhaps put the traditional Roman Rite on an even more solid legal footing), and thereby restore to the Church some of the much-needed peace which Benedict XVI gave it. In the last several weeks and months, many prelates have expressed their sympathy for this idea; the latest, as reported by Diane Montagna, is His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, archbishop emeritus of Genoa, and a former president of the Italian Episcopal Conference. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Roma, he said, “I have never seen, and still do not see, how the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite … could cause problems. There are no risks or dangers if everything is approached calmly and with goodwill by all.” Indeed.

The headline of this article is “The Pope works to unite the Church”, and in connection with this, we note the following item from Vatican News. On Thursday, the Pope attended a meeting in the Vatican with several newly appointed bishops, during which, as the headline notes, he urged them to be “builders of bridges.” (This is, of course, the original meaning of the Latin word “pontifex”, which is used of all bishops, not just of the Pontifex Maximus.) And we note the following in particular:

If indeed the bishops are called to be builders of bridges, and if indeed young people are not satisfied with the typical (or, perhaps we could say “Ordinary” here) experience of our parishes, perhaps the time has come to stop expelling them from their parishes for the crime of wanting something Extraordinary. We very much hope that the welcoming back of the Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage to St Peter’s basilica is a sign for the good in this direction.