You probably weren’t expecting Pray Tell to quote Fr. Z of WDTPRS fame. Neither were we. But this deserves quoting, so here we go.
First the back story, briefly: Very few have more strongly supported the Holy See, Pope Benedict, Summorum Pontificum, and the traditional Latin liturgy than Fr. Z. Very few have been sharper in their attacks on silliness and liturgical abuses in the reformed liturgy. Very few are more zealous for a Reform of the Reform (“brick by brick, folks”). Very few have risen up more quickly than Fr. Z. to defend the Holy See – eg against the New York Times, which he prefers to call Hell’s Bible. You get the general drift of the worldview.
But today something changed. The papal spokesman, who is a busy man these days, issued a statement meant to refute the latest NYT story implicating Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI. And here is Fr. Z on it:
Folks… I’m scratching my head here.
I find the statement of the Holy See Press Office somewhat implausible.
It seems to me that a different approach is needed here other than “that’s old news”. They need to communicate in a clearer way what the truth of the matter is.
It is possible that Pope Benedict doesn’t remember that whole matter, at least in its details. His strengths, alas, don’t also lie in administration. But… But… I dunno… if I were the archbishop of a diocese, even one that had as many priests as Munich at the time, and some priest from another diocese was sent over to get some kind of psychological treatment, that he was high risk…. if I were the boss, I think would probably remember such a guy and want to know what they did with him, even if I were delegating.
This is all very bad.
Sadly, we are as a Church going to have to have more purgation, and exposure and public penance. We are going to have to lie here and get kicked around, I’m afraid.
But if we are going to get kicked and bled we can insist on the truth.
Does the Pope realize the trouble he’s in? Does he know what even his most fervent supporters are starting to think? And – this is a liturgy blog – what will all this do to the Pope’s liturgical agenda? As the Pope’s credibility sinks, what all will it drag down with it? How much spielraum will the Holy See have left to act?
I have a hunch it won’t be pastorally feasible to implement an unpopular liturgical translation anytime soon. I’m sure church officials must be thinking about all this and considering the best thing to do. Let us keep them in our prayers.
awr