First, this post from Crux (and AP) is quite good in summarizing a lot of materially with balance and accuracy: “A Primer on Where the Pope Stands…” It gives brief portrayals of Francis’s position on abortion, capitalism, celibacy, contraception, the death penalty, divorce, drugs, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, environment, gays, gay marriage, immigration, indigenous, nuns, resignation, sexual abuse, Vatican reform, and women.
One area is not treated: liturgy. It’s a difficult one to take up – just what does Francis think about liturgy? He is surely a man of Vatican II who supports the reformed liturgy and doesn’t seem interested in a “reform of the reform” or making the liturgy look more traditionally “pre-Vatican II.” But at the same time, he is generous in spirit toward liturgical traditionalists and seems to want to make place for them in the post-conciliar church.
Now here is an article that treats Francis and liturgy: “The Pope’s Painful Liturgies” from Ethika Politika. Andrew Haines, Ph.D candidate in philosophy at CUA, writes things like this:
The painfulness of the Holy Father’s liturgies, I think, arises not from the character or celebration of the Mass itself, but from the clear lack of affection that Pope Francis maintains for the finer points of liturgical precision and splendor. It goes without saying that each of the pope’s Masses has been valid, undeniably reverent, and probably more visibly beautiful than all but a handful of Masses throughout the world. There is noticeably absent, however, the positive liturgical zeal of Benedict—that which many already (wrongly) construe as a negative and destructive force in itself.
Haines gets in muddy waters when he seems to criticize Francis for seeing the liturgy as something incomplete in itself: “Pope Francis seems always to have in mind its connection to real effects, both in the soul but also in the flesh..” Well, yes. Sacraments are always incomplete in themselves, always a means and not simply end in themselves.
By the end of it, after bringing in St. Benedict and St. Francis, Haines comes around (I think) to seeing how the Pope is challenging him, and admirably being open to that challenge:
The pain I experience with seeing the new pope’s liturgies is probably more the result of his intense joy at all other times. I sense acutely that my desire to serve is much thinner than my affection for a beautiful Mass.
I dunno, but I guess I don’t see Pope Francis joyless in celebrating the liturgy. He seems to me to be serious and prayerful.
Agreed! It seems when the pope celebrants Mass he’s intensely praying! Hardly joylessness! The criticism is unfair. That the pope is detached from some of the liturgical foppery many of us enjoy (including me) inspires me to focus more on what I’m doing & less on the more theatrical aspects of liturgy. As a liturgical planner & veteran MC I’m well served by the pope’s example. Joy need not be expressed with smells & bells. He sure seems joyful during his homily!
Wow, Andrew Haines managed to perfectly capture my feelings. Both in how we perceive Pope Francis as loving interacting with people and totally uninterested in liturgical matters and also in perceiving within ourselves a dangerous temptation to revere the liturgy more than service outside of it.
Let us not forget the words of the Holy Father, as related by Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: “I want you to continue to implement the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council… and I want you to continue the good work in the liturgy begun by Pope Benedict XVI”.
Will this do as explanatory?
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-wants-vatican-liturgy-chief-to-continue-the-work-of-benedict-xvi-76508/
One way to understand Pope Francis and his approach to liturgical celebration is from his ‘working background’: he is a Jesuit, who is/was a very pastorally oriented priest and then Bishop of a large Diocese post Vatican II. His own actions during the liturgy are limited by his own ‘frailties’ (his lungs — so he does not ‘chant/sing’; his legs — so he does not ‘genuflect’ at the Consecration but ‘bows’.) He certainly preaches well — even, it can be said, in a straightforward Patristic style. His ‘frailties’ are accompanied, I suppose, with ‘pain’ but at least as observed via TV are not ‘painful’ — nor in meticulous ‘rubrical punctiliousness’ — where the ‘rubrics’ become more important than the ‘celebration with the People of God.
I find Andrew Haines’s opening assertion that there is “an almost unchecked suspicion that the Holy Father’s tendency toward simplicity will usher in the death of the Benedictine reforms” to be faintly hyperbolic. Haines’s statement could easily be viewed from another angle. I find Pope Francis’s vestimentary simplicity and sober manner of celebration a refreshing retreat from the often ostentatious liturgies of Pope Benedict. At the same time, Pope Francis has maintained the “Benedictine arrangement” on both the papal altar of St. Peter’s and on portable altars. I would suggest that both the pontiff and I appreciate a studied restraint which foremost emphasizes the Eucharist over celebrants and ministers of the celebration.
If the “Benedictine reforms” imply ostentation, great expense, and a certain overzealous application of rubrics not unlike the Masses featured on NLM, then I suggest an alternate hermeneutic for both high church ordinary form and extraordinary form celebrations. This hermeneutic, which deflects attention away from celebrants towards the sacrament through simple vestments and an art of celebration which is not centered on celebrant gestures and movement, might well be called the “Franciscan reforms”.
It is true that my heart has been distorted by a heterodox pietism. Yet, the Holy Father shows us that “humble, thankful hearts” are easily accommodated within orthodox liturgy.
@Jordan Zarembo:
“…a studied restraint which foremost emphasizes the Eucharist over celebrants and ministers of the celebration.”
@Matthew J. Meloche:
“He knows there’s a time for smiling, greeting, joking… and there’s a time for the source and summit of our lives.”
What they said.
Plus what I’ve read on the internet recently.
One of the papal MCs (I think it was the Argentinean one whose name escapes me now) explained that Pope Francis becomes a completely different person once he’s vested. Before, he’s all smiles, greeting and chatting and laughing with his MCs (with whom, btw, he is always very affectionate), altar servers, deacons, etc., but after, he becomes all “serious” and intensely prayerful as he prepares to enter into the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.
Likewise, the other day Monsignor Viganò (of all people!) confirmed what many had long suspected: the Pope does not distribute communion at papal masses because he wants the Holy Communion to be the moment of encounter with Jesus and not the occasion for a souvenir photo op with the Pope.
Anyway, how true it is that we see things not as they are but as we are.
It may be useful to note the date on the piece (March 19, 2013). Not that it isn’t very insightful, or doesn’t remain really accurate… But that was *rather* early in this pontificate, would you say?
I love Pope Francis. But with all due respect someone should lovingly hand him some photos of his celebration of Mass. As an old saying goes, “If your heart is full of joy, notify your face.” Or as Francis himself said, “Christians shouldnt look like they just came from a funeral.” Serious and reverent is good, but appearing unhappy and distant is not good for the liturgy. Maybe he’s exhausted and has decided to let his guard down at Mass? I have seen him looking joyful at some points in the Mass a time or two. Viva il papa!
When I see the Holy Father celebrate Mass, I certainly don’t see the unhappiness and distant look that Fr. Feehily does. I think he looks serious. When greeting people before and after Mass, he looks happy and like he’s having fun – when celebrating the Holy Mass, he looks intense.
A surgeon might smile and joke with his/her patients before and after surgery, but during surgery, he/she is very serious. A surgeon that smiles and laughs while removing a kidney is probably one you wnt to avoid.
A dentist might smile and tell stories while talking with a patient before/after a procedure, but is serious when actually drilling the tooth – a dentist that jokes while drilling the tooth is someone to avoid.
A lawyer might smile and be friendly when clients are coming and going from his/her office, but wouldn’t flash the family a big grin while going through the details of a loved one’s will.
A sushi chef might be very friendly with customers and staff, but when it comes time to make very intricate cuts in the fish, a seriousness will come over the chef’s face.
The Holy Father realizes that celebrating Mass is an important task that needs great attention and concentration and that needs to be carried out in a serious manner. He knows there’s a time for smiling, greeting, joking… and there’s a time for the source and summit of our lives.
At least that’s what I see when I watch the Papal Masses.
Another piece of background – Pope Francis celebrated the liturgies of the Church in the slums of Buenos Aires – a situation that did not encourage the finer trappings of liturgy and which challenged him to pray in the midst of a certain chaos (not completely absent from papal liturgies).
The Pope is at prayer…he knows its not about him…Sorry for the analogy but…just like a runway model doesn’t smile…its not about him/her…its about the clothes.