Pope Francis on liturgical reform and Vatican II: no turning back
Avanti! ¡Adelante! Forward! And no going back!
The Pope has once again made his mind on the liturgical reform of the 1960's and Vatican II clear, and not without taking the opportunity to criticize the easiest of targets: the very few who still say the rosary at Mass (by the way, not a problem - cf. Mediator Dei, 181-184). He could not resist doing so at his homily on March 7 at the Ognissanti parish in Rome where he commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first Italian Mass of Paul VI:
The Pope has once again made his mind on the liturgical reform of the 1960's and Vatican II clear, and not without taking the opportunity to criticize the easiest of targets: the very few who still say the rosary at Mass (by the way, not a problem - cf. Mediator Dei, 181-184). He could not resist doing so at his homily on March 7 at the Ognissanti parish in Rome where he commemorated the 50th anniversary of the first Italian Mass of Paul VI:
The liturgy is not something strange, there, distant, and while it is being celebrated I am thinking of many things, or I pray the Rosary. No, no. There is a correspondence between the liturgical celebration, which I then carry into my life; and on this more progress must be made, there is such a long way yet to go.
After the Mass and just before leaving the parish, the Pope addressed the faithful gathered outside the Church, and touched upon the liturgical reform:
Thank you so much, thank you so much for your hospitality, for the prayer with me in the Mass; and we thank the Lord for what He has done in the Church in these 50 years of liturgical reform. It was in fact a courageous gesture of the Church to draw close to the People of God, so that they could understand well what she does, and this is important for us, to follow the Mass in this way. And we cannot go back; we must always go forward, always forward and whoever goes back is mistaken. We go forward on this way.