I disagree with you on the foot-washing issue because foot-washing is a sacramental, not a Sacrament, and not ontologially connected to the institution of he priesthood at all. In fact, it was only restored to the Holy Thursday liturgy within our lifetime (well, mine: I was born in 1951, and foot-washing became part of the Triduum--- and even then, only an optional part --- in 1955.)
So Pope Francis is not changing the Great Tradition of the Millennia; he's pastorally modifying a 20th century rubric. And doing it lawfully. Lawfully?? Well, answer me this: Who is the competent ecclesiastic authority concerning liturgical norms for the Diocese of Rome?
The people who wrote the GIRM are his advisors, and his ecclesiastical subjects. I am fairly suire any canonist would tell you the same.
Mlizzy, I loved the column by Jimmy Akin.
And pogkdan, you may find this interesting:
I am not casting your concerns completely aside. I would be biting my nails up to the elbows if Pope Francis were a clown-mass liberal, a Liberation Theology Marxist, a liturgial ignoramus, a clerical self-aggrandizer or a dingbat. But he's none of that. He's a Ratzinger Protégé and one who is invested by the Holy Spirit with the authority of his office.
That authority doesn't make him impeccable. He's capable of gaffes, errors of judgment, and worse. But it does give him the jurisdiction at least, to modify the rubrics for a recently-instituted sacramental, within his own diocese.
This will work out. Pray and watch.
I am not casting your concerns completely aside. I would be biting my nails up to the elbows if Pope Francis were a clown-mass liberal, a Liberation Theology Marxist, a liturgial ignoramus, a clerical self-aggrandizer or a dingbat. But he's none of that.Did you see the YouTube of Pope Francis [then a cardinal] conducting a Mass with liturgical puppets? If so, what did you think about that?
I will follow your advice and watch and pray.