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Within a few weeks after the election of Pope Francis, rumors began to circulate in Rome that the new Pontiff would appoint Archbishop Piero Marini as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW). For liberal liturgists, these rumors were cause for celebration; for conservatives, for despondency. It never happened. After many months of silence—during which time the rumors continued to swirl—the Pope announced that Cardinal Robert Sarah would be the new head of the CDW. Catholics who favor a reverent liturgy should rejoice at that appointment; the cardinal from Guinea is an excellent choice. Archbishop Marini—who was once private...

The Wikileaks leaked Missal is right here, goody gumdrops. One can peruse it here. Hopefully it's not as big a muckup as the German Missal. Perhaps the American Bishops are more obedient than the Germans?

As has been expected for several months, what could be called the ultimate "lex orandi est lex credendi" appointment has formally, finally, come to pass: the Pope has named the primate of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera of Toledo, as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Dubbed the "Ratzingerino" -- the "Little Ratzinger" -- as a collaborator of the then-prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the 63 year-old prelate succeeds Cardinal Francis Arinze, who reached the retirement age of 75 in November 2007. Born in Valencia, the global...

Fr. Jay Toborowsky, the Young Fogey himself, has a very interesting piece on an instruction sent out by Cardinal Arinze of the Congregation for Divine Worship prohibiting the literal Hebrew pronunciation of the name of God to be used in songs or prayers. What is Rome talking about? The "Tetragrammaton". Confused? We're talking about the four Hebrew letters yod, heh, vav, and heh (יהוה) transliterated in English as "YHWH", and found in some translations of the Old Testament as well as the occasional hymn as "Yahweh". "Tetragrammaton" is a Greek word meaning "four letters", as in the 4 letters used...

The long-awaited, much-debated, new translation of the Order of the Mass has been approved by the Vatican, signalling the direction weekly Masses are to take in Catholic parishes across the English-speaking world. On 25 July the United States bishops' conference announced that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW) had granted recognitio for the first, most important and most often-used section of the re-translated Missal, which contains the eucharistic prayers and prefaces, the Penitential Rite, the Gloria, the Creed, acclamations, the Lord's Prayer and other prayers and responses used daily. The intention of the new...

October 31, 2006 CDW On Purification Of Vessels (Jimmy Akin) The following is the text of the letter sent by Francis Cardinal Arinze to Bishop William Skylstad, president of the USCCB, concerning the liturgical change in America such that extraordinary ministers will no longer be permitted to purify the vessels used at Mass. CONGREGATIO CULTO DIVINO ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM Prot. n. 468/05/L Rome, 12 October 2006 Your Excellency, I refer to your letters of 9 March 2005 and 7 March 2006, in which, in the name of the Conference of Bishops of which you are President, you requested a renewal...

Vatican liturgical official seeks recovery of the sacred Vatican, Jun. 23 (CWNews.com) - The secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship has conceded some "negative results" of liturgical changes since Vatican II, and voiced his support for reform of the post-conciliar liturgy, in an interview with the I Media news agency. Archbishop Albert Malcom Ranjith Patabendige Don told I Media that the Council fathers had hoped to reinvigorate the sense of an active encounter with God through the liturgy. "But unfortunately," he said, "after the Council, certain changes were made rapidly, without reflection, in a burst of enthusiasm, in a...