Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, told clergy in Sri Lanka that “in recent decades in some countries the Sacred Liturgy has become too anthropocentric; man, not God, has become its focus”. He added: “When the liturgy is celebrated in the vernacular with the priest ‘facing the people’, there is a danger of man, even of the priest himself and his personality, becoming too central.”
Cardinal Sarah created a controversy after exhorting priests that they should celebrate the Mass looking towards the east with their back to the congregation. Pope Francis has made it clear no changes are planned in this direction.
Sarah warned priests against the danger of letting their liturgical duties become “routine, or even be seen to be a burden”. When a priest’s heart and soul “no longer thrill with awe at the great mysteries he is called to minister, his vocation can go seriously astray,” he said.
Vatican calls for non-violence
The Vatican’s Press Office announced that the theme of the 50th World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on January 1, will be: ‘Non-violence: a style of politics for peace’.
It said that “if the rights and the equal dignity of every person are safeguarded without any discrimination and distinction, then non-violence, understood as a political method, can constitute a realistic way to overcome arm[ed] conflicts. In this perspective, it becomes important to increasingly recognise not the right of force but the force of right.”
“At the same time it does not mean that one nation can remain indifferent to the tragedies of another. Rather it means a recognition of the primacy of diplomacy over the noise of arms.”
Gracias on Indian martyrs
Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai said that the Christians killed during a savage burst of religious violence in 2008 in the Kandhamal region deserve to be recognised as martyrs. The Church in India commemorates these martyrs every August 30.
More than 100 Christians were killed by Hindu extremists who attacked Christian villages which were blamed for the death of a prominent Hindu-nationalist leader. It turned out that the Hindu had been killed by Maoist insurgents. Tens of thousands of other Christians had to free to the forest to hide from the fury of the militants. Kandhamal is a remote section of eastern Orissa state.
Cardinal Gracias, who is also president of the Indian bishops’ conference, told Asia News that those killed in Kandhamal “may soon be raised to the altar of the martyrs”.
Those who committed the massacre were not prosecuted and no compensation was given to the victims.
Confessors’ shades of grey
While speaking about confessors to a group of Polish Jesuits, Pope Francis said: “The shades of grey prevail in life. We must teach [priests] to discern in this grey area.”
He added that “many people leave the confessional disappointed” because the priest lacks understanding.
He said many priests have been trained “in the light of overly clear and distinct ideas, and therefore to act within limits and criteria that are rigidly defined in advance and that set aside concrete situations.”
This Pope said that this rigid approach is wrong.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)