Archbishop Roche urged the students to pay attention to the “long and fascinating history of the liturgical movement” prior to Vatican II and to the choices made by the council fathers regarding the liturgy as well as the reasons for those choices.
He reminded them that Pope Francis, in his address to participants at the 68th Italian National Liturgical week in August 2017, recalled that St. Paul VI told cardinals in a consistory one year before his death, “The time has now come to definitively leave aside divisive elements, which are equally pernicious in both senses, and to apply fully, in accordance with the correct criteria that inspired it, the reform approved by us in the application of the wishes of the council.”
Pope Francis then added, “There is still work to be done in this direction, in particular by rediscovering the reasons for the decisions taken with regard to the liturgical reform, by overcoming unfounded and superficial readings, a partial reception and practices that disfigure it.”
He reminded them that Pope Francis, in his address to participants at the 68th Italian National Liturgical week in August 2017, recalled that St. Paul VI told cardinals in a consistory one year before his death, “The time has now come to definitively leave aside divisive elements, which are equally pernicious in both senses, and to apply fully, in accordance with the correct criteria that inspired it, the reform approved by us in the application of the wishes of the council.”
Pope Francis then added, “There is still work to be done in this direction, in particular by rediscovering the reasons for the decisions taken with regard to the liturgical reform, by overcoming unfounded and superficial readings, a partial reception and practices that disfigure it.”