Careless and clueless

 

Has he ever read the General Instruction of the Roman Missal?

As lost as two Jesuits in Holy Week

Sadly, this year it is no joke. The first is the current Bishop of Rome. His washing of the feet of women and of non-Christians in the Mass of Holy Thursday evening made this loud and clear. See previous posts.

The second is the Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ.   Yesterday he explained that “in a "grand solemn celebration" of the rite, it would make sense to only involve men because during the Last Supper, Christ washed the feet of the 12 apostles, all of whom were male. But in the case of Casal del Marmo “the rite was for a small, unique community made up also of women. It was a specific situation in which excluding the girls would have been inopportune in light of the simple aim of communicating a message of love to all in a group that certainly didn't include refined experts in liturgical rules."

Sure, his job is to put a positive spin on anything the Pope does, regardless. But does he have to display such ignorance and contempt for the sacred liturgy when doing so?

Dominus flevit

SANTA MESSA "NELLA CENA DEL SIGNORE" 

NELL’ISTITUTO PENALE PER MINORI 

DI CASAL DEL MARMO IN ROMA

"Il gesto della lavanda dei piedi è stato compiuto da Papa Francesco ed ha riguardato 12 giovani ospiti dell’Istituto penale, di diversa nazionalità e confessione religiosa, e tra questi due ragazze."

He knows not what he does.

(But for a bishop of Rome, ignorance is no excuse.)

Simply putting the wrong foot forward

The current Bishop of Rome has chosen to celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper at a penitential institute for minors. So be it. Given that the good bishop has not yet taken possession of his cathedral, perhaps there is some logic to this, but perhaps this was not in the bishop's figuring when deciding.

It is reported that "Around 10 girls and 40 boys will take part in the Mass. The Pope [sic] will wash the feet of 12 of them, who will be chosen from different nationalities and diverse religious confessions."

Has anyone noticed the "diverse religious confessions" here? 

It is nice, even good, that bishops, especially bishops of Rome, are kind towards people of diverse religious confessions. That sort of thing is pre-evangelisation. 

But bishops, even bishops of Rome, are not free to change the fact that Catholic liturgy is celebrated by and with the baptised in full communion with the, er, Bishop of Rome. Those unfortunately not within the embrace of that communion are not able to take their due place as full members of the liturgical assembly. They are not eligible for liturgical ministries or roles. 

Those who are not baptised used once to be dismissed before the most sacred mysteries commenced. We should certainly not show disrespect or worse for their religious convictions or lack of them by performing Christian rites on them, no matter who we are.

Or is the liturgy a panacea, a platform for the expression of all or any form of respect and goodwill towards "diverse religious confessions" or those of none? Is the liturgy simply an expression of the will of the gathered community, or worse, of the will of the celebrant himself?

In all humility the Pimpernel submits that this sort of thing would be a simple abuse of the reality of Catholic liturgy to which bishops, even bishops of Rome, owe due respect and, er, humility.

True humility

True humility respects the tradition that the first appearance and the

blessing Urbi et Orbi of a newly elected pope are part of a liturgical rite. 

Spot the odd man out. 

They don't like the Benedictine Arrangement one bit

Over at Pray Tell someone called Fritz has been discussing the question of orientation at Mass and has suggested that the Benedictine arrangement may be idolatry:

"If I were to put this polemically, which of course I would never do, I would say that identifying the crucifix rather than the Eucharist as the point of orientation skirts the edge of idolatry. This point seems so obvious to me that I wonder what is going on with those who continue to put forward the idea of common orientation toward the crucifix. Could this be a case of a poor idea gaining momentum simply because it has been suggested by an authoritative source (i.e. Pope Benedict)."

There is more here. They don't like it. They don't understand it. Now they are calling it names.

Does anyone know what this deacon is doing?

The Pimpernel is at a loss to know what this deacon is doing. More photos from the liturgy concerned are here. Suggestions in a comment please.