By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer

Responding to reports promulgated by some news organizations, the Press Office of the Holy See told the Italian press yesterday that Pope Benedict XVI is not planning to make changes to enhance the sacredness of the liturgy at this time.

Father Ciro Benedettini, deputy director of the Vatican press office, clarified that “for the time being there are no institutional proposals for a modification of the liturgical books used at present,” Vatican Radio reported.

The rumors began when Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale reported that the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) had voted on March 12 to recommend a series of liturgical reforms to the Pope. The purpose of the reforms would be to “restore greater sacredness to the rite, to recover the meaning of Eucharistic adoration, to restore Latin in the celebration and to revamp the introductory parts of the Missal to put an end to abuses, experimentation and inappropriate creativity.”

However, some of the suggested reforms mentioned in Tornielli’s column- such as the possible return to celebrating Mass ad orientem or the abolition of Communion in the hand- would not require any Vatican action since they could be done on the authority of individual pastors, bishops, or episcopal conferences.

While denying that that the CDW presented proposals to the pope that would touch off a “reform of the reform,” Fr. Benedettini’s statement does allow for the possibility that future reforms may be under discussion.
 
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