Benedict Was the Outlier on Liturgy
[wherepeteris] Pope Leo XIV’s general audience on Wednesday clarified something that many conservative and traditionalist Catholics have been unwilling to face: the pope believes both that the liturgical reform is a good thing and that the reforms carried out following the Second Vatican Council are “firmly rooted in the living tradition of the Church.”
This really should not be surprising to Catholics. Popes Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Francis all affirmed the reform and presented it as an authentic implementation of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium. Statements from these popes make clear that they believe the reform was carried out in obedience to the Council and intended to renew Catholic life.
Among the postconciliar popes, Benedict XVI stands apart in having offered concrete criticisms not only of abuses, translations, or failures of implementation, but also of the process by which the …More
Leo does not believe that the reformed liturgy is a defective product awaiting reconstruction. Certainly, like the other popes, he is open to modifications and refinements and corrections if they are deemed necessary. Clearly, he frowns on liturgical abuse. And like Popes Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, and Francis, Leo receives the reformed rites as a positive good and an authentic fruit of the Council. And in this sense he is strongly in continuity with four of the five popes who preceded him. Only Benedict — who nevertheless affirmed its legitimacy and holiness — offered concrete criticisms of the reforming process and aspects of the resulting liturgy, which sets him apart from the broader papal consensus. Catholics who have long treated Ratzinger’s critique as the Church’s default position have the story backwards: on the liturgical reform, Benedict was the exception, and Leo — like Francis before him — stands with the rule.