Pope gets radical and woos the Anglicans # 1 of 2

Pope gets radical and woos the Anglicans # 1 of 2
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
The above is the headline of the Telegraph.co.uk’s studious article written by Damian Thompson. 16/11/2007. He is the editor-in-chief of the Catholic Herald, in Great Britain.

Two and half years after the name “Josephum” came booming down from the balcony of St. Peter’s, making liberal Catholics weep with rage, Pope Benedict XVI is revealing his programme of reform. And it is breathtakingly ambitious.

The 80 year old pontiff is planning a purification of the Roman liturgy in which decades of trendy innovations will be swept away. This recovery of the sacred is intended to draw Catholics closer to the Orthodox and ultimately to heal the 1,000 year Great Schism. But it is also designed to attract vast numbers of conservative Anglicans, who will be offered protection of the Holy Father if they convert en masse.

The liberal cardinals don’t like the sound of it all.
Ever since the shock of Benedict’s election, they have been waiting for him to show his hand. Now that he has, the resistance has begun in earnest – the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, is in the thick of it.

“Pope Benedict is isolated,” I was told when I visited Rome last week. “So many people even in the Vatican oppose him, and he feels the strain immensely.” Yet he is ploughing ahead. He reminds me of another conservative revolutionary, Margaret Thatcher, who waited for a couple of years before taking on the cabinet “wets” sabotaging her reforms.
Benedict’s pontificate moved in to a new phase on July 7, with the publication of his apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum.

With the stroke of his pen, the Pope restored the traditional Latin Mass – in effect banned for 40 years – to parity with the modern liturgy. Shortly afterwards, he replaced the Archbishop Piero Martini, the papal Master of Ceremonies who turned many of Pope John Paul II’s Masses into politically correct carnivals.
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor was most displeased. Last week, he hit back with a “commentary” on Summorum Pontificum

According to Murphy-O’Connor, the ruling leaves the power of local bishops untouched. In fact, it removes the bishop’s power to block the ancient liturgy. In other words, the cardinal – who tried to block Benedict issuing the ruling – is misrepresenting its contents.

Alas, he is not alone: dozens of bishops in Britain, Europe and America have tried the same trick.
Murphy-O’Connor “commentary” was modeled on equally dire “guidelines” written by Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds with the apparent purpose of discouraging the faithful from exercising their new rights.

A few years ago the ploy might have worked. But news travels fast in the traditionalist blogosphere, and these tactics have been brought to the attention of papal advisers.
This month, Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, a senior Vatican official close to Benedict, declared that “bishops and even cardinals” who misrepresented Summorum Pontificum were “in rebellion against the Pope.”
Ranjith is tipped to become the next Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship, in charge of regulating worldwide liturgy. That makes sense: if Benedict is moving into higher gear, then he needs street fighters in high office. Cont’d Tomorrow.
Pray daily for the intentions of the Holy Father.
George H. Kubeck, www.cinopsbegone.blogspot.com Duplicate or translate in Spanish.