The Chief Vatican Liturgist - that is the man in charge of those fancy liturgical ceremonies involving the Pope, is being replaced. One Marini is being replaced by another Marini, but the two are not related. I think we can expect to see some interesting changes in how liturgies are celebrated out of the Vatican though. While the former Marini and His Holiness were probably polar opposites in many liturgical areas, Pope Benedict kept him on as opposed to kicking him out - gentleman that he is. CWNews reports:
Once a private secretary to Archbishop Annibale Bugnini, the chief architect of the liturgical reforms following Vatican II, Archbishop Marini was also a lightning-rod for controversy because of his penchant for liturgical innovation. Since the election of Benedict XVI as Supreme Pontiff in April 2005, Vatican-watchers had speculated that Archbishop Marini would be replaced by someone more sympathetic to the new Pope's own more traditional approach to the liturgy.
Bishop [Abp Raymond Burke] preaches tough Communion rule (Columbus Dispatch)
"It is clear that church discipline places an obligation on the minister of Holy Communion to refuse Holy Communion to persons known, by the public, to be in mortal sin," Burke writes in a new journal article.
Burke lays out his case like a legal brief in Periodica de re Canonica, a journal widely read in seminaries and published by Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, an elite school for Catholic clergy.
"No matter how often a bishop or priest repeats the teaching of the church regarding procured abortion, if he stands by and does nothing to discipline a Catholic who publicly supports legislation permitting the gravest of injustices, and, at the same time, presents himself to receive Holy Communion, then his teachings ring hollow," Burke writes.
Vatican probe stirs debate over academic freedom (AP - USA Today)
Over recent decades, the Vatican has clamped down on theologians who advocate fighting poverty and injustice through the social gospel and liberation theology. More recently, the focus has shifted to the nature of Jesus Christ and salvation, one of the defining concerns of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy and his previous work as a cardinal.
Earlier this year, Benedict released a document reasserting the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, reiterating themes in the 2000 Vatican document Dominus Iesus. That document states non-Christians are "in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation."
More articles:
New Cardinals to be Named this week? (CWNEWS)
Michigan Abortion Practitioner Loses Medical License, Violated State Law (Lifenews)
Connecticut bishops reverse stand on Plan B (CWNews)
Pope Benedict's Prayer Intentions for October (Vatican Info Service)
Women and the Catholic Priesthood (First Things blog)
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