Vatican II reform invited active participation in liturgy: Pope

“Since the gestures and words of the sacred liturgy are critical to realising this experience, the participation of the faithful cannot be passive,” Pope Leo said in his general audience at the Vatican on August 26.

The audience concluded the Pope’s summer catechesis on the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium.

Pope Leo explained that the liturgy has divine aspects that cannot change and human elements that can change to promote the faithful’s participation.

“When the Church carries out a reform of the liturgy – a constant process of development across the centuries – there is an important distinction to be made between the divine, immutable elements and the human elements, which may undergo various modifications.”

“The need arose for the faithful to celebrate the liturgies more consciously and actively, not ‘as strangers and silent spectators’ but participating fully in the salvific mystery,” Pope Leo added.

According to a National Catholic Reporter article, Pope Leo stated that correct understanding of the Council’s teaching on the liturgy “also makes it possible to reject the abuses that occurred in certain sectors of the Church during the post-conciliar period, and which unfortunately still occur at times even today, by taking some of the principles underlying the reform itself to extremes or misunderstanding them”. 

The Pope also maintained that the Council’s liturgical reform is “firmly rooted in the living tradition of the Church”.

“Indeed, since the liturgy is a living entity, throughout the centuries it has always been subject to developments and changes,” he said. “The magisterium adapted its forms to the needs of different eras. It is therefore not surprising that the Second Vatican Council too, with the utmost respect for the heritage of tradition, and precisely in order to make it more accessible, considered it necessary to revise the liturgical books.”

Pope Leo also explained that the liturgical reform began long before the Second Vatican Council, under several popes.

FULL STORY

Pope Leo XIV: Vatican II reformed the liturgy to promote active participation (By Ishmael Adibuah/EWTN News)

Pope Leo says Vatican II’s liturgical reform was ‘necessary’ for lay involvement (National Catholic Reporter)

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