Pope Francis has said that the Mass reformed at the Second Vatican Council is here to stay and that to speak of the“reform of the reform” is an error.
He made the comment in a new interview given to introduce a collection of his homilies and speeches while Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The book, published in Italian, is more than 1,000 pages long and includes all Pope Francis’s homilies from 1999 until his election as Pope.
In an interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Jesuit journal, La Civilta Cattolica, Pope Francis said that Benedict XVI’s authorisation of regular celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass was “magnanimous” but “an exception”.
He then wondered why some young people, who were not raised with the old Latin Mass, nevertheless preferred it.
“And I ask myself: Why so much rigidity? Dig, dig, this rigidity always hides something, insecurity or even something else. Rigidity is defensive. True love is not rigid.”
In the interview Pope Francis also described how he prepared and delivered his homilies for morning Mass. Although now compelled to write out his homilies for public events so they can be translated in advance, Pope Francis said he disliked the practice and, whenever possible, he added at least a few words or phrases to show he is speaking to the people in front of him.
When he preaches to a crowd in St Peter’s Square, “I don’t see a crowd; I try to look, at least, at one person, a precise face,” he told Fr Spadaro.
Pope Francis said that his small morning Masses in the chapel of his residence allow him to continue to preach in the way he prefers.
Abducted priest found alive but ‘with signs of torture’
An outspoken priest who had been reported missing in the Mexican state of Veracruz has been found alive, but with signs of torture.
Fr Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz, of Twelve Apostles parish in Catemaco, 340 miles southeast of Mexico City, went missing last week, sparking unrest and the ransacking of the city hall by residents impatient with the police response.
A statement from the Diocese of San Andres Tuxtla said Fr Sanchez was found “abandoned … with notable signs of torture.”
Fr Aaron Reyes Natividad, diocesan spokesman, said Fr Sanchez had received threats via WhatsApp and Facebook, while the doors to the church appeared to have been opened with force. He rallied residents against high electric bills, and denounced crime and corruption in Veracruz, where a former governor is on the run for funnelling millions of dollars of state money into shell companies. “He was nervous, but nothing stopped him,” Fr Reyes said.
“We think that a lot of what happened has to do with what the padre said in his sermons,” Fr Reyes said. “He gave the names of those responsible for insecurity.” At least 15 priests have been murdered in Mexico in the past four years.
‘Gold Mass’ for scientists at MIT
The first ever “Gold Mass” for scientists was to be held at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week.
The event is the first organised by the Society of Catholic Scientists. It follows in the tradition of the Blue Mass for the police and the Red Mass for lawyers and judges. Gold is the colour of the hoods worn by those graduating with a doctorate in science. The patron saint of scientists, St Albert the Great, was also an alchemist working to turn metal into gold.
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