Link to original CNA story reported here yesterday & a Zenit story on Marini, Papal Master of Ceremonies

This is the same story I posted about yesterday from Catholic News Agency. This gives confirmation of that story, but won't give you anything you haven't seen already on here. I link to it solely for the purpose of making it official on this blog.

For those of you interested in Marini, Zenit has an article on him from yesterday. I chose not to post it until today, however, as I wanted to focus on the CNA story. I will quote it below.

Code: ZE06041004
Date: 2006-04-10
Master of Papal Celebrations Tells of Changes
Archbishop Marini Writes About Rites

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2006 (Zenit.org).- In a new Italian-language book, the master of pontifical liturgical celebrations reveals some of the novelties introduced in papal rites since the Second Vatican Council.

Archbishop Piero Marini states in "Liturgia y bellezza. Nobilis pulchritudo" (Vatican Publishing House) that in recent years, in keeping with the conciliar spirit, some specific rites have been updated.

Among those updated are the consistory for saints, the consistory for the elevation of new cardinals, the rites of beatification and canonization, and the rite of the conferring of the pallium on archbishops.

"Some improvements can still be made, but as a whole these rites now respond to the principle of noble simplicity," says the master of ceremonies.

By way of example, he mentions the rite of the consistory for the elevation of new cardinals. At the start of the 1990s, it established three steps: the secret consistory in the Consistory Hall in which, after the master of celebrations' "extra omnes," the Pope had to say officially the names of the new cardinals, already known one month before; then, in the same hall, a semi-public consistory; and, finally, a public consistory in Paul VI Hall.

"Following the update, the ritual sequence unfolds in just one celebration centered on the Word of God," Archbishop Marini explains.

Chrism Mass

In regard to some updated papal celebrations, the prelate points out, for example, the novelty of Holy Thursday: in the Chrism Mass, the oils are carried by catechumens, sick people, candidates for confirmation, and deacons preparing for the priesthood.

In the celebration on Easter Sunday, he writes, "the former rite of the 'Resurrexit' has been recovered and is now called 'Peter witness of the Resurrection,' and, since the year 2000, the former rite of the Pope's testimony before the icon of the Savior [...] is now part of the rites of the papal liturgy."

Other novelties are implemented, for example, in the Vigil of Pentecost: After the homily, the so-called Memoria of the sacrament of confirmation has been included.

Archbishop Marini, 64, says that the celebration of the papal liturgy is not always easy in areas that do not have the necessary elements.

He notes, for example, "in the last decades, many celebrations have taken place in St. Peter's Square. Such places present not a few difficulties for the collation of the fixed elements established by the liturgy."

Moreover, he indicates, "in the basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Paul the ambo is missing, and in St. Mary Major and St. Peter, in addition to the ambo, the Chair is also missing."

Tests have been carried out to surmount these problems in St. Peter's, but for the time being no solution has been found, the archbishop continues.

Vatican II

In the first part of the book, Archbishop Marini assesses the implementation of Vatican II's renewal, especially the introduction of the constitution "Sacrosanctum Concilium."

In the second part, he addresses the relationship between beauty and liturgy, primarily in reference to papal liturgical celebrations.

An important part of the volume explains the meaning of the papal insignias such as the tiara, the miter and the pallium.

Every chapter is preceded by images of the ring of the Fisherman, furnished by the Vatican Apostolic Library.

"This image recalls the activity of the Bishop of Rome, called to preside in love over the universal Church," Archbishop Marini writes. "In particular, the effort of the Fisherman of Galilee, reproduced in the five images of different Popes, recalls the tireless commitment, especially of the last Popes, to the liturgy."

He observes in the book: "I keep indelibly the memory of the service rendered during Paul VI's pontificate in the creative years of the liturgical reform from 1965 to 1975. I cherish the memory of the celebrations and trips shared with John Paul II in Italy and the world. Finally, very alive is the emotion at the beginning of Benedict XVI's petrine ministry."

The archbishop states that the book's intention is that the reader should discover that "the liturgy requires that we give it the most beautiful setting and the best time" so that "words and gestures become the voice of the Spirit who speaks to us of God."