Interview with the new Papal MC

Fr. Zuhlsdorf has translated an interview with the new Papal M.C. Msgr. Guido Marini which originated on the Italian site Petrus which I think our readers would be interested in as well:

CITTA’ DEL VATICANO - He’s only just arrived in the Vatican: with a marked Genovese accent, at 42 years old, raised in the school of Giuseppe Card. Siri and a faithful collaborator of Archbishops Dionigi Tettamanzi, Tarcisio Bertone, and Angelo Bagnasco, the new Master of the Pope’s liturgical ceremonies Msgr. Guido Marini, successor of the homoynous Piero, speaks for the first time after the bestowal of this prestigious role and does so with

[NLM: I now skip down to the most liturgically pertinent sections]

Petrus: Many hold that you were called up because, liturgically, you are more sober and traditional than [Archbp.] Piero Marini. But what is your concept of liturgy?

G. Marini: What the Church wants and teaches, no more, no less. I am not the sort of person who looks for novelities or oddities. I might seem banal, but the liturgy needs respects for the rules dictated by the Church, and I don’t see any reason why I should ignore them.

It’s said that in Genoa, whee you have been working till now, that the liturgy was so well cared for, solemn and elegant, without flights of fantasy…

GM: But the liturgy is that way by its own nature. Let me repeat: No one can set aside the Church’s liturgical norms. The Mass is a gift, a grace, not a show. Therefore, no sort of fabrication, but absolute respect for the liturgical norms.

Pope Benedict XVI, in addition to being a very great theologian, it also a subtle liturgist. He gives great importance to the liturgy, correctly executed…

GM: To collaborate with the Holy Father will be a grace for me. The popularity of the Pope is in full view of everyone, as his preaching of the truth and his courage. Insofar as concerns the liturgy, I entirely share the Pope’s position: Mass is sacrifice.

In your opinion, have there been liturgical abuses recently?

GM: You know, the Church is big. But, as the same Pontiff has himself acknowledged in his letter explaning the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, there have been abuses and outlandish interpretations. All I can say is that, for sure, I will not be the author of any fabrication, and I will limit myself to apply scrupulously the rules existing today.

On that note, what do you think about the Motu Proprio that derestricted the Mass with the "Tridentine rite"?

GM: I agree with the Motu Proprio 100%, as an act of common sense, justice, freedom and farsightedness.

[NLM: What is good to see here is a Papal Master of Ceremonies who is interested in "Saying the Black and Doing the Red", no doubt sympathetic to the reform of the reform, and evidently friendly to Summorum Pontificum and the usus antiquior. This should be also understood as certainly a further piece of the reform of the reform puzzle, which, let us note, includes the place of the usus antiquior.]