Gambetti: Masses at St. Peter’s attentive to needs of the faithful – Vatican News

Liturgical celebrations and attention to the legitimate requests of the faithful The new norms, Cardinal Gambetti explains, are inspired by two principles: “to order the celebrations from the point of view of their timing and their quality” and “to welcome and integrate particular and legitimate desires of the faithful, as far as possible.” According to these provisions, “between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. priests may concelebrate at one of the scheduled Masses in the established locations.” At the same time, “exceptions are admitted with regard to the places of celebration – on the occasion of the memory of a Saint whose remains are kept in the Basilica – and celebrations taking place at the same time with groups of pilgrims or in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite”.  Recalling Tradition: liturgical services are not private functions The organization of the morning celebrations envisaged by the communiqué of the Secretariat of State offers an opportunity to recall the meaning and value of the Eucharistic concelebration which, as the Vatican II Council Fathers recalled is part of the Church’s tradition. As stated in Sacrosanctum Concilium, “Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the ‘sacrament of unity,’ namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops”. Therefore, the “community celebration characterized by the presence and active participation of the faithful” is to be preferred “to the individual and almost private celebration”, although “any Mass always has a public and social nature, and for the administration of the sacraments” (SC 26-27). It it is understood that the assembly gathered for the Eucharist fully manifests the mystery of the Church: “it is the whole community, the Body of Christ united to its Head, that celebrates”. For priests it is more than appropriate to concelebrate As a result, the note explains that when possible, it is more than appropriate for priests to concelebrate, given the fact that there is a regular alternation of presidency for the concelebrations that ordinarily take place in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The same is also true for individual faithful and groups, invited to participate at the same Mass so that it may be an expression of fraternity and not of particularisms that do not reflect the sense of ecclesial communion manifested by the Eucharistic celebration. “Without in any way detracting from the legitimacy of the celebration of Mass by individual priests even when the faithful cannot participate”, it is important to recognize the diriment character of the norm that prohibits celebrating “in an individual way […] at the same time in which in the same church or oratory the concelebration is held” (cf. CIC 902).

Gambetti: Masses at St. Peter’s attentive to needs of the faithful – Vatican News