(Rome) Who will succeed Cardinal Robert Sarah as Prefect of the Roman Congregation Divine Worship and the Sacraments? Two months after the Cardinal's retirement from Guinea, the question is still open. The candidates most frequently mentioned in Rome come from the Bugnini direction, which suggests that a scroll should be made backwards, back to the liturgical reform of 1969, the expiration date of which is so short that in the past 50 years several editions of the Roman Missal in vernacular have already been made as the translations were allegedly needed to keep it "contemporary" as the Avvenire, the daily newspaper of Italian Bishops' Conference , on December 4, 2020, said enthusiastically.
On February 20, Cardinal Sarah was retired after a period of little more than five years by Pope Francis. The 75-year-old black African is in excellent health. Pope Francis had waited for his 75th birthday and the regular end of a term of office. The retirement took place in such a way that no impression could arise that it had been a punitive measure.
Cardinal Sarah was the only head of the Dicasteries to have an open exchange of blows with Pope Francis. In 2016 it was about the celebration of Mass ad orientem. The call to all priests to celebrate e
astwards again, as the church had done up to the Bugnini reform of 1969/1970, is still in the room. Since Francis contradicted his prefect personally and twice, it could not develop the desired effect, although it did find an echo .
The cardinal dared a second, indirect confrontation with Francis at the beginning of 2020, when he opposed a softening of the priestly celibacy and the sacrament of Holy Orders with the book " From the depths of the heart" and Benedict XVI. had as an ally.
Short sent after the retirement Francis a apostolic visitor to the Got-tes-service-kon-gre-ga-ti-on .
"This is a particularly derogatory measure Cardinal Sarah, whose management should be reviewed," said Riposte catho-li-que .
After all, Cardinal Sarah is true in the coming conclave as a possible father-bi-le .
Candidate 1: Bishop Claudio Maniago
For Visitor Francis Bishop Claudio Maniago appointed by Castellaneta, without so far from the Vatican se-Pres-amt something was introduced to it. The former auxiliary bishop of Florence was appointed to the bishopric by Francis in 2014. Msgr. Maniago is "one of the most active members of the Italian pressure group that the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum and, privileges' of the Ecclesia Dei world demands a maximum reduction," said Riposte catho-li-que . In this way he apparently “qualified” himself in 2015 for the office of Chairman of the Liturgy Commission of the Italian Bishops' Conferences and in 2016 for membership in theGot-tes-service-kon-gre-ga-ti-on .
Maniago stayed at the congregation for three days before Easter, as CNA reported, and had talks with the staff. It was about the daily work and views on the liturgy. Other sources suggest that the bishop should review the current staff and their attitudes.
CNA reported yesterday, citing Vatican sources, that the structure and functions of the Congregation would be retained but one point would be added. In the profile, the “liturgical sensitivity emanating from the Second Vatican Council” should be explicitly mentioned, which means the controversial liturgical reform by Msgr. Annibale Bugnini from 1969/1970.
It is not known whether and when Bishop Maniago reported to the Pope. To an official audience he was loud day-bul-le-tin not yet received the Vatican press office. Nevertheless, the timetable seems to be already in place. According to CNA sources, the appointment of the new Prefect of the intended Got-tes-service-kon-gre-ga-ti-on done yet "before the Feast of the Ascension," which will be celebrated on 13 May.
Since his posting as a visitor, Msgr. Maniago has been on everyone's lips as the potential successor to Cardinal Sarah. Since then, the concern of traditional circles has also increased.
Candidate 2: Bishop Vittorio Viola
The second name mentioned in Rome also points in the same direction. To be precise, it has been passed around longer than that of Monsignor Maniago. It is Monsignor Vittorio Viola, Bishop of Tortona. He holds a doctorate in liturgy and is a professor at the Roman Benedictine University of Sant'Anselmo . Like Maniago, Viola was appointed to the episcopate by Pope Francis in 2014. Previously, the Franciscan Guardian of the Franciscan Convent at the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, the most important monastery of the Franciscan Order. Francis met him on his first visit to Assisi in 2013. At that time Viola was also the diocesan Caritas director.
He was ordained a priest in 1993 from Bishop Luca Brandolini of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo, who was a close collaborator of Annibale Bugnini. Katholisches.info wrote on May 11, 2020:
“Brandolini, now 87 years old, was a student and collaborator of Msgr. Annibale Bugnini, the creator of the Novus Ordo . Bugnini's bishop's ring, who died in 1982, was worn from 1987 by his student Brandolini, who in turn passed it on to his protégé Viola in 2014. "
In November 2012, Katholisches.info had the article Francis of Assisi instead of Annibale Bugnini - Benedict XVI. urges bishops liturgy Respek-tie-ren published that all the essential elements addressed, which now appear to play a role. At that time, Monsignor Domenico Sorrentino was Bishop of Assisi, and he is still today. The liturgist Sorrentino was appointed secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship in 2003 , the office that Annibale Bugnini once held. Pope Benedict XVI replaced him a few months after his election by the current Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, who had a liturgical sensitivity that was closer to Benedict.
Sorrentino was expelled from Rome as Bishop of Assisi. There he introduced the Franciscan Father Vittorio Viola to the newly elected Pope Francis in October 2013. The Italian bishop-kon-fe-rence , however, called Sorrentino, after he became bishop of Assisi, in the Lit-for-energy-kom-mis-si-on what an affront to Benedict XVI. equaled. He had removed him from the Congregation for Divine Worship because Sorrentino, contrary to Benedict's intention, had successfully thwarted the issue of the Missal of Pius V and the recovery of the traditional form of the Roman rite at the Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist of 2005.
The Liturgical Commission of the Italian bishop-kon-fe-ence has for decades been a solid domain of Bugnini school. The liturgy commission of the Bishops' Conferences for the country in more concrete impact than the Got-tes-service-kon-gre-ga-ti-on . Maniago, Viola and Sorrentino sit together on the currently seven-member Italian commission. Bugnini's student Brandolini, who ordained Viola as a priest and gave him Bugnini's bishop's ring, also belonged to her. You know each other. So it is not surprising that Sorrentino and Maniago were jointly appointed members of the Congregation for Divine Worship by Pope Francis in autumn 2016 .
The third Italian edition of was presided over by Msgr. Maniago and with the help of Msgr. Viola and Msgr. Sorrentino Missal Roma num published. It contains the changed Our Father requested by Francis and does not contain that of Benedict XVI. arranged correction of the wall-lung-wor-te per mul-tisas “for many” instead of the Bugnini translation “for all”. In the eyes of progressive church circles, both Bishop Maniago and Bishop Viola have recommended themselves for higher offices. Bishop Viola was indeed being discussed as the new Archbishop of Genoa. However, Francis chose Viola's Franciscan confrere from another branch of the order, the former General Minister of the Minorite Order Marco Tasca.
The new Italian missal was introduced by most dioceses on the first Sunday of Advent in 2020. Its use has been mandatory since Easter 2021.
Addendum
For the sake of completeness, a third candidate should not be left unmentioned, although his name is currently less heard: The Spanish Jesuit Juan Antonio Martínez Camino SJ is also named as a potential Sarah successor. The auxiliary bishop of Madrid received his doctorate from the German Jesuit University Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main. As prefect of the Got-tes-service-kon-gre-ga-ti-on , so it is said he was the "gravedigger" of the Motu proprio Summorum Pon-ti-fi-cum .
Everything seems to indicate "an attack on 'Summorum Pontificum' and the Usus antiquior in general", said Monika Rheinschmitt from Pro Missa Tridentina at the end of February.
Text: Giuseppe di Nar-
image: Avvenire / CEI / Diocese of Sora / Roman Catholic Diocese of Tortona (screenshots)
