The Pope invites serious and accessible liturgical training, the rediscovery of the Bible and lively and competent participation of the laity
The churches are increasingly emptynow populated exclusively by frescoes, statues of the Madonna and saints and stations of the cross. Only the distant echo of the voices of the parish priests remains, who try in vain to preach to fewer and fewer young and ever fewer faithful.
Leo XIV realized the problem, and intended to fight to reverse the trend. For this reason, he urged the participants in the refresher course for diocesan liturgical pastoral officials to stop reciting sacred texts as if they were the instruction manual for a washing machine (sadly, often with the same emotional conviction and understanding). No, the Pope’s recipe provides for serious and continuous training. It is impossible to restore to Catholics the faith and pleasure of going to Mass on Sunday if many faithful participate in the celebrations like spectators who have stumbled upon a theatrical work of which they are unaware of the script, sometimes even the author. This is why the Pontiff intends modernize the method of disseminating Christian values.
The centrality of the Bible
The Bible returns to the center of Leo XIV’s menu: «Ensure thorough preparation of the instituted readers and of those who read the Scriptures stably in the celebrations. Basic biblical skills, clear diction, the ability to sing the responsorial psalm, as well as compose the prayers of the faithful for the community are important aspects that implement the liturgical reform and help the path of the People of God grow.” So, a combination of competence and ability to involve.
In the digital world, evangelical texts risk being submerged by more aggressive, more intrusive noiseswhich would easily seduce an unprepared or uninterested believer. This is why we need to guarantee wide access to the Scripturesand a priest who knows how to explain them with the right spiritual vision: «The teaching of Dei Verbum is unequivocal; we are called to religiously listen to the word of God and to proclaim it with firm confidence and to ensure that the faithful have wide access to sacred Scripture. This same vision is reflected in your Statute, which states that the Catholic Biblical Federation aims to promote and develop the Biblical Pastoral Ministry so as to allow the Word of God, present in the Holy Scriptures, to become a dynamic source of inspiration for all areas of the life and mission of the Church in today’s world”.
A return to tradition
Finally, the appeal to the diplomats of the Papal Representations: be priests in love with Christ, and pass on this love of yours. In difficult contexts, says the Pope, the most insidious temptation is isolation. The cure? Starting again from the words of the Bible: «From the Gospel he continually rediscovers the direction of his pathunder the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who teaches everything and reminds us of everything that the Son said, listening to the Word of God and proclaiming it are properly ecclesial acts: the Bride listens with attentive love to the voice of the Groom”.
Leo XIV is a concrete Pope. To bring the faithful back to church he doesn’t suggest ingenious marketing gimmicks, but what has worked for two thousand years: clear words, sobriety, sense of belonging. If someone continues to yawn at Mass in the third row, never mind: the Holy Spirit has his times and his methods.
