Sadly, one of the things Catholics fight over is the Eucharist. In his June 29 apostolic letter to the Catholic people, Pope Francis decries this division while describing the Eucharist as the sacrament of unity.

The letter, "Desiderio Desideravi" ("I have earnestly desired"), gives full-throated support to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which called for full, conscious and active participation of the laity in the Eucharist. Francis is clearly saddened by those who reject the reforms that the council found absolutely necessary.

The pope does not see the pre-Vatican II liturgy as equal to the reformed liturgy, which was meant to be the liturgy of the entire church. "I intend that this unity be re-established in the whole Church," he writes. "We cannot go back to that ritual form which the Council fathers, cum Petro et sub Petro, felt the need to reform."

The Eucharist is essential to the life of the church, according to Francis' letter. In the Eucharist, "we are guaranteed the possibility of encountering the Lord Jesus and of having the power of his Paschal Mystery reach us," he wrote. But this is done not as individuals but as a community: "The liturgy does not say ‘I' but ‘we.'"

He connects the Eucharist to Pentecost, when, according to the Book of Acts, the Christian community received the Spirit after Jesus ascended to heaven.

"It is the community of Pentecost that is able to break the Bread in the certain knowledge that the Lord is alive, risen from the dead, present with his word, with his gestures, with the offering of His Body and His Blood," he wrote.

"Only the Church of Pentecost can conceive of the human being as a person, open to a full relationship with God, with creation, and with one's brothers and sisters."

"Liturgy is about praise," requiring docility to the Holy Spirit, who appeared on Pentecost in the form of tongues of fire on the apostles' heads.

The pope said, "It does not have to do with an abstract mental process, but with becoming Him." He cites Pope Leo the Great, who wrote, "Our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ has no other end than to make us become that which we eat."

Francis does not want the Eucharist to "be spoiled by a superficial and foreshortened understanding of its value or, worse yet, by its being exploited in service of some ideological vision, no matter what the hue."

The art of celebrating the Eucharist "cannot be reduced to only a rubrical mechanism, much less should it be thought of as imaginative — sometimes wild — creativity without rules."

Both types of celebrants tend to make themselves, rather than Christ, the centre of the liturgy.

Francis speaks extensively of the paschal mystery but distinguishes this from "the vague expression ‘sense of mystery,'" which conservative critics say was removed from the liturgy by the reforms.

"The astonishment or wonder of which I speak is not some sort of being overcome in the face of an obscure reality or a mysterious rite. It is, on the contrary, marvelling at the fact that the salvific plan of God has been revealed in the paschal deed of Jesus (cf. Eph 1:3-14), and the power of this paschal deed continues to reach us in the celebration of the ‘mysteries,' of the sacraments," the pope wrote, referring to the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians.

Francis' letter contains numerous quotable lines, like those cited above, that can inspire and educate Catholics in their participation in the Eucharist, but despite Francis' intentions, this letter will be more helpful to seminary professors than the faithful at large. It is filled with exhortations on the necessity of liturgical formation, but it is not itself a catechetical work.

The letter is a heartfelt cry to end the liturgical wars and enter into the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection. Francis explicitly notes this in his first line by linking it to his 2021 motu proprio "Traditionis custodes," which put limits on the celebration of the old rite.

"The non-acceptance of the liturgical reform," he writes, "distracts us from the obligation of finding responses to the question that I come back to repeating: how can we grow in our capacity to live in full the liturgical action?

"How do we continue to let ourselves be amazed at what happens in the celebration under our very eyes? We are in need of a serious and dynamic liturgical formation."

In truth, this is why I do not find the letter all that helpful because he never fully answers these questions.

The pope has allowed himself to be distracted by dissenters, focusing on the concerns of a small but vocal minority opposed to the reforms of the council.

This makes the letter of little interest to the vast majority of Catholics who do not oppose the reforms but need to be drawn deeper into the mystery of the Eucharist.

Sadly, there is much ignorance among Catholics (including bishops and priests) about the Eucharist.

Too many Catholics still think that the purpose of the Eucharist is to make Christ present on the altar so that we can adore him.

That is fine for Benediction, but the Eucharist is where the Christian community remembers the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, gives praise and thanks to the Father, unites itself with the sacrifice of Christ and asks that the Spirit transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission on earth.

This is the heart of the Eucharist as seen in the Eucharistic prayer proclaimed at Mass.

Francis, we need another letter, one that helps the average Catholic understand and participate in the Eucharist.

• Thomas Reese SJ is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

This follows Britain's planned exit from the EU.

The Pope told reporters on his flight back from Armenia that it is clear "something isn't working in this unwieldy union [the EU]".

Francis said Europe must reflect on the "air of division" being sowed in Europe and beyond.

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They are hoping Pope Francis will discuss such issues when he meets President Barack Obama and addresses the US Congress in September.

The issues raised include immigration reform, economic injustice for low-wage workers, pervasive racism in US institutions and society, and mass incarceration.

One union leader said people in the United States are "as divided as we've ever been by race, by economics, by politics, by everything".

Pope Francis is seen as a force for reconciliation and reform.

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In one of a handful of scriptural references, he is the apostle who tells Jesus that five loaves and two fishes won't feed 5,000 people; a miracle soon proves otherwise.

Like other widely honoured saints, Andrew himself defies the laws of finitude by appealing to so many people in so many places.

Thirtieth November is a big feast day for Scotland, Romania, Cyprus, the Greek port of Patras and for Christians in Istanbul; in 13 days' time, the same feast will be celebrated in places where the old church calendar is kept, such as Russia and Ukraine.

And whenever it is observed, the annual feast day of Saint Andrew brings reminders that the first apostle of Jesus Christ, one of two fisherman brothers, can still create political waves.

Take Scotland. Andrew has been that country's official patron saint since 1320, and he was venerated there for centuries before that.

The diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew was flying defiantly in Edinburgh today, although yesterday's helicopter crash in Glasgow cast a pall over the commemorations.

Alex Salmond, head of the Scottish Nationalists, used the national holiday to stir patriotic feeling ahead of next year's independence ballot. Even his reaction to the helicopter crash mentioned the saint; he said today was a good moment to take pride in Scotland's resilience.

Meanwhile David Cameron has hoisted the Scottish emblem over his prime-ministerial residence in London and issued a Saint Andrew's message with the opposite intention: to remind the Scots of how well they have done as Brits. Continue reading.

Source: The Economist

Image: Form Ministry

Benedict is a teacher, a writer, a scholar, for whom words are never trivialized. Vatican observers are listening carefully to each of his speeches, and watching every gesture and decision he makes.

In recent days he has presided at the Ash Wednesday ceremony in St Peter's; he has addressed the clergy of his diocese of Rome; he has spoken with bishops of other dioceses in Italy.

On Ash Wednesday, he spoke of "the face of the Church marred by divisions and rivalry". He spoke of Jesus' denunciation of "religious hypocrisy, the behaviour that focusses on appearances, the attitude of seeking applause and approval." He underlined that the true disciple serves the Lord "in simplicity and generosity."

These words have significance in the light of the serious scandals that have been revealed inside the Vatican especially in these last three years: financial scandals involving the Vatican Bank; sexual scandals inside the Vatican, including the revelation that a papal usher was involved in a call-boy ring; and most recently the publication of secret and sensitive Vatican documents, stolen from inside the Pope's private office by the Pope's butler - the Vatileaks scandal.

"Vatileaks" was a huge scandal - still not resolved - and it simply revealed in glaring colours the systemic dysfunctioning of the internal organization of the Vatican, known as the Curia.

Benedict has not been able to contain this systemic disorder of the Curia. When he speaks of "divisions and rivalries within the Church", for "Church" read "Curia" and this gives meaning to his statement that someone "of robust physical and mental strength" needs to lead the Church at this time.

- Fr. Craig Larkin s.m., Rome based, writing exclusively for CathNews NZ Pacific

More than a year after the new Mass translation was introduced, 70 per cent of the clergy who responded said they wanted to see the text revised.

Catholics in the United Kingdom and Ireland were more critical than their counterparts in the United States.

New Zealand responses were not tabulated separately, but Australian responses were. Of these, 60 per cent said their attitude was: "Before it was introduced I was apprehensive about it and I still don't like it."

There was strong agreement by 56 per cent of the Australians with the statement "Some of the florid language is obsequious and distracting" and 66 per cent did not like "begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father".

Overall, 47 per cent of respondents said they liked the new Mass and 51 per cent said they did not. There was an almost equal split between those who considered the new translation more prayerful and reverent (48 per cent) and those who did not (49 per cent).

There was a significantly high 19 per cent of respondents (heavily weighted towards the US) who expressed a preference for the traditionalist Extraordinary Form over the Ordinary Form of the Mass.

Among priests, 22 per cent preferred the new translation. There was strong opposition to "consubstantial" (67 per cent), "for many" (63 per cent), "chalice" (61 per cent), and "through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault" (60 per cent).

Commenting on the results, Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, chairman of the Vox Clara advisory committee on liturgical translations, said it would be misleading to speak of a polarisation.

He said it was interesting that those who were apprehensive before the texts appeared generally felt their fears were justified.

Cardinal Pell said the new text "escapes the banalities of some of the older translation" and he recommended "patience and repetition" to produce a spiritual deepening.

Source:

The Tablet

Image: Washington Post

In two public statements, the Archdiocese of Detroit has taken the unusual step of publicly criticizing Real Catholic TV, saying "that it does not have the authorization required under church law to identify or promote itself as Catholic."