Pope Benedict XVI has ordered
several changes to the Masses and liturgies that will mark the
inauguration of the next pope's pontificate.
Rites and gestures that are not strictly sacramental will take place
either before a Mass or in a ceremony not involving Mass, Msgr. Guido
Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told the Vatican
newspaper Feb. 22.
One of the most visual changes, he said, would be the restoration of the
public "act of obedience" in which each cardinal present at the pope's
inaugural Mass comes forward and offers his allegiance.
When Pope Benedict celebrated his inaugural Mass in 2005, 12 people were
chosen to represent all Catholics: three cardinals, a bishop, a
diocesan priest, a transitional deacon, a male religious, a female
religious, a married couple and a young man and a young woman recently
confirmed.
Msgr. Marini said Pope Benedict personally approved the changes Feb. 18;
they include offering a wider choice of traditional Mass prayers in
polyphony and chant, rather than the new musical repertoire composed for
the 2005 book.
After having personally experienced the liturgical rites drafted by
Msgr. Marini's predecessor -- and approved by Pope Benedict immediately
after his election -- the pope suggested "a few changes aimed at
improving the text" of the rites for the beginning of a pontificate,
formally known as the "Ordo Rituum pro Ministerii Petrini Initio Romae
Episcopi."
The changes, Msgr. Marini said, "follow in the line of the modifications
made in papal liturgies" over the course of Pope Benedict's papacy.
The previous edition of the ritual handbook also called for the new pope
to visit the basilicas of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major
within two or three weeks of his installation.
The new book, Msgr. Marini said, leaves it up to the new pope to decide
"when it would be most opportune, even at some distance from his
election, and under what form he judges best, whether it be a Mass, a
celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours or a particular liturgical act"
like the one found in the 2005 ritual book.
On the other hand, in an email response to questions, Msgr. Marini said
that no significant modifications had been made to the "Ordo rituum
conclavis," the book of rituals, Masses and prayers that accompany the
conclave to elect a new pope.