In honour of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Pontifical Liturgy Institute by Pope John XXIII, the administration, faculty and students were received in private audience by Pope Francis in the Clementine Hall on Saturday 7 May 2022.
A text of the message given by the Holy Father may be found on the Vatican web-site at this link.
Rome Reports in English provides the above brief news video of the event also available on YouTube at this link: Pope Francis: Liturgy cannot become an ideological battleground. I appear at second 39 and then in closeup at 1:10 as well as in the general views at the beginning and end of the video report. I’m the fourth or fifth person from the far left, the one sporting a white beard.
I received permission from Vatican Media to use these photos privately.
This encounter is featured in thte banner image of the table of contents page of The Tablet below.
News reports are available here:
Vatican News link: Pope: May the study of the liturgy lead to greater ecclesial unity.
The Tablet Catholic weekly from London link: Pope warns against ‘formalism’ in Catholic liturgy.
Cindy Wooden at Catholic News Service, shared on National Catholic Reporter out of Kansas City, Kansas link: Liturgy must lead to awe, unity, mission, pope says.
Religion News Service link: Pope decries divisions caused by old-school liturgy fans.
Catholic News Agency link: Pope Francis: ‘It’s not possible to worship God while making the liturgy a battleground’.
Aleteia link: Pope Francis: Liturgical division has ‘the smell of the devil’.
Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom blog from St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota link: Pope Francis and the ever new amazement of active participation.
Also of interest link: A document on liturgical formation is being prepared in Rome.
Pontificio Atteneo Sant’Anselmo notice link: Discorso del Santo Padre per il 60° del PIL.
The following article by Massimo Faggioli was published on 4 April 2022, well before the private audience: National Catholic Reporter out of Kansas City, Missouri link: Opposition to Pope Francis is rooted in a rejection of Vatican II.
Erik Varden, Bishop of Trondheim, Norway, offers this reflection on Traditionis Custodia link, which also appeared in The Tablet (18 September 2021).