Lamenting the messy papal Mass in Belgium

On Sunday, September 29, Pope Francis concluded his apostolic visit to Belgium with a Mass at the King Beaudoin Stadium. There were about 40,000 in attendance, a drop in the bucket for a country that claims half of the population as Catholic but perhaps massive if one considers that the number of those who attend at least once a month hovers around 8%.

First, let’s address an observation that has been circulating around the blogosphere for some time, that Pope Francis no longer celebrates Mass and, presumably, because he no longer believes in the Eucharist. It is true that, for more than a year, Francis has not been the celebrant of the ‘papal Masses’. He “presides” at the liturgy, instead, due we are told to his physical limitations, which are quite apparent. Many commentators on this development forget or overlook that prior to Pope Paul VI, it was rare for a pope to be the celebrant of a public Mass; rather, he “presided” while another prelate served as the celebrant. This was largely because, before the liturgical reforms following Vatican II, a Mass directly celebrated by a pope would take hours. Even diocesan bishops rarely celebrated public Masses; hence, a category of liturgy–still an option–“the celebration of Mass in the presence of a greater prelate.” That is what Francis has been doing, and what Pope John Paul II did for much of the last year of his life. We are told that Francis does concelebrate daily Mass in his private chapel, but with his priest-secretary as principal celebrant, again, due to physical difficulties.

Second, papal Masses come under the purview of the papal master of ceremonies who either directly plans such liturgies (for example, those that take place in Rome) or approves those that occur elsewhere and are largely planned by local personnel. The current holder of that position is Archbishop Diego Ravelli, a long-time worker in ceremonies office and, we are told, hand-picked by Bishop Guido Marini to be his successor. Readers will recall that Monsignor Marini served in that capacity for most of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI and for several years under Francis. Marini did much to upgrade papal celebrations; our Newman House Press published a collection of his essays on the topic under the title of Liturgical Reflections of a Papal Master of Ceremonies.

Now, onto the event in question.

The principal celebrant of the Mass was the 55-year-old Archbishop of Brussels, Luc Terlinden. His ars celebrandi is very precise and dignified. The music of the Mass was superb. In keeping with the Vatican II directive, all the Ordinary parts of the Mass were sung in Latin; hymnody and motets were beautifully executed. That’s the good news and, unfortunately, the only good news.

Now, for the bad news.

• Pope Francis opened the liturgy with “Good morning!”–akin to a television or radio talk-show host. No, the greeting of the congregation is prescribed and comes in the form of three possible biblical texts (four, for a bishop). After the sign of the cross, he did a proper formulary.

• The vestments of the concelebrants were ugly, and the design was bizarre, signifying God knows what. I suspect they were the creation of Slabbinck, a Belgian producer of liturgical wear, whose creations were inflicted on the Church in the United States for a good portion of the 1970s. The set-up of the sanctuary was also ugly, minimalistic to a tee; it well could have served as a Quaker meeting house.

• Female servers were in abundance. Does the country not have any seminarians who, surely, could have served the Pope?

• Initially, I could not figure out the purpose of dozens of children on the playing field, clad in yellow and white, surrounding an image of the globe. I got my answer at the Offertory (and again, after Communion): they produced a liturgical dance which, of course, is strictly prohibited. My only consolation is that the kids were better than an entourage of late-middle-age women in mumus or leotards!

• The Eucharistic Prayer was offered in different languages. This, too, is strictly forbidden as it destroys the integrity and unity of the prayer. Given the at least bilingual nature of the population (in addition to those from other lands), why not use God’s gift to the Universal Church of the universal and sacral language of Latin?

• The deacons of the Mass received Holy Communion by intinction (a practice introduced by Monsignor Ravelli some time ago) and thus received on the tongue. However, not a single other person in the assembly received on the tongue (at least as could be observed from what the camera showed). That is shocking and speaks volumes about the liturgical education (or propagandizing) of the laity. On second thought, I should not have been surprised by this since Belgium, in cahoots with Holland, led the way on this issue (even while Vatican II was still underway) by adamantly practicing Communion-in-the-hand, despite numerous corrections from the Holy See.

• With hundreds of bishops, priests, and deacons present (“ordinary” ministers of Holy Communion), I saw only one priest (yes, one) who distributed Holy Communion. Hundreds of the non-ordained took on the role proper to the clergy. And some wonder why belief in the Eucharist has tanked and why that country has so few priestly vocations (which may be why there were no seminarians to serve)? Along those lines, I was genuinely scandalized by the way the girl scouts received the Sacrament–laughing and joking among themselves! Even more scandalous was the sight of some “extraordinary” ministers returning unconsumed Hosts with a ciborium in one hand and a coffee cup or water bottle in the other.

Papal liturgies are supposed to be solemn events, exemplars for all and edifying. This one failed on those scores. How did this happen? Did Ravelli not know about these aberrations in advance? If he did know, did the Pope tell him to let them go on as a sop to the out-of-control liberals in the establishment? If that was the case, it clearly failed on that score as well since, as we saw, Francis was still roundly excoriated for his refusals to kowtow to their agenda on the sanctity of life and the male priesthood.

The display we witnessed was not a unique performance; it is precisely what Belgian Catholics have experienced for six decades, which is why they have such a moribund Church. Quite fittingly, the French word for “Mass” is “Messe”!

Catholic World Report