ROMAN REPORT
Continuity with the past Alberto Carosa on Cardinal Burke’s recent lectio magistralis
T
he renewal and reform of the sacred liturgy is brought about not through rupture with the past, not through revolution, but in continuity with the past, through respect for the sublime beauty of the Sacred Liturgy celebrated uninterruptedly along the Christian centuries: this was the message of Cardinal Raymond Burke at his lectio magistralis in L’Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo region, on 24 March, with the title La Chiesa e la Società contemporanea – La Sacra Liturgia: Segno eminente della presenza viva di Cristo (The Church and contemporary Society – Sacred Liturgy: eminent Sign of the living presence of Christ). His lecture, amply based on his recent book Un cardinale nel cuore della Chiesa (A Cardinal in the heart of the Church), was organized by the local chapter of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George for Abruzzo and Molise, and the Giuseppe Sciacca Foundation in the person of its president professor, Don Bruno Lima (Cardinal Burke is also its honorary president) in conjunction with the Missa Est association, a local group for the celebration of the traditional Latin liturgy. Missa Est is a member of CNSP (Coordinamento Nazionale del Summorum Pontificum - National Coordination of Summorum Pontificum), a free federation of Italian lay and religious associations that in their areas are involved in various ways in the application of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Benedict XVI and the related interpretative note Universae Ecclesiae of 2011. In turn, CNSP is part of CISP - Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum - the international organization which oversees the annual thanksgiving international pilgrimage to Rome to celebrate the Motu Proprio of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who with this 2007 apostolic letter intended to liberalize the celebration of the traditional pre-Vatican II Roman rite of the Mass.
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The conference took place in the Sala Rivera of the Palazzo Fibbioni, one of the finest palaces in L’Aquila, currently housing also the City Hall offices, in the presence of a packed audience with a number of representatives of local
civil, military and religious authorities, including the head of L’Aquila archdiocese, Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi. As explained by Don Bruno Lima in his introduction, the event was
SUMMER 2018
