Mr. Smith Rorate Caeli goes to Washington

Well, not really.

However, much to our surprise, our blog was mentioned this weekend in the paper of record in America's capital, the Washington Post.

"For now, the Pope will not celebrate according to rites prior to the Council"

From declarations granted by Mgr. Guido Marini, Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, as reported by Rome Reports:

Mons. Guido Marini

Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI

“I think the pope's attention to the liturgy, his lessons in this environment and his example, help many priests and many Catholics to rediscover the central value of the liturgy for the life of the Church and for the life of each person.”

According to the Papal Master of Ceremonies, the liturgy is not an area only reserved for experts. But he notes that Catholics need help to understand the full meaning of the liturgical symbols and gestures.

Mons. Guido Marini

Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI

“The liturgy has a popular dimension that should be preserved because through the liturgy we find ourselves with the mystery of God. There the mystery of salvation it is made real for the life of each person. So it is important to prepare people so they can read the gestures and symbols of the liturgy.”

In recent years, Benedict XVI has brought back some traditional liturgical elements that were rarely used. For example, the presence of the crucifix in the center of the altar or the receiving communion on the knees. They are gestures the pope has explained as the so-called “hermeneutic of continuity.”

Mons. Guido Marini

Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI

“The hermeneutics of continuity highlights that in the life of the Church there is an authentic growth in the way in which they don't cut the roots so that this development includes the richness of its history and tradition.”

He says that for now it is not expected that the pope will celebrate a mass according to rites prior to the Second Vatican Council.

Monsignor Marini regularly receives instructions from the pope, but the office of liturgical ceremonies also proposes elements

for each celebration.

Mons. Guido Marini

Master of Ceremonies Benedict XVI

“In addition to putting into practice the instructions of the pope, we suggest some liturgical elements. He decides whether to accept them or not. It's to say, in every ceremony there are instructions from the Holy Father and suggestions presented by our department.”

In any case, since the pope has written many works on the liturgy, from his time as a cardinal, for the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations, it is very easy to know what the pope expects of every celebration. In other words, that the celebration helps draw people closer to the mystery of God.

Tip: Brian Kopp, at The Gregorian Rite.

Guido Marini - new Bishop of Tortona

As anticipated by Messa in Latino yesterday, Msgr. Guido Marini's appointment as Bishop of Tortona was included today, August 29, in the Vatican Bollettino. 

The same announcement was made at the Santuario della Madonna della Guardia by the Archbishop of Genoa, Marco Tasca OFMConv. Msgr. Marini was present and Tasca placed the purple zucchetto on the new Bishop-elect right after.

Don Guido Marini: Motu proprio favors unity and mutual enrichment of the uses

Main excerpts of the interview granted by the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, Monsignor Guido Marini, to Paolo Luigi Rodari, published today in Il Riformista (transcript):

"My very first reaction was one of great surprise and great fear. Afterwards, I lived with a certain trepidation the eve of the beginning of my service and, also, I greatly felt the separation from my diocese and from my city [Genoa], from my sister and from her family, from so many friendly people, from the sets in which I practiced my priesthood in particular ways: the [Archdiocesan] Curia, the Seminary, the Cathedral. At the same time, though, I remained much honored of having been called by the Holy Father to carry out the service of Master of Liturgical Celebrations. I immediately felt the opportunity which was granted to me of being beside the Holy Father as a true grace for my priesthood."

Monsignor Guido Marini, Genoese, 42, thus describes describes to Il Reformista his arrival at the Vatican last October to take the post of Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations. A nomination which allows him to work in close contact with Benedict XVI.

"I have found precise confirmation of what I felt at the beginning of this new task of mine - he says - every time I have had the grace of meeting the Holy Father. These meetings have been and are always motive of great joy and of great emotion for me. I have never thought that I, careful reader and admirer of cardinal Ratzinger, that I would one day have the pleasure of being close to him as I am now. And, besides, every time, along with the profound veneration which the figure of the Pope provokes in me, I live the experience of his serene, gentle, kind, and delicate human demeanor which fills my heart with joy and invites me to apply myself with every energy to cooperate with generosity, humility, and fidelity in the fulfillment of his Magisterium in the liturgical field, as much as it related to my competences."

..."The position of the Cross at the center of the altar - Marini says - signals the centrality of the Cruficied in the eucharistic celebration and the exact interior orientation which the entire assembly is called to have during the eucharistic liturgy: we do not look at ourselves, but at Him who was born, dies and was risen for us, the Savior. The salvation comes from the Lord, He is the East, the Sun which rises, to whom we must all turn our gaze, from whom we must all receive the gift of grace. The question of liturgical orientation, and the even practical way by which this takes shape, has great relevance, because a fundamental theological, anthropological, ecclesiological datum, inherent to the personal spirituality, is connected to it."

Continuity

A "repositioning", that of the Cross, which makes clear how the liturgical practices of the past must live still today:

"The liturgy of the Church - Marini explains -, as by the way all her life, it made of continuity: I might say development in continuity. This means that the Church proceeds in her historical path without losing sight of her own roots and her own living tradition: that may demand, in some cases, even the retrieval of precious and important elements which were lost, forgotten along the way, and which the passage of time has made less luminous in their authentic meaning. When this happens, it is not a return to the past, but a true and enlightened progress in the liturgical field."

And, in this progress, the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum cannot be unmentioned:

"A twofold precise understanding comes up when considering with attention the Motu proprio and also the letter addressed by the Pope to the bishops of all the world to present it. First of all, that of attaining "a reconciliation in the bosom of the Church"; and, in this sense, as it has been said, the Motu proprio is an extremely beautiful act of love towards the unity of the Church. Secondly, and this is a fact not to be forgotten, that of favoring a mutual enrichment between both forms of the Roman Rite: in such a way, for instance, that in the celebrations according to the Missal of Paul VI (ordinary form of the Roman Rite) it 'will be able to demonstrate, more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage'."
...

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Image: AFP/Andreas Solaro

The Paragon of True Humility

Monsignor Guido Marini, the papal master of ceremonies since 2007, needs our prayers.

Those who have appreciated the gradual return of visual beauty concerning the papacy know that Monsignor Marini had been Pope Benedict's right-hand man in this effort.  Marini, echoing Benedict, has clearly stated "it is in the liturgy that the renewal and reform of the Church begins."

He is now in a very difficult position, as evidenced this week with a multitude of abrupt simplifications.  The Associated Press, among other news outlets, observed this conflict during the liturgy yesterday featuring a portable versus populum table-altar in the Sistine Chapel:

At the start of the Mass, Francis exchanged words with Monsignor Guido Marini, the Vatican's master of liturgical ceremonies who under Benedict ushered in a far more traditional style of liturgy, heavy on Gregorian chant, Latin and the silk-brocaded vestments of the pre-Vatican II church.

Pope Francis: Msgr. Guido Marini renewed as Master of Pontifical Ceremonies for a full new term

From Radio Vaticana:

The Pope has confirmed Monsignor Guido Marini as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies. Born 49 years ago in Genoa, Monsignor Guido Marini had been called to this position by Benedict XVI in October 2007.

As all confirmations and nominations in the Curia or Papal Chapels, except when expressly mentioned otherwise for a different period or for life, the nomination is for a five-year term (cf. Pastor Bonus, art. 182 § 2).

Source (in Italian). Tip: @ASchwibach

Don Guido

The current Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Genoa, Monsignor Guido Marini - who also is the Prefect of the ancient Cathedral of San Lorenzo and Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies (Cerimoniere), as well as spiritual director of the Archdiocesan seminary and professor of Canon Law in several institutions -, has been named by several Italian journalists as the man who will replace Archbishop Piero Marini (no relation) as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies.

First, Andrea Tornielli, on the September 2 edition of Il Giornale; now, Sandro Magister. The most interesting report, though, is that of a local Genoese news site, Primocanale, which details several changes in the local Curia, related to the probable departure of Don Guido Marini for Rome - and which would seem to indicate that the Papal move is imminent.

UPDATE (2245 GMT): It seems to be all but certain, as even Zenit (German edition) reports this imminent move (tip: Berolinensis).

Did the Pope say to resisting bishops: "Summorum will not be touched"? Not really.

No, the Pope did not say that, not even allegedly.

Il Foglio today carried an article by Matteo Matzuzzi with the following title: "Francis and Latin - 'The ancient Mass is not to be touched,' the Jesuit Pope once again surprises all. The bishops from Apulia ask for the removal of Ratzinger's motu proprio. Bergoglio says no: 'both new and ancient things are worthy'." Father Finigan has a translation of the relevant two paragraphs of the article here.

However, once again an Italian news source puts words in people's lips that were not exactly there. Matzuzzi's article was completely based on a post written by Sandro Magister for his Italian-only blog. Here is the main excerpt of Magister's post, with what the Pope supposedly said to the bishops of Apulia.

There were also indiscretions regarding the liturgy.

The Archbishop of Bari, Francesco Cacucci, started it, declaring to Vatican Radio that Pope Francis had exhorted the bishops to "live the relationship with the liturgy with simplicity and without superstructures".

Then, it was the turn of the bishop of Conversano and Monopoli, Domenico Padovano, who told his own clergy that the bishops of Apulia had complained to the Pope about the work of division created within the Church by the defenders of the Mass in the ancient rite.

And how did the Pope answer him?

According to what was mentioned by Bishop Padovano, Francis exhorted him to be careful with the extremisms of certain Traditionalist groups, but also to treasure tradition and allow it to live in the Church along with innovation.

In order to better explain this last point, the Pope would have brought up his own example:

"See? They say that my Master of papal ceremonies [Guido Marini] is of a Traditionalist mold; and many, after my election, have asked me to remove him from his position and replace him. I have answered no, precisely because I myself may treasure his traditional formation, and at the same time he might take advantage of my more emancipated formation."

If the words are authentic, they are instructive about the liturgical spirit and the style of celebration of the current pope.

But in what sense the bishops of Apulia have interpreted them is not certain.

Another one of them, that of Cerignola and Ascoli Satriano, Felice di Molfetta, a former president of the Liturgical Committee of the CEI [Italian Episcopal Conference], in a message to his diocese wrote among other things:

"I did not fail to rejoice with the pope for the style of celebration that he has taken up, a style inspired by the 'noble simplicity' determined by the Council, showing particular attention to the subject, about which he has not failed to give his considerations of a great theological-pastoral profile, shared by all fellow brothers who were present.

...

"Pope Francis, in light of certain phenomena of the recent past, regarding which not a few drifts have taken place, exhorted us bishops, referring also to some concrete examples, to live the relationship with the liturgical action, as work of God, as true believers, beyond every ceremonial triumphalism, acknowledging fully that the 'noble simplicity'of which the Council speaks is not sloppiness, but Beauty, beauty with a capital 'B'."

But to enroll Pope Francis among the ranks of the Progressives also in the liturgical field is at the very least far-fetched. It does not mean, in particular, that he is hostile to the liberalization of the mass in the ancient rite, decided by Benedict XVI with the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum" of 2007.

While it is certain the Bishop di Molfetta himself was in that year one of the most combative critics of that motu proprio, before and after its publication.

He considered the mass in the ancient rite "incompatible" with the post-Conciliar one, and tried without success to make the CEI issue an interpretive note - in a restrictive sense - of Summorum Pontificum.

So, Matzuzzi's interpretation was that when the Pope allegedly told the bishops of Apulia, according to the account supposedly made by Bishop Padovano, "also to treasure tradition and allow it to live in the Church along with innovation", that Summorum would not be touched; while according to Padovano's own alleged account, the example the Pope used to illustrate what he meant was the current pontifical liturgical style, a kind of synthesis between Msgr. Guido Marini's "traditional" mindset, and his own "emancipated" liturgical life. The sentence reported by Magister ("Francis exhorted him to be careful with the extremisms of certain Traditionalist groups, but also to treasure tradition and allow it to live in the Church along with innovation"), was somewhat reworked in Il Foglio ("they should treasure tradition and create the necessary conditions so that tradition might be able to live alongside innovation") - the author's interpretation added to Magister's report of Padovano's supposed account.

Honestly, we never thought that Summorum  would be touched, because we did not think it could be touched - not because of the character of the new Pope, but because the legal construction made by Benedict XVI is just so solid, and based on an argument that is deeply dogmatic and theological: "What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful" [Letter to Bishops, July 7, 2007]. In other words, the ancient Missal has not been abrogated because it cannot be abrogated legitimately (we are not entering here in sterile discussions on the various editions of the ancient liturgical books, the 1960-1962 editions having been established by various reasons as the paradigmatic editions). Tweaks and adjustments are one thing, wholesale obliteration (as apparently - only apparently! - Paul VI tried to do) is impossible, if the Church is to retain her marks (One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic), not only in space (for all peoples) but most importantly in time (for all generations). No wonder the most recent edition of the Denzinger includes Summorum as one of the few doctrinal texts worth quoting of the last pontificate.

Update [May 29]: we thank our friend Francesco Colafemmina (Fides et Forma, in our sidebar) for calling our attention to this tweet by the article's author - in a response to the title of the article, on whether the Pope would "touch" Summorum:

"I have no elements to say it [that the Pope would never repeal it], but only feelings: I don't know, but I don't see [a] Bergoglio who repeals Summorum Pontificum"

Ok, then.
___

(Informative note: According to the website of Inter Multiplices Una Vox, in all of Apulia (It. Puglia), whose bishops find the defenders of the Traditional Latin Mass to be so "divisive", there are only four locations where it is celebrated once every Sunday under the terms of Summorum Pontificum, plus one where it is celebrated every Saturday night. One of these Masses is celebrated by Msgr. Nicola Bux of Bari, one of Benedict XVI's most outspoken collaborators and defenders on matters liturgical. - Augustinus.)

Don Guido - V: "Siri is glad"

Avvenire, the semi-official daily of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), published yesterday a short profile of Don Guido Marini (PDF), new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies, which included excerpts of Marini's own note on his nomination:

In the brief written note with which the new Master of Pontifical Ceremonies willed to express his own "sentiments", other than [expressing] "thanks" to the Pope for the selection and to Bagnasco "for the paternal affection with which he has followed my path this year and, especially, in the past few months", Marini also wished to convey a thought on the deceased Cardinal Giuseppe Siri: "I believe that he is also glad to see one of his priests, whom he received in Seminary, called to carry out this job, he who loved and promoted the liturgy so much."

Don Guido speaks: Motu proprio "an act of justice"

From the wonderful interview granted by Monsignor Guido Marini, the new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies - and a man who is not afraid to follow rules - to Bruno Volpe (Petrus):

Monsignor, first of all, welcome and good work...

"Thank you for the wishes, I truly need them. You know, I have been in Rome for a very short time, and I look around, I study, I reflect: there is so much to do and to toil, believe me."

So it goes from one Marini...to another: what do you say to Piero, your predecessor?

"I thank him from my heart. He gave so much to the Church, he served two Popes, and I find myself only at the beginning of my path."

You have been called to a difficult job...

"Certainly. The life of every head of liturgical ceremonies of the Holy Father is filled with problems. We are under the limelights, we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of making great mistakes."

Many have claimed that you were called because [you are] liturgically more traditionalist and sober than Archbishop Piero Marini. But what is your conception of the liturgy?

"[It is] as the Church wishes and teaches, not more and not less. I am not the kind of person who looks for inventions and oddities. I may even seem banal, but the liturgy is respect to the rules laid down by the Church, and I see no reason for which I should disobey it."

It is said precisely that in Genoa, where you worked up to now, the liturgy was well cared for, sober and elegant, without bizarre adornments...

"But liturgy is naturally thus. I repeat: no one can act against the liturgical laws of the Church. The Mass is a gift, a grace, not a show. Therefore, no invention, but absolute respect for liturgical rules."

Pope Benedict XVI, other than a great theologian, is also a fine liturgist. He attributes to the liturgy, [when] correctly executed, a notable relevance...

"Working together with the Holy Father will be a grace for me. The popularity of the Pontiff, his preaching of truth and courage, are before the eyes of all. Regarding the liturgy, I completely share the thesis of the Pope: the Mass is Sacrifice."

In your opinion, have there been liturgical abuses recently?

"You know, the Church is large. But, as the Pontiff himself recognized in the accompanying letter to the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum', there have been abuses and extravagant interpretations. What I can say is that certainly I will not be the author of any fabrication, I will limit myself to scrupulously apply the existing rules."

By the way, what do you think of the Motu Proprio which has liberalized the Mass in the Tridentine Rite?

I agree with the Motu Proprio 100%; [it is] an act of good sense, of justice, of freedom, and of foresight.

Priest and faithful together

Interesting excerpts of an interview granted by the Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, Mons. Guido Marini, to Italian daily Il Tempo (Sunday edition):

When shall we see Pope Benedict celebrating the Latin Mass according to the extraordinary Roman Rite, that of Saint Pius V? I personally viewed the 'motu proprio' as an act of liberality, of openness, not of closemindedness.

[G.Marini:] "I do not know. Many faithful have availed themselves of this possibility. The Pope will decide, if he considers it appropriate."

[...] The Pope, a year ago, celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel with his back turned to the people. Who it was who proposed it to him?

[G. Marini:] "It was I who proposed it to him. The Sistine Chapel is a treasure chest. It seemed a strained effort to alter its beauty b y building an artificial, made-up stage. In the ordinary rite, this celebration 'with the back turned to the people' is a foreseen position. Yet I underline: the back is not turned to the faithful, but the celebrant and the faithful are turned towards the only point that counts, which is the Crucifix."

Tip: Papa Ratzinger blog

Don Guido - II

The new Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith was named soon after the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Two and a half years have passed since April 2005, and several heads of dicasteries have been replaced: delicate positions such as that of Secretary of State, Prefect of Propaganda Fide, Prefect of Clergy... The head Bugninist in the Congregations (Domenico Sorrentino, former Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship) was replaced in November 2005... Even the motu proprio on the liberalization of the Traditional Mass, which many deemed impossible, has been published. Yet, Archbishop Piero Marini, Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies, has remained in his place.

Andrea Tornielli writes today in his blog that Monsignor Guido Marini (more about him here) will be named the new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies next week, maybe on Monday.

__________________
Recess for a few days.

Don Guido - III - Confirmed

1. Monsignor Guido Marini, new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies.

2. Archbishop Piero Marini, new president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

Will the Pope celebrate a Traditional Mass on December 2?

Maybe, it is rumored. Luigi Accattoli, Vaticanist of Italy's largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reports today:

Luigi Accattoli

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO— ... [T]he nomination of the new "Master of Ceremonies" is expected for the next few days, in substitution of Archbishop Piero Marini. After the arrival of the new cerimoniere, it is "probable" that the Pope will celebrate a Mass in the old rite, in Saint Peter's, obviously entirely in Latin: it could take place on December 2, First Sunday in Advent.

If that celebration truly happens, the passage of power between the current and the future "Master of Ceremonies" will have a generational and symbolical significance, for a Pope has not celebrated with the old Missal for over forty years: for a traditional "Papal Mass", it is necessary to move back to before 1965, the closing year of the Second Vatican Council, when Paul VI introduced the first changes.

It is said that the new "Master" is another Marini, in his last name, his first name being Guido, a Genoese priest up to now unknown in Rome. It is said that he was presented to the Pope by Cardinal Bertone, who esteems him [after] having had him as cerimoniere in Genoa. Nothing is known about his position regarding the old Missal, but it is supposed that he would be more favorable to it than the Marini currently in charge, who is a passionate supporter of the liturgical reform.

Nothing precise is known of the intention of the Pope to give to the bishops an "example" of spontaneous use of the old rite - other than through granting of the demands of the faithful (as the motu proprio [Summorum Pontificum] which he published in July foresees). The rumor comes from the lips of those who hope that gesture and who say that it would definitively "disencumber" the old Missal, which still faces resistances, despite the recent "liberalization", as well as from those who fear that the Pope may accomplish this gesture, because it would be "another step away from the Council".

"It is only a rumor for the moment - says a monsignore who is neither favorable nor opposed to it -, but everyone talks about it here [in the Vatican], and I believe that he will do it even if he risks raising controversy, because Catholics who are under fifty have never seen a Pope celebrate with his back turned to the people and pronouncing the 'Eucharistic prayer' sottovoce. In the meantime, the 'court' that accompanied the Pontiff in the celebrations has been abolished and I would really like to see how the old Papal Mass would be carried out today!"

...

The new Marini and Vian [new director of L'Osservatore Romano] will assume their offices after October 21: on that day, the Pope will be visiting Naples, and that will be the last public occasion for Mario Agnes ... and Marini senior.

_______________________________________________

Source: Corriere della Sera; Transcript: Papa Ratzinger Blog.
In the picture: Pope Saint Pius X celebrates Mass at the Altar of the Cathedra, in the apse of Saint Peter's.

New Cardinals

Ignazio Ingrao, Vaticanist of Italian weekly Panorama, reported Friday in his Panorama blog that the list of new cardinals for the (almost certain) November consistory is ready and will be announced in the next few days.

The first name of the list would be that of Leonardo Sandri, new Prefect of Oriental Churches, followed by Angelo Comastri, Archpriest of Saint Peter's, Giovanni Lajolo, President of the Governatorate of Vatican City State, and Raffaele Farina, Librarian and Archivist of the Holy Roman Church; perhaps, Archbishop Foley, Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Italians would be Angelo Bagnasco, of Genoa and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference ("probably", according to Ingrao; "certainly", according to common sense), and "maybe" Paolo Romeo, of Palermo (the anti-Traditionalist former scheming nuncio in Italy), and the Traditionalist-friendly Luigi de Magistris (who is over 80).

The archbishops of Paris, Warsaw, Minsk are probable names. Ingrao includes the name of the Archbishop of Barcelona, though that does not seem probable. Cardinals from the Americas would include the Archbishop of Washington, and the Archbishop of São Paulo, Odilo Scherer. Bishops of other nations would also be included - probably that of Bombay, Oswald Gracias.

Ingrao states as a certainty that Don Guido Marini will organize the November consistory, and that Archbishop Piero Marini will be named president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

Back to a regular Roman-style Papal Pallium

Finally, the fake archaeologist feature favored by Archbishop Piero Marini in the beginning of Pope Benedict's pontificate - the pseudo-ancient pallium - is to be retired. A new papal pallium (pictured above and very similar to the one used for most of the past centuries, up to Pope John Paul II) is to be used for the first time in the celebrations for Saints Peter and Paul.

This is the main point of the interview granted by the Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, to L'Osservatore Romano (permanent link) which also includes some very interesting answers, especially on the mode of distribution of Holy Communion:

...
In the recent visit to Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi, the Pope has distributed communion to the kneeling faithful in the mouth. Is it a practice destined to become usual in papal celebrations?

I think so. Regarding it, it should not be forgotten that the distribution of communion in the hand still remains, from a juridical viewpoint, an indult from the universal law, granted by the Holy See to those Episcopal Conferences which have made a request for it. The mode adopted by Benedict XVI tends to underline the force of the norm valid for the entire Church. In addition, a preference could perhaps be seen for the use of this mode of distribution, which, without eliminating anything from the other, puts into light better the truth of the real presence in the Eucharist, aids the devotion of the faithful, introduces with greater ease the sense of mystery. Aspects which, in our age, pastorally speaking, it is urgent to underline and recover.

...

Still today the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, on the use of the Roman Liturgy from before the reform effected in 1970, seems to give rise to contrasting interpretations. Celebrations presided by the Pope according to the extraordinary form, that is, the ancient one, are predictable?

It is a question which I do not know how to answer. Regarding the mentioned motu proprio, considering it with serene attention and without ideological views, together with the letter addressed by the Pope to the Bishops of the whole world to present it, a double precise understanding is brought forth. First of all, that of favoring the accomplishment of "a reconciliation in the interior of the Church"; and, in this sense, as it has been said, the motu proprio is a most beautiful act of love for the unity of the Church. In second place - and that is a datum not to be forgotten - its purpose is to favor a reciprocal enrichment between both forms of the Roman Rite: in such a way, for example, that in the celebrations according to the Missal of Paul VI (which is the ordinary form of the Roman Rite) "will be able to demonstrate more powerfully than has been the case hitherto, the sacrality which attracts many people to the former usage".

Don Guido - IV

Paolo Luigi Rodari presents in Il Reformista a profile of the new Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies (excerpts, due to copyright limitations):

[Cardinal Siri,] A prelate careful to all that the Tradition of the Church has handed over, even and especially in liturgical matters. So careful that there are those who say today that, if he were still alive, he would be, more than anyone else, glad with the liberalization of the ancient rite promoted by Ratzinger thanks to the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. A liberalization which monsignor Guido certainly sees with benevolence, if it be true - as it is true - that also thanks to his work as cerimoniere of Archbishops Tettamanzi and Bertone, and Bagnasco up to yesterday, the ancient Genoese liturgical school has shone again and has shown its beauty in the cathedral of San Lorenzo.

A splendor which originates from the work of monsignor Moglia, a man for whom the vision of the Bugninist school (to which belongs the now former papal cerimoniere Piero Marini), according to which Vatican II broke with the past also in liturgical matters, was something to be rejected because of its falsehood.
...
In the Vatican, there is a small office expecting [don Guido]: three monsignors (Enrico Viganò, Giulio Viviani e Konrad Krajewski) and two addetti to the Papal Sacristy (Mario Mattei e Giuseppe Viscardi) who propably expected anything, except the nomination of a head of ceremonies from outside of their office.

Yet, Ratzinger has decided so. His will is to have a cerimoniere who is not a protagonist (never before as in the age of Piero Marini was a Papal cerimoniere so much spoken of) and who knows how to give to his ceremonies that sumptuosity mixed with sobriety which has not always been seen recently inside the Vatican walls.

...

Associated Press on supposed traditionalist concerns

Will the Pope celebrate a Traditional Mass? Don Guido answers it - or maybe not

The Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, Monsignor Guido Marini, granted an interview to Andrea Tornielli, published today in Il Giornale - of which two questions could not be published in print, and were posted by Tornielli in his blog, including the following:

Will Benedict XVI celebrate a Mass using the ancient rite, liberalized by him with the motu proprio?

"I do not know it and I in not in a position to answer it. I believe that a serene, ecclesiological, and non-ideological reading of this decision of the Pontiff ought to be important. The liturgy of the Church, as in any case all of her life, is made up of continuity: I speak of development on continuity. This means that the Church proceeds in her historical path without losing sight of her own roots and of her own living tradition: that may demand, in some cases, even the recovery of precious and important elements which, along the path, went astray, were forgotten or that the passage of time rendered less luminous in their authentic meaning. It seems to me that the Motu proprio moves in that direction: reaffirming with great clarity that there is continuity in the liturgical life of the Church, without rupture."

Event: Sacra Liturgia conference, Rome, June 2013

A major liturgical conference is to be held in Rome on June 25-28, 2013: Sacra Liturgia 2013, including several of the major liturgical thinkers of our age, including Cardinal Burke, Cardinal Ranjith and Monsignor Guido Marini. Speakers will also include the recently named vice-president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Abp. Di Noia. The program includes one solemn Traditional Mass and, considering the array of speakers, Traditional Masses will surely be widely available for the participants during all days of the conference.

The Conference will be held in the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, of the personal Prelature of Holy Cross and Opus Dei. Further information available at the official website.