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.
It now feels like a distant era, but Marini's appointment as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies in October 2007 had ushered in a time of renewed beauty in the papal liturgies of Benedict XVI. The papal Masses in St. Peter's Basilica in the last years of Benedict XVI's reign were without doubt the most glorious and dignified there since the liturgical reforms shattered the old papal liturgy in the 1960's. As the head papal MC under Benedict, Marini defended Summorum Pontificum and actively spoke about the importance of the "retrieval of precious and important elements which were lost" in the liturgy.
That all-too-brief interlude was followed by more than 8 years under the current dispensation, during which Marini saw most of his restorations to the papal liturgy curtailed or eliminated. Marini never spoke about this, but it is telling that he never gave interviews or talks defending Francis' liturgical practices, unlike with his old master.
We have no doubt that his appointment to Tortona is a welcome release from his Roman job, and a blessing for the Catholic faithful of Tortona.
There is no word yet on who will succeed Guido Marini as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Ceremonies.
