Liturgical shake-up today at the Vatican:
Appointment of vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City, archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican and president of the Fabric of Saint Peter
The Holy Father has appointed Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola, O.F.M., hitherto secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City, archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican and president of the Fabric of Saint Peter.
Appointment of secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
The Holy Father has appointed Monsignor Aurelio García Marcías, under-secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, as secretary of the same Dicastery. [Source: Bollettino della Santa Sede]
This… is not great news. For years, Viola has been identified as the éminence grise (no pun intended) behind Cardinal Roche’s maneuvers against the Traditional Latin Rite. Now, he is elevated to a central position in the Vatican, and as a probable future Cardinal.
Some want to say this is better than having him as Roche’s replacement. But it is still bad news. Let’s face it: it’s bad news.
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The other news is not necessarily bad.
Spanish Bishop Macías (not Marcías, as the Bollettino wrongly published) is his replacement, and another son of the Anselmianum liturgical line. (He holds a doctorate in liturgy from Saint Anselm in Rome.) Does this mean he is against the Old Rite? Not necessarily.
Macías served as diocesan liturgy delegate from 1997 and as seminary rector in his native Valladolid, and it was Pope Benedict XVI (always a good sign) who made him a consultor of Divine Worship in 2010. He joined the dicastery under Cardinal Sarah (also a good sign) in 2015. Pope Francis named him undersecretary in 2021.
Marcía's dissertation, completed in 2005, is titled "Κατ' ἐκκλησίαν πρεσβύτεροι" (Act 14,23): the theology of the presbyter in the Byzantine-Greek Χειροτονία πρεσβυτέρου and the Prex ordinationis presbyterorum of the Roman rite. It was published in 2011 by Vincential publishing house CLV as a volume of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute’s series. It is not a polemical work and says nothing on current disputes.
