Cardinal Burke's latest interview dealing with Summorum Pontificum

Editor: Heads up to the Bishops. You can't expect obedience on the part of your laity if you're unwilling to be obedient yourselves.

by Pete Frey on Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 12:00pm

In its application, I have ascertained an always increasing interest and appreciation for the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, for the faithful in general and for young Catholics in particular. Excellent initiatives have taken place in order to promote acquaintance with the motu proprio and its objective, foreseen by the Holy Father when he promulgated it. I think of numerous individual talks as well as conferences on sacred liturgy, which have granted particular attention to the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite and to its relationship with the ordinary form. Additionally, several books and articles have been published, having as their aim a deep study of the motu proprio.


It is evident that the application of Summorum Pontificum has not taken place in a uniform fashion in the Church universal. In some places, its application has even faced resistence by the part of those who claim not to understand its goals and who defend that the motu proprio cannot be applied before the publication of the Instruction related to its application. I hope that the Instruction will be published shortly, so that the motu proprio may be applied in a more universal and more uniform way, according to the profound pastoral solicitude of our Holy Father for the sacred liturgy. To those who claim not to understand the intentions of Summorum Pontificum, I suggest a re-reading of the Letter to the Bishops, written by our Holy Father when it was promulgated, as well as the numerous writings of the Holy Father on sacred liturgy, published before and after his election to the Chair of Peter. I think, for instance, of his masterpiece: The Spirit of the Liturgy.


As far as I am concerned, the application of the motu proprio has allowed me to greatly develop and deepen my knowledge and love for the sacred liturgy, the highest expression of the faith and of the life of the Church. By re-reading the apostolic letter itself, as well as the accompanying Letter to Bishops of the Pope, I see how the Holy Father was inspired when grating to the universal Church this new liturgical discipline. I have myself been a personal witness to the good fruits of this new discipline