Abrupt liturgical changes were damaging.

Rome--The Vatican's top official on doctrine, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, created a stir when in an autobiographical book he criticized the drastic manner in which Pope Paul VI reformed the Mass in 1969, saying it caused "extremely serious damage."

And the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith called for action, warning that it is "dramatically urgent" to have a renewal of liturgical awareness which "understands Vatican II not as a break, but as a developing moment."

Writing in From My Life: Remembrances 1927-1977, released in Italy in mid-April, Cardinal Ratzinger observed: "I am convinced that the ecclesial crisis in which we find ourselves today depends in great part on the collapse of the liturgy."

The German cardinal recorded his "dismay" that the Latin Mass rite, with few exceptions, was banned in 1969 after a transition period of only several months. The suppression of the old Mass marked a "break in the history of the liturgy, the consequences of which could only be tragic".

While previous popes had reformed the Mass, there was always a sense of "continuity," he noted. Even Pope Pius V, who promulgated the first normative Roman Missal in 1570 after the Council of Trent, allowed for the continued use of some pre-existing liturgies.

Many liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council were "authentic improvements and a real enrichment" he said, and cited the introduction of the vernacular as a reasonable change. But problems arose from presenting the reformed liturgy as "a new structure, in opposition to the one which had been formed through history" making it appear that liturgy was not a "vital process" in the life of the Church, but a product of "specialist knowledge and juridical competence."

Editor: For a like-minded view, see the "Oxford Declaration" of June 29, 1996, page 16, in our article "Liturgy in renewal?," December 1996, pp. 14-16.