by Anthony Kramers

Speaking to teachers and students at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in May, Pope Francis recalled that when he was a boy, people were scandalised by the liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII. Allowing people to drink water before going to communion, fasting for an hour instead of from midnight, Sunday Mass on Saturday evening: all these things ‘scandalised closed minds’. Today, he said, ecclesial groups are using the liturgy to question Vatican II. Every reform, he added, creates resistance.(1)

Anthony Kramers is a member of L’Arche community, Edinburgh.