
Andre Grillo / Facebook (Left), TLM Mass by Alison Girone (Right)
CV NEWS FEED // A prominent Italian Catholic liturgist in Rome expressed “heavy criticism at the traditional liturgy” last week during an interview with the owner of a reputable Italian Catholic blog.
On June 18, the blog Messainlatino.it published an interview with Professor Andrea Grillo, who is a professor of Sacramental Theology and the Philosophy of Religion at the Pontifical Athenaeum S. Anselmo, in Rome. Grillo is also a professor of Liturgy in Padua, at the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Rome.
Grillo is regarded as the most influential liturgist behind the full front Vatican attack against the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM).
The interview was carried out by the Italian Catholic blogger Luigi C. during a Catholic conference which took place in Northern Italy between June 14-16, and was conducted by “Messale in Latino” (Latin Missal in Italian) (MiL) and translated into English by Vatican correspondent Diane Montagna.
During the interview, Luigi asked Grillo why there seems to be “no desire to give free space in the Catholic Church to traditionalists who are faithful to Rome,” to which Grillo said that Luigi phrased the question inaccurately.
“Those you call ‘traditionalists faithful to Rome’ are actually people who, for various reasons, are at odds with Rome, and not in a relationship of fidelity,” Grillo said.
He later added, “If someone tells me he is faithful at the same time to the Novus Ordo (the New Order of the Mass) and Vetus Ordo (the Old Order of the Mass), I reply that he has not understood the meaning of tradition, within which there [is] a legitimate and insuperable progress that is irreversible.”
The interview in which Grillo expresses clear hostility to the TLM and points at not redeeming values comes as rumors are increasingly circulating about a potential document from the Vatican that would completely forbid all celebration of the Latin Mass – already significantly restricted in parishes. CatholicVote has not confirmed these rumors at the time of publication.
In the interview, Luigi pointed out Paris-Chartres 2024 pilgrimage, which was attended by 18,000 people whose average age was 25, and asked Grillo if Rome can “continue to deny the massive vitality of the ancient liturgy?”
Grillo responded, “What are 18,000 people compared to the great multitude of the Catholic Church? Little more than a sect that experiences infidelity as salvation, and is often linked to moral and political positions, and very concerning customs.”
He added that the movement of traditionalism cannot be compared to other post-Vatican II movements and charisms, but instead is “a form of ‘denial of the Second Vatican Council’ that cannot but be clearly obstructed within the ecclesial experience.”
Grillo warned against taking “easy” solutions to address the declining numbers of Catholics, such as “[filling] traditionalist seminaries with militarized young men modelled on 17th or 18th century priests….”
“Nostalgia is never an asset, even when it deludes one into thinking that the Church has nothing to reform, but only finds all the answers in the past,” he added.
Grillo criticized the role of “nostalgia” that appears to be a part of the traditionalist movement.
Recalling Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which addresses the celebration of the Latin Mass, Grillo said that a central argument of the letter is essentially: “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too”.
“Where does this principle come from?” Grillo asked. “Not from theology, but from nostalgic emotion for the past. Such a principle tends to ‘fixate the Church’ on its past.”
He said that after the “general reform” of the liturgy, “No one could have ever thought that, at the universal level, anyone would be allowed the freedom to remain in one version of the Roman Rite or in the version that has been surpassed by a general reform.”
“The wager of a mutual improvement between the Novus Ordo and Vetus Ordo was a totally inadequate strategy and theology, fueled by ideological abstractness,” he later added.
Luigi noted that Grillo has “levelled heavy criticism at the traditional liturgy,” and asked Grillo if he thinks traditionalist-inclined Catholics have a right to criticize the liturgical reform.
Grillo responded, “Everyone can critique any step of tradition. [What] I am interested in is the steps being argued. The arguments of traditionalists are weak because they deny what best describes tradition: namely its service to change.”
“Those who challenge the liturgical reform have every right to speak out, but they cannot claim that their arguments are ‘self-evident’,” he said, later adding:
Those who act in this way not only do not contribute to the ecclesial debate, but objectively place themselves outside Catholic tradition; and however much they reaffirm their “fidelity to the Pope”, they are in fact refusing it. It is not so easy to avoid becoming “sedevacantist”, in deeds before words.
Finally, Luigi asked Grillo how he would try to change the minds of those who believe the liturgical reforms have failed. In his response, Grillo pointed out that reflections on “liturgical crisis” are found as early as the 1830’s and 1840’s.
“To change your mind, I think we should first reflect on the relationship between liturgy and ecclesial experience,” Grillo concluded:
Being a disciple of Christ isn’t a matter of belonging to a high society club or an association aimed at speaking a strange language or identifying with the past, cultivating reactionary ideals. Tradition is not the past, but the future. Since the Church and faith are a serious matter, they cannot be reduced to the association of those who cultivate nostalgia for the past.
The full text of the interview with Grillo can be read here.
