The liturgy is a true encounter with Christ. The central ideas of "Desiderio desideravi".Liturgy and education in affectivityOn December 1, 2021, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana published the volume "Pope Francis and the Roman Missal for the Dioceses of Zaire", just one year after the Eucharist presided by the Pontiff in the Zairé rite (proper to the region of the Congo), in St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope sent a video message to join the presentation of the book, which also carries a preface written by himself.
Inculturation of the liturgy
With so many initiatives underway, and so many challenges facing the Church today, the question is obvious: Why is the Pope giving so much importance to a book on Congolese liturgy? In a video message, Pope Francis points out the main reason for the publication: "The spiritual and ecclesial significance and the pastoral purpose of the Eucharistic celebration of the Congolese rite are at the basis of the creation of this volume." Moreover, in the preface of the book he adds: "The process of liturgical inculturation in the Congo is an invitation to enhance the different gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are a richness for all humanity".
Pope Francis, who has touched and experienced first hand the piety and popular religiosity during his time as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, clearly sees the need for a liturgy that is fully immersed in society, so that the people make their own the celebration of the sacraments, indelible seals of grace. And all this is not his invention.
The truth is that the inculturation of the liturgy is not a question that has arisen as a result of the Synod for the Amazon or with the pontificate of Francis. During the work of the Second Vatican Council, "norms for adaptation to the character and traditions of various peoples" were proposed. In this sense, the Zaire or Congolese rite is the first and only inculturated rite of the Latin Church approved after the Council and - as the Pope goes on to say in the video message - the experience of this rite in the celebration of the Mass "can serve as an example and model for other cultures".
Inculturation of the liturgy and continuity with the Roman Missal
Number 125 of the Instrumentum Laboris of the Synod for the Amazon (held October 6-27, 2019) in its number 125 says: "The celebration of faith must be carried out in an inculturated way so that it may be an expression of one's own religious experience and a bond of communion for the community that celebrates."
"A vibrant culture, a spirituality animated by songs with African rhythms, the sound of drums, body movements and new colors... all this is necessary for the celebration to be alive and fulfill its evangelizing purpose," the Pope explains. Perhaps for Western Catholics it might seem too novel and even irreverent, but not for the Congolese. They are familiar with the colors and the different languages, they know the movements and dances, and the songs are part of their daily celebrations. What the Church proposes is to translate these original celebratory customs of the different peoples into the liturgy; uses and customs that already existed and that are, in fact, well established in the communities, so that this liturgy better responds to their original spirituality, so that the celebrations are source and summit of his Christian life and are linked at the same time to their struggles, sufferings and joys.
Logically, this "inculturation of the liturgy" is not done for all cultures in a generic way but must touch "the cultural world of the people". This requires a "process of discernment regarding the rites, symbols and celebratory styles of the indigenous cultures in contact with nature that need to be assumed in the liturgical and sacramental ritual". This process leads to the separation of the true meaning of the symbol that transcends the merely aesthetic and folkloric. Special importance has, however, the inclusion in the celebration of the music and dance itself, and the autochthonous costumes, proper of each community and in communion with nature.
A long-standing issue
In the programmatic text of his pontificate, the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii GaudiumThe Pope speaks precisely of the convenience of reaching out to different cultures with their own language. He exhorts us to overcome the rigidity of a discipline that excludes and alienates, for a pastoral sensitivity that accompanies and integrates", because "Christianity does not have a single cultural model". Christianity, while remaining "in total fidelity to the proclamation of the Gospel and to the ecclesial tradition, will also bring the face of the many cultures and peoples in which it is welcomed and rooted". In fact, the Roman rite continues to be the majority rite of the Christian faithful since Pope St. Pius V obliged the use of the same rite except where a different custom of a particular rite of at least two hundred years of uninterrupted celebration existed.
In this sense, the case of the Zairé rite may well be one more step towards new paths and processes of liturgical discernment where the different specificities of each community, inserted in a culture, with its own languages and symbols, can be taken into account without altering the nature of the Roman Missal, which guarantees continuity with the ancient and universal tradition of the Church.
A cross-cutting invitation
One might well think that the publication of the aforementioned volume is not new in itself, since the Roman Missal containing the Zaire rite was approved in 1988 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the rite has been used since then in the region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the key reading is not the publication or the presentation of the book but the Pope's invitation to work in this area: the Pope speaks of the Congolese rite as "a promising rite for other cultures", with an objective, above all pastoral, and of accompanying the communities that are asking for this recognition of their own spirituality. The Pontiff recalls that "the Second Vatican Council had already called for this effort of inculturation of the liturgy among indigenous peoples and, although little progress has been made". Thus, the Pope makes an appeal that is transversal - to the different communities and local associations and, above all, to the Episcopal Conferences - in this direction.
