Friday, August 26, 2005
SANDRO MAGISTER
summarizes Benedict's talks in Cologne during World Youth Day. This is noteworthy:
As for the rest, the script had already been written. And not everything was in keeping with Ratzinger's tendencies. The Masses, the vespers, and the Eucharistic benedictions celebrated with the trendy popular music choirs, rock guitars, Indian dances, African tambourines, and Andean flutes were the object of severe reprimands from him in the past, when he was a theologian and cardinal.
This time, in Cologne, the potpourri was a bit more moderated, with little bits of Gregorian chant or the meditative "canons" of Taizé popping up here and there, but there was also the Argentinian juggler who kept a number of hats in the air in front of the altar, like the "jongleur de Notre Dame." A patient Benedict XVI balanced it all with his sober and austere presence. At his side the pontifical master of ceremonies, Piero Marini, the director of these mass rituals dear to John Paul II, put the seal on one of his last performances.
It's going to be interesting to learn who the next director of rituals will be.
