The 'Reform' of Holy Week

During his Easter Vigil homily in 2011, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of traditional Holy Week as “before the reform [when] there were twelve Old Testament readings,” helping us to more clearly understand the reference to “older liturgical tradition” in Universae Ecclesiae. While some may argue that this reference was not the intent of that document, the reform of the Holy Week liturgies promulgated in 1955 was clearly not traditional, but served as a transitional liturgy that was experimental at best. Pope Paul VI, in his Apostolic Constitution of the Roman Missal, demonstrates this openly: “It was felt necessary to revise and enrich the formulae of the Roman Missal. Read more…