Deacon Lawrence Toth
(Third in a series)
In his audience on May 27, 2026, Pope Leo’s topic was The Reform of the Liturgy: Tradition and Development. His talk provided a historical and theological perspective on the changes in the liturgy that occurred following Vatican II.
The Council opened with Pope St. John XXIII recognizing it as “the dawn of a day of light for the whole Church.” Looking back over the century preceding the Council, the Council Fathers sought to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church through biblical, theological and liturgical reflection. From this reflection, the Council Fathers affirmed the growing impulse for renewal in the Church. This renewal necessarily would include a reform of the liturgy because, as Pope St. John-Paul II would later note, “a very close and organic bond exists between the renewal of the liturgy and the renewal of the whole life of the Church.”
The reform of the liturgy was undertaken “to encourage the access of the faithful to the richness of the gifts of grace dispensed by the sacred liturgy.” The direction the Council Fathers took was to assure “that sound tradition be retained, and yet the way remain open to legitimate progress.” They recognized that some elements of the liturgy cannot be changed, because they are divinely instituted. But there are other elements “that not only may but ought to be changed if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.” Such changes “have taken place constantly over the centuries in order to enable the faithful to participate fruitfully” in the liturgy. As a result, Pope Leo observed, “the Church’s worship has been embodied in the cultural forms of each age and has been able to influence them and even transform them. The liturgy has thus been, for centuries, a driving force for evangelization.”
As we know, the revision of the liturgy after the Council, and how the changes were carried out, caused a consternation among many in the Church that still continues. That said, we should keep in mind that the Council Fathers’ judgment was that the good of the Church genuinely required the change.